{"id":213,"date":"2013-07-13T01:26:38","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:26:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=213"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:26:38","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:26:38","slug":"09-the-viziers-of-bassora-act-2-sc-4-vol-07-collected-plays-part-ii-volume-07","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/07-collected-plays-part-ii-volume-07\/09-the-viziers-of-bassora-act-2-sc-4-vol-07-collected-plays-part-ii-volume-07","title":{"rendered":"-09_The Viziers of Bassora Act-2 Sc-4.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n
\n

\n
\nSCENE IV<\/b><\/font><\/span><\/div>\n

\n

\n <\/div>\n

\n

\n
\n <\/font><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\nA room in Ajebe’s house.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>JEBE<\/font><\/p>\n

\nBalkis, do come, my heart.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nEnter Balkis.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tB<\/font>ALKIS
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nYour will?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>JEBE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMy will!
\nWhen had I any will since you came here,
\nYou rigorous tyrant?<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tB<\/font>ALKIS
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWas it for abuse
\nYou called me ?<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>JEBE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBring your lute and sing to me.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tB<\/font>ALKIS<\/font><\/p>\n

\nI am not in the mood.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>JEBE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nSing, I entreat you.
\nI am hungry for your voice of pure delight.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tB<\/font>ALKIS
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI am no kabob, nor my voice a curry.
\nHungry, forsooth!<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nExit.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>JEBE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOh, Balkis, Balkis! hear me.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 623<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nEnter Mymoona.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tM<\/font>YMOONA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt’s useless calling; she is in her moods.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAnd there’s your Vizier getting down from horse<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nIn the doorway.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>JEBE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI will go and bring him up.
\nMymoona, coax her for me, will you, girl ?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nExit.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tM<\/font>YMOONA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt is as good to meet a mangy dog
\nAs this same uncle of ours. He seldom comes.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nShe conceals herself behind a curtain.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nRe-enter Ajebe with Almuene.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>LMUENE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe goes tomorrow? Well. And Nureddene<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe scapegrace holds his wealth in hand ? Much better.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nI always said he was a fool. (To himself)<\/i> Easily<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nI might confound him with this flagrant lapse<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAbout the slave-girl. But wait! wait! He gone,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nHis memory waned, his riches squandered quite,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nI’ll ruin his son, ruin the insolent Turk<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nHe has preferred to my Fareed. His Doonya<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAnd Anice slave-girls to my lusty boy,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nHis wife \u2014 but she escapes. It is enough<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThey come back to a desolate house. Oh! let<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nTheir forlorn wrinkles hug an empty nest<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nIn life’s cold leafless winter! Meanwhile I set<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nMy seal on every room in the King’s heart;<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nHe finds no chamber open when he comes.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>JEBE<\/font><\/p>\n

\nUncle, you ponder things of weight?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 624<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tA<\/font>LMUENE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nNo, Ajebe;<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nTrifles, mere trifles. You’re a friend, I think,
\nOf Ibn Sawy’s son?<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>JEBE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWe drink together.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>LMUENE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nRight, right! Would you have place, power, honours, gold,
\nOr is your narrow soul content with ease ?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>JEBE<\/font><\/p>\n

\nWhy, uncle!<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>LMUENE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nDo you dread death? furious disgrace?
\nOr beggary that’s worse than either? Do you?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>JEBE<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAll men desire those blessings, fear these ills.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>LMUENE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThey shall be yours in overflowing measure,
\nGood, if you serve me, ill, if you refuse.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>JEBE<\/font><\/p>\n

\nWhat service ?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>LMUENE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nRuin wanton Nureddene.
\nGorge him with riot and excess; rob him
\nUnder a friendly guise; force him to spend
\nTill he’s a beggar. Most, delude him on
\nTo prone extremity of drunken shame
\nWhich he shall feel, yet have no power to check.
\nDrench all his senses in vile profligacy,<\/font>
\n<\/font> <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 625<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nNor mere light gallantries, but gutter filth,
\nThough you have to share it. Do this and you’re made;<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nBut this undone, you are yourself undone.
\nEight months I give you. No, attend me not.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nExit.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>JEBE<\/font><\/p>\n

\nMymoona! girl, where are you ?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tM<\/font>YMOONA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHere, here, behind you.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>JEBE<\/font><\/p>\n

\nA Satan out of hell has come to me.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tM<\/font>YMOONA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA Satan, truly, and he’ld make you one,
\nDamning you down into the deepest hell of all.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>JEBE<\/font><\/p>\n

\nWhat shall I do?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tM<\/font>YMOONA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nNot what he tells you to.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>JEBE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nYet if I do not, I am gone. No man
\nIn Bassora could bear his heavy wrath
\nOn the other side \u2014<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tM<\/font>YMOONA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nLeave the other side. ‘Tis true,
\nThe dog will keep his word in evil; for good,
\nTis brittle, brittle. But you cannot do it;<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nOur Balkis loves his Anice so completely.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 626<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tAJEBE <\/font><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nGirl, girl, my life and goods are on the die.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tM<\/font>YMOONA<\/font><\/p>\n

\nDo one thing.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>JEBE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI will do what you shall bid me.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tM<\/font>YMOONA<\/font><\/p>\n

\nHe has some vile companions, has he not?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>JEBE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nCafoor and Ayoob and the rest; a gang
\nOf pleasant roisterers without heart or mind.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tM<\/font>YMOONA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhisper the thing to them; yourself do nothing.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nCheck him at times. Whatever else you do,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nTake not his gifts; they are the price of shame.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nIf he is ruined, as without their urging<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nIs likely, Satan’s satisfied, if not,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nWe’ll flee from Bassora when there’s no help.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>JEBE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nYou have a brain. Yet if I must be vile,
\nA bolder vileness best becomes a man.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tM<\/font>YMOONA<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAnd Balkis?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>JEBE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTrue.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tM<\/font>YMOONA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBe safe, be safe. The rest
\nIs doubtful, but one truth is sadly sure,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 627<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThat dead men cannot love.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>JEBE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI’ll think of it.
\nMymoona, leave me; send your sister here.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nExit Mymoona.<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe thing’s too vile! and yet \u2014 honours and place,
\nAnd to set Balkis on a kingdom’s crest
\nBreaking and making men with her small hands
\nThe lute’s too large for! But the way is foul.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nEnter Balkis.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tB<\/font>ALKIS<\/font><\/p>\n

\nWhat’s your command?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>JEBE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBring me your lute and sing.
\nI’m sad and troubled. Cross me not, my girl,
\nMy temper’s wry.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tB<\/font>ALKIS
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOh, threats?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>JEBE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nRemember still
\nYou are a slave, however by my love
\nPampered, and sometimes think upon the scourge.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tB<\/font>ALKIS
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nDo, do! yes, beat me! Or why beat me only?
\nKill me, as you have killed my heart already
\nWith your harsh words. I knew, I knew what all
\nYour love would end in. <\/b> Oh! oh! oh! (Weeps).<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>JEBE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nForgive me,
\nO sweetest heart. I swear I did not mean it.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 628<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tB<\/font>ALKIS
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBecause in play I sometimes speak a little \u2014
\nO scourge me, kill me!<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>JEBE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n ‘Twas a jest, a jest!
\nTear not my heart with sobs. Look, Balkis, love,
\nYou shall have necklaces worth many thousands,
\nPearls, rubies, if you only will not weep.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tB<\/font>ALKIS
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI am a slave and only fit for scourging,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nNot pearls and rubies. Mymoona! Oh, Mymoona!<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nBring him a scourge and me a cup of poison.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nExit.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>JEBE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nShe plays upon me as upon her lute,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nI’m as inert, as helpless, as completely<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nRuled by her moods, as dumbly pleasureless<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nBy her light hands untouched. How to appease her?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nMymoona! oh, Mymoona!<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nExit.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nCurtain<\/i><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 629<\/font><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCENE IV     A room in Ajebe’s house. AJEBE Balkis, do come, my heart. Enter Balkis. BALKIS Your will? AJEBE My will! When had…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-07-collected-plays-part-ii-volume-07","wpcat-6-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}