Act Two / Scene Three
[THE FOLLOWING SCENE TAKES
PLACE INSIDE THE RULER’S BEDROOM]
The Soldier: Your
orders have been carried out to the fullest, o honorable majesty, Ruler of the four
directions and Lord of our time; and Abū Qāsim al-Tanbūrī is present and ready to pay
you the homage that is your just due.
The Ruler: (AFTER A LONG SILENCE)
[COMPLETE SILENCE]
Abū Qāsim: (WITH A TREMBLING VOICE)
It was only through one of
life’s numerous ironies that I ended up a Ruler, by the way, and not my older brother
who was probably much more worthy of it than I. And it was yet another irony that I
nonetheless turned up to be a good Ruler, if I say so myself, and managed to stabilize the
Empire and expand its frontiers.
No one expected that of me
really, after all, I was even worse than our dear departed First Minister in my lust for
carnal pleasures in the days of my youth, oh I swear. by the blessed Ka’abah, I
swear. I remember once spending an entire month in my father’s harem, while the whole
army, the whole army, was busy looking for me thinking me dead, or kidnapped or
something. My father became so mad when he heard where I had been and made a solemn oath
that, no matter what happens, even should my older brother die somehow, I would never
become his successor. Never. Never.
But then such decisions in
our troubled times have always rested in the hands of the army and its glorious generals,
few of whom, very few of whom Arabs like you and me. My father himself was killed
when he became too miserly in his dealings with his own generals, who then went on to kill
my older brother as well, fearing that he would follow in my father’s footsteps.
Then…then, they appointed me in my father’s place, hoping to make me some
sort of a toy Ruler who can be easily manipulated as long as his carnal lust is satisfied.
I had to be pulled from the
bosom of a beautiful young maiden, whom I had just deflowered , and be carted off to the
Great Hall of the Palace to be told of the generals’ decision and to receive their
oaths of loyalty. After the ceremony, I rushed back to my nymph’s warm bosom, where I
stayed celebrating for the next three days. Unbeknownst to my soldiers, generals, and even
me, at the time, those were destined to be my last days of indulgence.
Oh, I have had more than my
fair share of virgins since, after all, it’s only natural, I am a Ruler you see, and
old habits…Well, but there was no longer a sense of frenzy and hunger in the way I
approached them, and there lay the difference. My hunger, my frenzied hunger was
now turned into a different direction, namely: towards the leadership of a nation that was
begging to be led.
As my generals tried to pull
in different direction, each in accordance with his own particular interests and desires,
I played them against each other, destroying some, gaining the real loyalty of others,
and, of course, making new ones, sorry to say, very few of whom were Arabs. The politics
of the army didn’t allow it, you see. Still, it was all too easy, come to think of
it, nerve-taxing yes, but easy, easy nonetheless.
Not too much intelligence
was required through it all, by the way. No, just a fair amount of plain old stubbornness.
Yes, stubbornness, stubbornness. Stubbornness, you see, that mulish quality of the
mind and soul, is often underestimated when recounting the virtues of the greatest
monarchs in history. I don’t understand why. For if you ask me, stubbornness played a
much greater role in the making of empires and great monarchs, than any other quality you
can think of: intelligence, wisdom, virtue, to the end of list.
Virtue? Did I say virtue?
Now, what has virtue to do with leadership? People might wish that it does, they might
imagine that it does, they might compose poems and legends and stories to the effect that
it does, but it really doesn’t, and there is nothing anyone can do about it
too. Virtue is one of those meaningless myths that we create to give ourselves hope, and,
in the process of that, we deny reality, or at least we express our inability to deal with
it as it is. I had absolutely no need of virtue. Does it disturb you to know that, old
man? Does it?
Well, I have to admit that,
at one point in my life at least, it did disturb me. It set a whole series of
events in motion, when it did, leading up to this very moment. For you see, at one point,
this whole issue so consumed me, I…I began…I began to…imagine, no,
no, that’s not the right word, I began to see, actually witness, be
hunted by, all different sorts of apparitions, jinn, ghosts and the like.
I began to talk to them, to
discuss these things with them, I needed to discuss them, you see, and there was no one
around I can trust, no one I can expose my inner frailty to. And you know what? They began
to nag me, those bastards, they really began to nag me. They responded with
questions to my questions, and mocked, mocked, they mocked me and every
answer I offered. They even mocked the very way I searched for an answer and my very
honest desire to find an answer. They showed absolutely no respect for me, for my quest,
for the legitimacy of my quest. They rather treated me as a charlatan, a charlatan.
Now they had no right to do that, no right. Or had they? Had they?
They said that such
endeavors are fit only for prophets, apostles, Sufi scholars, philosophers and the likes.
But have you heard the sort of answers these self-righteous bastards come up with? Have
you? Have you?
Ah, ah, old man, how I envy
you. How I envy you. How I crave to have a life as simple as yours, how I crave
to have a mind as plain as yours, a mind to which such questions can never occur. Or do
they? Do they? Do such questions occur to you too, old man? No, no, of course they
don’t. Why would they? How could they? You never had to lead anything except
your donkey, your stupid old donkey. And you were never surrounded by the kind of greedy
bastards I have always been surrounded with, people whose lust can never be satisfied with
a simple pair of shoes. A simple of pair of shoes. A simple pair of shoes.
[the Ruler begins to laugh, his laughter growing more and
more hysterical. suddenly, he starts beating himself with all his force on the head with
Abū Qāsim’s own shoes]
Abū Qāsim: Help, help, the Ruler is… help, help, help,
the Ruler, the Ruler, stop the Ruler, help, help, the Ruler is…(TO HIMSELF) insane.
The Ruler is insane.
The Soldier: Shut up
old man, just keep away and keep your mouth shut.
Abū Qāsim: I didn’t do anything, please believe me. It
was he, he who…
The Soldier: Oh shut
up, old man, no one is accusing you of anything, just keep your mouth shut.
[A DOCTOR HAD MEANWHILE
RUSHED TO THE SCENE]
The doctor: Hmm. I
don’t seem able to detect a pulse. I think that is it this time.
The Ruler: O ‘Izrā’īl, o angel of death, what
makes you think you are so immune, damn you? What makes you think you are so immune?
The doctor: Help.
Help. He is mad he is going to choke…
[But the Ruler is allowed to
choke the doctor to death. at this moment, the Ruler’s son steps in
The Son: (ADDRESSING THE SOLDIER)
I shall have to go and meet
with the army generals now, you make sure everything stays as it is, I am sure they would
want to come and examine the scene for themselves.
[the son now turns his attention to the awed figure of
Abū Qāsim)
The Son: As for you old man, you can take anything you wish
from this room. Then be gone, be gone and be forgotten.
[THE SON OF THE RULER
LEAVES]
Abū Qāsim: Take anything? Now what can I take. I just want my
old life back, do you think I can find it lurking here in some dark and forgotten corner?
The Soldier: Why
don’t you take some money from that box over there, and buy your old life
back, perhaps with some new and interesting additions, like a concubine, or something.
Abū Qāsim: Now that’s a thought.
[ABÛ QÂSIM FOLLOWS THE
SOLDIER’S ADVISE. THE SOUND OF COINS RATTLING. THEN…]
Abū Qāsim: Thank you for your advise. There, there take these.
Take my shoes, I have no further need for them. As I said, I just want my old life back. I
hope they’ll bring you better luck. Goodbye.
The Soldier:
(SPEAKING TO HIMSELF)
The Shoes |
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lust for salvation, Brother, as though it were a woman, and I - a man.
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