Six One-Act Plays - LightNovelsOnl.com
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FATE--Your sublime father, Chang-won-yin, has gone to his ancestors. You are Chang-sut-yen, the Great, ruler of this province.
(_Gong-bearer strikes gong._)
CHANG-SUT-YEN--I renounce my rule. I am a lover, not a ruler.
FATE--You are a turtle dove. (_To Mandarin._) To your home, and set forth majestic feasting. Chang-sut-yen will honor your house. He rules.
CHANG-SUT-YEN--I rule not. I am a lover.
KWEN-LIN--Exalted one, a lover is a turtle dove.
FATE--It is sometimes given to women to know the truth. Thus Fate is fulfilled, and Chang-sut-yen, the turtle dove, will live upon a Willow plate.
(_Gong-bearer strikes the gong twice._)
(_CURTAIN_)
CHORUS--For your eager ears, for your s.h.i.+ning eyes, for your smiling faces, I bow, I bow, I bow.
(_Chorus followed by the Gong-bearer goes behind the curtains._)
THIS YOUTH--GENTLEMEN!
A FANTASY
CAST
A MAN.
A BOY.
This Youth--Gentlemen!
_Scene I--A narrow lane sharply ascending the hill-side. In the distance a lake s.h.i.+mmers in the sunlight. As the curtain rises the BOY is discovered sitting on a huge boulder. He curiously watches the approaching MAN._
MAN--The road is narrow.
BOY--(_Curtly._) I like it so.
MAN--I have followed you from the valley.
BOY--(_Moving aside._) I'll follow you up the hill.
MAN--(_Smiling._) I may wait here.
BOY--I may play. (_He throws a stone across the waters, and laughs as it strikes the surface._)
MAN--(_Sharply._) Now! You have disturbed the frogs and hidden green things!
BOY--A ripple on the waters! It's the smile that quick adorns my lady's face when I tell.... A little ripple--it whispers of spring and youth to the hidden green things. I am glad I flung the stone!
MAN--Youth! A braggart word employed by fools and poets who have not lived.
BOY--Youth! A magic word, the talisman of those who seek the promised land!
MAN--(_Slowly._) I seek the world of yesterday!
BOY--We left it ... yesterday. Your road lies back in the valley.
MAN--I carry a chart in my breast, it marks the place where yesterday stands. This lane leads there.
BOY--It leads to the land of promise.
MAN--I carry a chart in my breast....
BOY--Your chart, it lies! I'm going on; follow if you like.
MAN--What shall you, who have not lived, do when we reach the world of yesterday?
BOY--Show you my land of promise.
MAN--Then haste!
BOY--Never fear. My feet are swift.
_Scene II--A ledge between a deep ravine and the mountain. Night._
MAN--Dear lad, let us rest here.
BOY--(_Laughing._) This is the edge of the world.
MAN--Sit not too near, I beg you.
BOY--I'll dangle my legs over the cliff, and watch the shadow of the devil diminish.
MAN--(_Lying wearily on the ground._) To flutter like a feather from the wing of a soaring eagle--to lie unseen and forgotten among the dead leaves of the forest.
BOY--Come, and see the shadow.
MAN--I feel it on my heart.
