Harbonah, let This traitor, Haman, die at once.

_Harbonah_

My lord, You know the scaffold that the premier built For Mordecai?

_Ahasuerus_

The premier! What's that, Harbonah? You mock your king? Let him Be hanged upon this gallows. Call the Jew!

He holds the first place in my kingdom now.

[_Exeunt Ahasuerus, Esther, Haman, Harbonah, and attendants._]

_Zeresh_

[_Who has been concealed in a corner of the hall, advancing._]

At Esther's feet! An Aggagite! Ha, Ha!

A hater of the Jews! You hypocrite!

A lover of this queen! A paramour Of her who boasts that she can trace her blood An unpolluted stream a thousand years To one who watched his humble flocks on bleak Judean hills. A shepherd queen that rules The Persian throne, and you, O Haman, you That fed on venom for her race, are now, Though premier, a cringing, craven wretch, Begging this Jewish girl for worthless life.

"A rainbow over polar snows," ha, ha!

No doubt her grace was fair to look upon.

False-hearted queen, O royal prost.i.tute!

It was your jeweled hand that laid this feast But Zeresh's heart that furnished all the wine!

[_Curtain._]

ACT III

SCENE I

Some time Later. Room in the Palace of Shushan.

[_Enter Ahafid and Smerdis._]

_Ahafid_

[_Singing._]

In the morning man may flourish In the evening be cut down; Dawn may find a hero famous, Nightfall see him lose renown.

_Smerdis_

[_Singing._]

In his youth Ahafid's singing Was the pride of Persia's rule; Now that age has come upon him, Hear him braying like a mule.

_Ahafid_

Still singing like a nightingale, say you?

_Smerdis_

[_Aloud._]

I did. [_Aside_] The long-eared kind that crops the gra.s.s.

_Ahafid_

Haman's hanged upon the scaffold that He built for Mordecai. The Jew now wears The signet ring that sealed his nation's life.

His nation's life? But how can he explain The slaughter of the Persian hosts?

_Smerdis_

Now if he would, I think he could, and if he should, He'd thus explain: "The hosts were slain because my brain Was not insane. So I raised Cain, obtained the reign Of this campaign, and still remain, though they were slain."

_Ahafid_

I think I must be growing deaf. You rhymed?

_Smerdis_

I only spoke a little joke. If I could sing, I'd say the ring, And not the king explains the thing.

_Ahafid_

But does The G.o.d of Abraham inspire revenge?

The worshippers of Moloch would have shrunk From such a day of death. I marvel that Queen Esther did not intervene. She rules The king. But wherefore did I say the king?

_Smerdis_

I think it must have been to rhyme with ring.

_Ahafid_

Darius' son's a spineless debauchee.

[_Sings._]

The Jew the purple robe enfolds And eke the royal gown; For Mordecai the sceptre holds And Esther wears the crown.

[_Exit Ahafid._]

_Smerdis_