seems to have barbed horns.

Carolyx:

We must go and meet them.

[The song is loud and joyous.]

[Exeunt by the way that the Sentries went.]

[Enter Sentries.]

1st Sentry:

Whatever it is has passed away again for they were smiling.

2nd Sentry:

They feared that their husbands were lost and now they return in
safety.

1st Sentry:

You do not know, for you do not understand women.

2nd Sentry:

I understand them quite as well as you.

1st Sentry:

That is what I say. You do not understand them. I do not understand
them.

2nd Sentry:

......Oh. [A pause.]

1st Sentry:

We shall never leave Thek now.

2nd Sentry:

Why shall we never leave it?

1st Sentry:

Did you not hear how glad they were when they sang the hunting song?
They say a wild dog does not turn from the trail, they will go on
hunting now.

2nd Sentry:

But will the King stay here?

1st Sentry:

He only does what Ichtharion and Ludibras persuade him. He does not
listen to the Queen.

2nd Sentry:

The Queen is mad.

1st Sentry:

She is not mad but she has a curious sickness, she is always frightened
though there is nothing to fear.

2nd Sentry:

That would be a dreadful sickness; one would fear that the roof might
fall on one from above or the earth break in pieces beneath. I would
rather be mad than to fear things like that.

1st Sentry: [looking straight before him]

Hush.

[Enter King and retinue. He sits on the throne. Enter from
other side Ichtharion, Ludibras, and Harpagas, each with his
wife beside him, hand in hand. Each couple bows before the
King, still hand in hand; then they seat themselves. The King
nods once to each couple.]

King: [To Tharmia]

Well, your Sincerity, I trust that you are glad to have come to Thek.

Tharmia:

Very glad, your Majesty.

King: [To Arolind]

This is pleasanter, is it not, than Barbul-el-Sharnak?

Arolind:

Far pleasanter, your Majesty.

King:

And you, princely lady Carolyx, find all that you need in Thek?

Carolyx: More than all, your Majesty.

King: [To Harpagas]

Then we can stay here long, can we not?

Harpagas:

There are reasons of State why that were dangerous.

King:

Reasons of State? Why should we not stay here?

Harpagas:

Your Majesty, there is a legend in the World, that he who is greatest
in the city of Barbul-el-Sharnak is the greatest in the world.

King:

I had not heard that lege