MELIFLOR: Of what avail is it to come back burdened thus? Has not the Queen more wealth than she'll ever need? MOOMOOMON: Aye, the Queen needs nothing more. ZOON: How can we know that? MOMOOMON: Why not? ZOON: The Queen obeys old impulses. Her sires are dead. Who knows whence those impulses come? How can we say what they are? MOOMOOMON: She cannot need more wealth than what is here. MELIFLOR: No, no, she cannot. ZOON: She needs more, for she has bidden them go again to the Golden Hoards. Her impulses have demanded it. MOOMOOMON: Then there is no reason in her impulses. ZOON: They do not come from reason. MOOMOOMON: So I said. ZOON: They come from Fate. MOOMOOMON: From Fate! [_There is a hush at this._ OOMUZ _comes nearer and kneels down._ OOMUZ: Oh, Masters, Masters. If there be anything greater, greater than the Queen, speak not of it, Masters, speak not its name. ZOON: No, Oomuz. We need nothing greater. OOMUZ: The name frightened me, Mighty Highness. ZOON: Yes, yes, Oomuz; there is only the Queen. MOOMOOMON: No, there is nothing greater than the Queen, and she has no need of anything more than the treasure that he guards there. OOMUZ: There is one thing more. MOOMOOMON: More? What is that? OOMUZ: There is one thing more. The Queen needs one thing more. This has been told us and we know. MOOMOOMON: What is it? OOMUZ: How should we know that? None knows the need of the Queen. [OOMUZ _returns to guard his heap._ ZOON: What think you, Oomuz? What think you is this need of the Queen? [OOMUZ _shakes his head about three times._ PRINCE OF ZOON _sighs._ SEVERAL PRINCES (_together wearily_): Heigho. MELIFOR: Take comfort in our heritage, illustrious comrades. Come! We will drink to the sun. SOME: To the sun! To the sun! (_They drink._) MELIFLOR: To the golden idle hours! (_He drinks._) Let us be worthy, glorious companions, of our exalted calling. Let us enjoy the days of idleness. Sing to us, mighty one of Zoon, as the idle hours go by. Sing us a song. MOOMOOMON (_idly_): Yes, sing to us. ZOON: As you all know, I can but hum. But I will hum you a song that I heard yesterday; very strange it was; sung in the meadows by two that were not of our people; sung in the evening. I heard it as I loitered home from the meadows beyond the marshes. There is no ease in the song, and yet ... MOOMOOMON: Hum it to us. ZOON: They sang it together, the two that were not of our people. [_He hums a song. They all lift up their heads from their listlessness._ MELIFLOR (_wonderingly_): That is a song that is new. ZOON: Yes, it is new to me. MELIFLOR: It is like an old song. ZOON: Yes, perhaps it is old. MELIFLOR: What is the song? ZOON: It tells of love. THE PRINCES: Ah-h! [_They seem to wake as though young and strong out of sleep. There is a great commotion among them. The sentries outside are utterly unmoved._ OOMUZ, _without sharing any of the excitement of the Princes, now nods his head solemnly as he had once shaken it._