Nathan the Wise; a dramatic poem in five actsLessing, Gotthold Ephraim
General
Nathan the Wise; a dramatic poem in five acts
Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim
German drama -- Translations into English
Not well? I thought—
SITTAH.
Yes; very well for me,
Take back that move.
SALADIN.
Why?
SITTAH.
Don’t you see the knight
Becomes exposed?
SALADIN.
’Tis true: then so.
SITTAH.
And so
I take the pawn.
SALADIN.
That’s true again. Then, check!
SITTAH.
That cannot help you. When my king is castled
All will be safe.
SALADIN.
But out of my dilemma
’Tis not so easy to escape unhurt.
Well, you must have the knight.
SITTAH.
I will not have him,
I pass him by.
SALADIN.
In that, there’s no forbearance:
The place is better than the piece.
SITTAH.
Maybe.
SALADIN.
Beware you reckon not without your host:
This stroke you did not think of.
SITTAH.
No, indeed;
I did not think you tired of your queen.
SALADIN.
My queen?
SITTAH.
Well, well! I find that I to-day
Shall earn a thousand dinars to an asper.
SALADIN.
How so, my sister?
SITTAH.
Play the ignorant—
As if it were not purposely thou losest.
I find not my account in ’t; for, besides
That such a game yields very little pastime,
When have I not, by losing, won with thee?
When hast thou not, by way of comfort to me
For my lost game, presented twice the stake?
SALADIN.
So that it may have been on purpose, sister,
That thou hast lost at times.
SITTAH.
At least, my brother’s
Great liberality may be one cause
Why I improve no faster.
SALADIN.
We forget
The game before us: lot us make an end of it.
SITTAH.
I move—so—now then—check! and check again!
SALADIN.
This countercheck I wasn’t aware of, Sittah;
My queen must fall the sacrifice.
SITTAH.
Let’s see—
Could it be helped?
SALADIN.
No, no, take off the queen!
That is a piece which never thrives with me.
SITTAH.
Only that piece?
SALADIN.
Off with it! I shan’t miss it.
Thus I guard all again.
SITTAH.
How civilly
We should behave to queens, my brother’s lessons
Have taught me but too well.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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