s. But I do not hearken to fools. There is
only Nile. It is the little child that prays to you who used to pick
mauve flowers.

Hear me, O Nile.

I have prepared a sacrifice to god. Men speak of other gods: there is
only Nile. I have prepared a sacrifice of wine--the Lesbian wine from
fairy Mitylene--to mingle with your waters till you are drunken and go
singing to the sea from the Abyssinian hills.

O Nile, hear me.

Fruits also I have made ready, all the sweet juices of the earth; and
the meat of beasts also.

Hear me, O Nile: for it is not the meat of beasts only. I have slaves
for you and princes and a King. There has been no such sacrifice. Come
down, O Nile, from the sunlight. O ancient Egyptian river!

The sacrifice is ready. O Nile, hear me.

Duke of Ethiopia:

No one comes.

Queen: [beats again with her fan]

Harlee, Harlee, let in the water upon the princes and gentlemen.

[A green torrent descends from the great hole. Green gauzes
rise from the floor; the torches hiss out. The temple is flooded.
The water from under the doors rises up the steps, the torches
hiss out one by one. The water, finding its own level, just
touches the end of the Queen's skirt and stops. She withdraws the
skirt with catlike haste from the water.]

Queen:

O Ackazarpses! Are all my enemies gone?

Ackazarpses:

Illustrious Lady, the Nile has taken them all.

Queen: [with intense devotion]

That holy river.

Ackazarpses:

Illustrious Lady, will you sleep to-night?

Queen:

Yes. I shall sleep sweetly.

[curtain]

The Tents of the Arabs

Dramatis Personae

The King
Bel-Narb, Aoob (camel-drivers)
The Chamberlain
Zabra (a notable)
Eznarza (a gypsy of the desert)

Scene: Outside the gate of the city of Thalanna.

Time: Uncertain.

Act I

Bel-Narb:

By evening we shall be in the desert again.

Aoob:

Yes.

Bel-Narb:

Then no more city for us for many weeks.

Aoob:

Ah!

Bel-Narb:

We shall see the lights come out, looking back from the camel-track;
that is the last we shall see of it.

Aoob:

We shall be in the desert then.

Bel-Narb:

The old angry desert.

Aoob:

How cunningly the Desert hides his wells. You would say he had an
enmity with man. He does not welcome you as the cities do.

Bel-Narb:

He _has_ an enmity. I hate the desert.

Aoob:

I think there is nothing in the world so beautiful as cities.

Bel-Narb:

Cities are beaut