DEATH (_swiftly rising, wrathfully strikes the table with his clenched fist and speaks in a grating voice_):--Condemned--in the name of Satan! (_Then as quickly he sits down and sinks into a malicious inflexibility. The judges resume their places._) KING HUNGER:--Starveling, you're condemned. OLD MAN:--Have mercy! KING HUNGER:--Put the muzzle over him. Bring the next starveling.... (_The next starveling is led into the room. She is a graceful, but extremely emaciated young woman, with a face pallid and tragic to view. The black, fine eyebrows join over her nose; her luxuriant hair is negligently tied in a knot, falling down her shoulders. She makes no bows nor looks around, is as if seeing nobody. Her voice is apathetic and dull._) KING HUNGER:--What's your offense, Starveling? YOUNG WOMAN:--I killed my child. (_Spectators._) --Oh, horrors! This woman is altogether destitute of motherly feelings. --What do you expect of them? You astonish me. --How charming she is. There's something tragical about her. --Then marry her. --Crimes of infanticide were not regarded as such in ancient times, and were looked upon as a natural right of parents. Only with the introduction of humanism into our customs---- --Oh, please, just a second, professor. --But science, my child---- KING HUNGER:--Tell us, Starveling, how it happened. (_With drooping hands and motionless, the woman speaks up dully and dispassionately._) YOUNG WOMAN:--One night my baby and I crossed the long bridge over the river. And since I had long before decided, so then approaching the middle, where the river is deep and swift, I said: "Look, baby dear, how the water is a-roaring below." She said, "I can't reach, mamma, the railing is so high." I said, "Come, let me lift you, baby dear." And when she was gazing down into the black deep, I threw her over. That's all. KING HUNGER:--Did she grip you? YOUNG WOMAN:--No. KING HUNGER:--She screamed? YOUNG WOMAN:--Yes, once. KING HUNGER:--What was her name? YOUNG WOMAN:--Baby dear. KING HUNGER:--No, her name. How was she called? YOUNG WOMAN:--Baby dear. KING HUNGER (_covering his face, he speaks in sad, quivering voice_):--Honorable judges, I beg you to simulate a meditative air. (_The judges knit their brows, gaze on the ceiling, chew their lips. Venerable silence. Then they rise and gravely bow to Death._) DEATH:--Condemned--in the name of Satan! KING HUNGER (_rising, speaks aloud, extending his hands to the woman, as if veiling her in an invisible, black shroud_):-- You're condemned, woman, do you hear? Death awaits you. In blackest hell you will be tormented and burnt on everlasting, slakeless fires! Devils will rack your heart with their iron talons! The most venomous serpents of the infernal abyss will suck your brain and sting, sting you, and nobody will heed your agonizing cries, for you'll be silenced. Let eternal night be over you. Do you hear, Starveling? YOUNG WOMAN:--Yes. KING HUNGER:--Muzzle her.