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.
OOGNO (laughing)
Ho, ho, ho! To see them pray to us.
AGMAR
When we were beggars did we not speak as beggars? Did we not whine as they? Was not our mien beggarly?
OOGNO
We were the pride of our calling.
AGMAR
Then now that we are gods, let us be as gods, and not mock our worshippers.
ULF
I think that the gods do mock their worshippers.
AGMAR
The gods have never mocked us. We are above all pinnacles that we have ever gazed at in dreams.
ULF
I think that when man is high then most of all are the gods wont to mock him.
THIEF (entering)
Master! I have been with those that know all and see all. I have been with the thieves, master. They know me for one of the craft, but they do not know me as being one of us.
AGMAR
Well, well!
THIEF
There is danger, master, there is great danger.
AGMAR
You mean that they suspect that we are men.
THIEF
That they have long done, master. I mean that they will know it. Then we are lost.
AGMAR
Then they do not know it.
THIEF
They do not know it yet, but they will know it, and we are lost.
AGMAR
When will they know it?
THIEF
Three days ago they suspected us.
AGMAR
More than you think suspected us, but have any dared to say so?
THIEF
No, master.
AGMAR
Then forget your fears, my thief.
THIEF
Two men went on dromedaries three days ago to see if the gods were still at Marma.
AGMAR
They went to Marma!
THIEF
Yes, three days ago.
OOGNO
We are lost!
AGMAR
They went three days ago?
THIEF
Yes, on dromedaries.
AGMAR
They should be back to-day.
OOGNO
We are lost!
THAHN
We are lost!
THIEF
They must have seen the green jade idols sitting against the mountains. They will say, “The gods are still at Marma.” And we shall be burnt.
SLAG
My master will yet devise a plan.
AGMAR (to the Thief)
Slip away to some high place and look toward the desert and see how long we have to devise a plan.
SLAG
My master will find a plan.
OOGNO
He has taken us into a trap.
THAHN
His wisdom is our doom.
SLAG
He will find a wise plan yet.
THIEF (reëntering)
It is too late!
AGMAR
It is too late!
THIEF
The dromedary men are here.
OOGNO
We are lost!
AGMAR
Be silent! I must think.
[They all sit still. Citizens enter and prostrate themselves. Agmar sits deep in thought.
ILLANAUN (to Agmar)
Two holy pilgrims have gone to your sacred shrines, wherein you were wont to sit before you left the mountains. (Agmar says nothing) They return even now.
AGMAR
They left us here and went to find the gods? A fish once took a journey into a far country to find the sea.
ILLANAUN
Most reverend deity, their piety is so great that they have gone to worship even your shrines.
AGMAR
I know these men that have great piety. Such men have often prayed to me before, but their prayers are not acceptable. They little love the gods; their only care is their piety. I know these pious ones. They will say that the seven gods were still at Marma. They will lie and say that we were still at Marma. So shall they seem more pious to you all, pretending that they alone have seen the gods. Fools shall believe them and share in their damnation.
OORANDER (to Illanaun)
Hush! You anger the gods.
ILLANAUN
I am not sure whom I anger.
OORANDER
It may be they are the gods.
ILLANAUN
Where are these men from Marma?
CITIZEN
Here are the dromedary men; they are coming now.
ILLANAUN (to Agmar)
The holy pilgrims from your shrine are come to worship you.
AGMAR
The men are doubters. How the gods hate the word! Doubt ever contaminated virtue. Let them be cast into prison and not besmirch your purity. (Rising) Let them not enter here.
ILLANAUN
But oh, most reverend deity from the Mountain, we also doubt, most reverend deity.
AGMAR
You have chosen. You have chosen. And yet it is not too late. Repent and cast these men in prison and it may not be too late. The gods have never wept. And yet when they think upon damnation and the dooms that are withering a myriad bones, then almost, were they not divine, they could weep. Be quick! Repent of your doubt.
[Enter the Dromedary Men.
ILLANAUN
Most reverend deity, it is a mighty doubt.
CITIZENS
Nothing has killed him! They are not the gods!
SLAG (to Agmar)
You have a plan, my master. You have a plan.
AGMAR
Not yet, Slag.
ILLANAUN (to Oorander)
These are the men that went to the shrines at Marma.
OORANDER (in a loud, clear voice)
Were the Gods of the Mountain seated still at Marma, or were they not there?
[The beggars get up hurriedly from their thrones.
DROMEDARY MAN
They were not there.
ILLANAUN
They were not there?
DROMEDARY MAN
Their shrines were empty.
OORANDER
Behold the Gods of the Mountain!
AKMOS
They have indeed come from Marma.
OORANDER
Come. Let us go away to prepare a sacrifice. A mighty sacrifice to atone for our doubting. (Exeunt)
SLAG
My most wise master!
AGMAR
No, no, Slag. I do not know what has befallen. When I went by Marma only two weeks ago the idols of green jade were still seated there.
OOGNO
We are saved now.
THAHN
Ay, we are saved.
AGMAR
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
Master, they are terrified. Spare us, master.
AGMAR
It is wrong to doubt. Go and be faithful.
[Exit Man.
SLAG
What have they seen, master?
AGMAR
They have seen their own fears dancing in the desert. They have seen something green after the light was gone, and some child has told them a tale that it was us. I do not know what they have seen. What should they have seen?
ULF
Something was coming this way from the desert, he said.
SLAG
What should come from the desert?
AGMAR
They are a foolish people.
ULF
That man’s white face has seen some frightful thing.
SLAG
A frightful thing?
ULF
That man’s face has been near to some frightful thing.
AGMAR
It is only we that have frightened them and their fears have made them foolish.
[Enter an Attendant with a torch or lantern which he places in a receptacle. Exit.
THAHN
Now we shall see the faces of the girls when they come to the banquet.
MLAN
Never had beggars such a time.
AGMAR
Hark! They are coming. I hear footsteps.
THAHN
The dancing girls! They are coming!
THIEF
There is no sound of flutes, they said they would come with music.
OOGNO
What heavy boots they have; they sound like feet of stone.
THAHN
I do not like to hear their heavy tread. Those that would dance to us must be light of foot.
AGMAR
I shall not smile at them if they are not airy.
MLAN
They are coming very slowly. They should come nimbly to us.
THAHN
They should dance as they come. But the footfall is like the footfall of heavy crabs.
ULF (in a loud voice, almost chanting)
I have a fear, an old fear and a boding. We have done ill in the sight of the seven gods. Beggars we were and beggars we should have remained. We have given up our calling and come in sight of our doom. I will no longer let my fear be silent; it shall run about and cry; it shall go from me crying, like a dog from out of a doomed city; for my fear has seen calamity and has known an evil thing.
SLAG (hoarsely)
Master!
AGMAR (rising)
Come, come!
[They listen. No one speaks. The stony boots come on. Enter in single file through door in right of back, a procession of seven green men, even hands and faces are green; they wear greenstone sandals; they walk with knees extremely wide apart, as having sat cross-legged for centuries; their right arms and right forefingers point upward, right elbows resting on left hands; they stoop grotesquely. Halfway to the footlights they left wheel. They pass in front of the seven beggars, now in terrified attitudes, and six of them sit down in the attitude described, with their backs to the audience. The leader stands, still stooping.
OOGNO (cries out just as they wheel left)
The Gods of the Mountain!
AGMAR (hoarsely)
Be still! They are dazzled by the light. They may not see us.
[The leading Green Thing points his forefinger at the lantern — the flame turns green. When the six are seated the leader points one by one at each of the seven beggars, shooting out his forefinger at them. As he does this each beggar in his turn gathers himself back on to his throne and crosses his legs, his right arm goes stiffly upward with forefinger erect, and a staring look of horror comes into his eyes. In this attitude the beggars sit motionless while a green light falls upon their faces. The gods go out.
Presently enter the Citizens, some with victuals and fruit. One touches a beggar’s arm and then another’s.
CITIZEN
They are cold; they have turned to stone.
[All abase themselves, foreheads to the floor.
ONE
We have doubted them. We have doubted them. They have turned to stone because we have doubted them.
ANOTHER
They were the true gods.
ALL
They were the true gods.
CURTAIN