A to Z Classics - Complete Works Of Oscar Wilde (Best Navigation) (A to Z Classics)

herod

She is monstrous, thy daughter, she is altogether monstrous. In truth, what she has done is a great crime. I am sure that it was a crime against an unknown God.

herodias

I approve of what my daughter has done. And I will stay here now.

herod

[ Rising .] Ah! There speaks the incestuous wife! Come! I will not stay here. Come, I tell thee. Surely some terrible thing will befall. Manasseh, Issachar, Ozias, put out the torches. I will not look at things, I will not suffer things to look at me. Put out the torches! Hide the moon! Hide ·66· the stars! Let us hide ourselves in our palace, Herodias. I begin to be afraid.

[ The slaves put out the torches. The stars disappear. A great black cloud crosses the moon and conceals it completely. The stage becomes very dark. The Tetrarch begins to climb the staircase .]

the voice of salomé

Ah! I have kissed thy mouth, Jokanaan, I have kissed thy mouth. There was a bitter taste on thy lips. Was it the taste of blood? … But perchance it is the taste of love…. They say that love hath a bitter taste…. But what of that? what of that? I have kissed thy mouth, Jokanaan.

[ A moonbeam falls on Salomé covering her with light .]

herod

[ Turning round and seeing Salomé .] Kill that woman!

[ The soldiers rush forward and crush beneath their shields Salomé, daughter of Herodias, Princess of Judæa .]

Curtain.

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or, The Woman Covered with Jewels.

A Fragment

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written 1894.

[The text follows the

1921 Methuen & Co. edition.]

·113· The scene represents the corner of a valley in the Thebaid. On the right hand of the stage is a cavern. In front of the cavern stands a great crucifix.

On the left [sand dunes].

The sky is blue like the inside of a cup of lapis lazuli. The hills are of red sand. Here and there on the hills there are clumps of thorns.

first man

Who is she? She makes me afraid. She has a purple cloak and her hair is like threads of gold. I think she must be the daughter of the Emperor. I have heard the boatmen say that the Emperor has a daughter who wears a cloak of purple.

second man

She has birds’ wings upon her sandals, and her tunic is of the colour of green corn. It is like corn in spring when she stands still. It is like young corn troubled by the shadows of hawks when she moves. The pearls on her tunic are like many moons.

·114· first man

They are like the moons one sees in the water when the wind blows from the hills.

second man

I think she is one of the gods. I think she comes from Nubia.

first man

I am sure she is the daughter of the Emperor. Her nails are stained with henna. They are like the petals of a rose. She has come here to weep for Adonis.

second man

She is one of the gods. I do not know why she has left her temple. The gods should not leave their temples. If she speaks to us let us not answer, and she will pass by.

first man

She will not speak to us. She is the daughter of the Emperor.

myrrhina

Dwells he not here, the beautiful young hermit, he who will not look on the face of woman?

first man

Of a truth it is here the hermit dwells.

myrrhina

Why will he not look on the face of woman?

second man

We do not know.

·115· myrrhina

Why do ye yourselves not look at me?

first man

You are covered with bright stones, and you dazzle our eyes.

second man

He who looks at the sun becomes blind. You are too bright to look at. It is not wise to look at things that are very bright. Many of the priests in the temples are blind, and have slaves to lead them.

myrrhina

Where does he dwell, the beautiful young hermit who will not look on the face of woman? Has he a house of reeds or a house of burnt clay or does he lie on the hillside? Or does he make his bed in the rushes?

first man

He dwells in that cavern yonder.

myrrhina

What a curious place to dwell in!

first man

Of old a centaur lived there. When the hermit came the centaur gave a shrill cry, wept and lamented, and galloped away.

second man

No. It was a white unicorn who lived in the cave. When it saw the hermit coming the unicorn knelt down and ·116· worshipped him. Many people saw it worshipping him.

first man

I have talked with people who saw it.

…..

second man

Some say he was a hewer of wood and worked for hire. But that may not be true.

…..

myrrhina

What gods then do ye worship? Or do ye worship any gods? There are those who have no gods to worship. The philosophers who wear long beards and brown cloaks have no gods to worship. They wrangle with each other in the porticoes. The [ ] laugh at them.

first man

We worship seven gods. We may not tell their names. It is a very dangerous thing to tell the names of the gods. No one should ever tell the name of his god. Even the priests who praise the gods all day long, and eat of their food with them, do not call them by their right names.

myrrhina

Where are these gods ye worship?

·117· first man

We hide them in the folds of our tunics. We do not show them to any one. If we showed them to any one they might leave us.

myrrhina

Where did ye meet with them?

first man

They were given to us by an embalmer of the dead who had found them in a tomb. We served him for seven years.

myrrhina

The dead are terrible. I am afraid of Death.

first man

Death is not a god. He is only the servant of the gods.

myrrhina

He is the only god I am afraid of. Ye have seen many of the gods?

first man

We have seen many of them. One sees them chiefly at night time. They pass one by very swiftly. Once we saw some of the gods at daybreak. They were walking across a plain.

myrrhina

Once as I was passing through the market place I heard a sophist from Cilicia say that there is only one God. He said it before many people.

·118· first man

That cannot be true. We have ourselves seen many, though we are but common men and of no account. When I saw them I hid myself in a bush. They did me no harm.

myrrhina

Tell me more about the beautiful young hermit. Talk to me about the beautiful young hermit who will not look on the face of woman. What is the story of his days? What mode of life has he?

first man

We do not understand you.

myrrhina

What does he do, the beautiful young hermit? Does he sow or reap? Does he plant a garden or catch fish in a net? Does he weave linen on a loom? Does he set his hand to the wooden plough and walk behind the oxen?

second man

He being a very holy man does nothing. We are common men and of no account. We toil all day long in the sun. Sometimes the ground is very hard.

myrrhina

Do the birds of the air feed him? Do the jackals share their booty with him?

·119· first man

Every evening we bring him food. We do not think that the birds of the air feed him.

myrrhina

Why do ye feed him? What profit have ye in so doing?

second man

He is a very holy man. One of the gods whom he has offended has made him mad. We think he has offended the moon.

myrrhina

Go and tell him that one who has come from Alexandria desires to speak with him.

first man

We dare not tell him. This hour he is praying to his God. We pray thee to pardon us for not doing thy bidding.

myrrhina

Are ye afraid of him?

first man

We are afraid of him.

myrrhina

Why are ye afraid of him?

first man

We do not know.

myrrhina

What is his name?