The Collected Plays. Rabindranath Tagore

at hand with his quatrains.

      Dada

      Is this the Leader?

      Yes, Dada.

      Dada

      Oh, I am so glad you have come. I must read my collection of quatrains.

      No. No. Not the whole collection, but only one.

      Dada

      Very well. One will do.

      The sun is at the gate of the East, his drum of victory sounding in the sky.

       The Night says I am blessed, my death is bliss.

       He receives his alms of gold, filling his wallet,—and departs.

      That is to say——

      No. We don't want your that is to say.

      Dada

      It means——

      Whatever it means, we are determined not to know it.

      Dada

      What makes you so desperate?

      It is our festival day.

      Dada

      Ah! Is that so? Then let me go to all the neighbours——

      No, you mustn't go there.

      Dada

      But is there any need for me here?

      Yes.

      Then my quatrains——

      Chandra

      We shall colour your quatrains with such a thick brush, that no one will know whether they have any meaning at all.

      And then you will be without any means.

      The neighbourhood will desert you.

      The Watchman will take you to be a fool.

      And the Pundit will take you to be a blockhead.

      And your own people will consider you to be useless.

      And the outside people will consider you queer.

      Chandra

      But we shall crown you, Dada, with a crown of new leaves.

      We shall put a garland of jasmine round your neck.

      And there will be no one else except ourselves who will know your true worth.

       THE SONG OF THE FESTIVAL OF SPRING

      (In which all the persons of the drama, not excepting Sruti-bhushan, unite on the main stage in the dance of Spring.)

      Come and rejoice, for April is awake.

       Fling yourselves into the flood of being, bursting the bondage of the past.

       April is awake.

       Life's shoreless sea is heaving in the sun before you.

       All the losses are lost, and death is drowned in its waves.

       Plunge into the deep without fear, with the gladness of April in your heart.

      Footnote

1 Neither the secondary curtain nor the drop is again used during the play. The action is continuous, either on the front stage, or on the rear stage, the latter being darkened when not actually in use.

      THE KING OF THE DARK CHAMBER

       Table of Contents

       I

       II

       III

       IV

       V

       VI

       VII

       VII

       VIII

       IX

       X

       XI

       XII

       XIII

       XIV

       XV

       XVI

       XVII

       XVIII

       XIX

       XX