f.
I think there is only one, but beautiful enough for
two. What were you talking to yourself about, fairest
one!

KHAMMA:
About the lady Tsarpi, fool, and what she would do if
her husband returned.

SHUMAKIM:
Fie! fie! That is no talk for an innocent fool to hear.
Has she a husband?

NUBTA:
You know very well that she is the wife of Lord Naaman.

SHUMAKIM:
I remember that she used to wear his name and his jewels.
But I thought he had exchanged her,--for a leprosy.

KHAMMA:
You must have heard that he went away to Samaria to look
for healing. Some say that he died on the journey; but
others say he has been cured, and is on his way home
to his wife.

SHUMAKIM:
It may be, for this is a mad world, and men never know
when they are well off,--except us fools. But he must
come soon if he would find his wife as he parted from
her,--or the city where he left it. The Assyrians have
returned with a greater army, and this time they will
make an end of us. There is no Naaman now, and the Bull
will devour Damascus like a bunch of leeks, flowers and
all,--flowers and all, my double-budded fair one! Are
you not afraid?

NUBTA:
We belong to the House of Rimmon. He will protect us.

SHUMAKIM:
What? The mighty one who hides behind the curtain there,
and tells his secrets to Rezon? No doubt he will take
care of you, and of himself. Whatever game is played,
the gods never lose. But for the protection of the
common people and the rest of us fools, I would rather
have Naaman at the head of an army than all the sacred
images between here and Babylon.

KHAMMA:
You are a wicked old man. You mock the god. He will
punish you.

SHUMAKIM: [Bitterly.]
How can he punish me? Has he not already made me a fool?
Hark, here comes my brother the High Priest, and my
brother the King. Rimmon made us all; but nobody knows
who made Rimmon, except the High Priest; and he will
never tell.

[Gongs and cymbals sound. Enter REZON with priests, and the
King with courtiers. They take their seats. A throng of Khali
and Kharimati come in, TSARPI presiding; a sacred dance is
performed with torches, burning incense, and chanting, in
which TSARPI leads.]

CHANT

_Hail, mighty Rimmon, ruler of the whirl-storm,