We are saved, but I know not how.
OOGNO
Never had beggars such a time.
THIEF
I will go out and watch. (_He creeps out_)
ULF
Yet I have a fear.
OOGNO
A fear? Why, we are saved.
ULF
Last night I dreamed.
OOGNO
What was your dream?
ULF
It was nothing. I dreamed that I was thirsty and one gave me Woldery
wine; yet there was a fear in my dream.
THAHN
When I drink Woldery wine I am afraid of nothing.
THIEF (_reëntering_)
They are making a pleasant banquet ready for us; they are killing
lambs, and girls are there with fruits, and there is to be much Woldery
wine.
MLAN
Never had beggars such a time.
AGMAR
Do any doubt us now?
THIEF
I do not know.
MLAN
When will the banquet be?
THIEF
When the stars come out.
OOGNO
Ah! It is sunset already. There will be good eating.
THAHN
We shall see the girls come in with baskets upon their heads.
OOGNO
There will be fruits in the baskets.
THAHN
All the fruits of the valley.
MLAN
Oh, how long we have wandered along the ways of the world!
SLAG
Oh, how hard they were!
THAHN
And how dusty!
OOGNO
And how little wine!
MLAN
How long we have asked and asked, and for how much!
AGMAR
We to whom all things are coming now at last!
THIEF
I fear lest my art forsake me now that good things come without
stealing.
AGMAR
You will need your art no longer.
SLAG
The wisdom of my master shall suffice us all our days.
[_Enter a frightened Man. He kneels before Agmar and abates his
forehead._
MAN
Master, we implore you, the people beseech you.
[_Agmar and the beggars in the attitude of the gods sit silent._
MAN
Master, it is terrible. (_The beggars maintain silence_) It is
terrible when you wander in the evening. It is terrible on the edge of
the desert in the evening. Children die when they see you.
AGMAR
In the desert? When did you see us?
MAN
Last night, master. You were terrible last night. You were terrible in
the gloaming. When your hands were stretched out and groping. You were
feeling for the city.
AGMAR
Last night do you say?
MAN
You were terrible in the gloaming!
AGMAR
You yourself saw us?
MAN
Yes, master, you were terrible. Children too saw you and they died.
AGMAR
You say you saw us?
MAN
Yes, master. Not as you are now, but otherwise. We implore you, master,
not to wander at evening. You are terrible in the gloaming. You are--
AGMAR
You say we appeared not as we are now. How did we appear to you?
MAN
Otherwise, master, otherwise.
AGMAR
But how did we appear to you?
MAN
You were all green, master, all green in the gloaming, all of rock
again as you used to be in the mountains. Master, we can bear to see
you in flesh like men, but when we see rock walking it is terrible, it
is terrible.
AGMAR
That is how we appeared to you?
MAN
Yes, master. Rock should not walk. When children see it they do not
understand. Rock should not walk in the evening.
AGMAR
There have been doubters of late. Are they satisfied?
MAN
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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