AGMAR Begone! (exit one) (Agmar takes up a piece of meat and begins to eat it: the beggars rise and stretch themselves: they laugh, but Agmar eats hungrily.) OOGNO Ah, now we have come into our own. THAHN Now we have alms. SLAG Master! My wise Master! ULF These are the good days, the good days; and yet I have a fear. SLAG What do you fear? There is nothing to fear. No man is as wise as my Master. ULF I fear the gods whom we pretend to be. SLAG The gods? AGMAR (taking a chunk of meat from his lips) Come hither, Slag. SLAG (going up to him) Yes, Master. AGMAR Watch in the doorway while I eat. (Slag goes to the doorway) Sit in the attitude of a god. Warn me if any of the citizens approach. (Slag sits in the doorway in the attitude of a god, back to the audience) OOGNO (to Agmar) But, Master, shall we not have Woldery wine? AGMAR We shall have all things if only we are wise at first for a little. THAHN Master, do any suspect us? AGMAR We must be _very_ wise. THAHN But if we are not wise, Master? AGMAR Why then death may come to us ... THAHN O Master! AGMAR ... slowly. (All stir uneasily except Slag motionless in the doorway.) OOGNO Do they believe us, master? SLAG (half turning his head) Someone comes. (Slag resumes his position.) AGMAR (putting away his meat) We shall soon know now. (All take up the attitude. Enter one.) ONE Master, I want the god that does not eat. AGMAR I am he. ONE Master, my child was bitten in the throat by a death-adder at noon. Spare him, Master; he still breathes, but slowly. AGMAR Is he indeed your child? ONE He is surely my child, Master. AGMAR Was it your wont to thwart him in his play, while he was strong and well? ONE I never thwarted him, Master. AGMAR Whose child is Death? ONE Death is the child of the gods. AGMAR Do you that never thwarted your child in his play ask this of the gods? ONE (with some horror, perceiving Agmar's meaning) Master! AGMAR Weep not. For all the houses that men have builded are the play-fields of this child of the gods. (The man goes away in silence not weeping.) OOGNO (Taking Thahn by the wrist) Is this indeed a man? AGMAR A man, a man, and until just now a hungry one. ACT III Same room. A few days have elapsed. Seven thrones shaped like mountain-crags stand along the back of the stage. On these the beggars are lounging. The Thief is absent. MLAN Never had beggars such a time. OOGNO Ah, the fruits and tender lamb! THAHN The Woldery wine! SLAG It was better to see my Master's wise devices than to have fruit and lamb and Woldery wine. MLAN Ah, when they spied on him to see if he would eat when they went away! OOGNO When they questioned him concerning the gods and Man! THAHN When they asked him why the gods permitted cancer! SLAG Ah! My wise Master. MLAN How well his scheme has succeeded. OOGNO How far away is hunger! THAHN It is even like to one of last year's dreams, the trouble of a brief night long ago.