Life Is A Dream [11]
the mountains, over the wide Deep, And set them down to wake in Fairyland.
CHAMB. Oh, my good Lord, you laugh at me--and I Right glad to make you laugh at such a price: You know me no enchanter: if I were, I and my wand as much as your Highness', As now your chamberlain--
SEG. My chamberlain?-- And these that follow you?--
CHAMB. On you, my Lord, Your Highness' lords in waiting.
SEG. Lords in waiting. Well, I have now learn'd to repeat, I think, If only but by rote--This is my palace, And this my throne--which unadvised--And that Out of the window there my Capital; And all the people moving up and down My subjects and my vassals like yourselves, My chamberlain--and lords in waiting--and Clotaldo--and Clotaldo?-- You are an aged, and seem a reverend man-- You do not--though his fellow-officer-- You do not mean to mock me?
CHAMB. Oh, my Lord!
SEG. Well then--If no magician, as you say, Yet setting me a riddle, that my brain, With all its senses whirling, cannot solve, Yourself or one of these with you must answer-- How I--that only last night fell asleep Not knowing that the very soil of earth I lay down--chain'd--to sleep upon was Poland-- Awake to find myself the Lord of it, With Lords, and Generals, and Chamberlains, And ev'n my very Gaoler, for my vassals!
Enter suddenly Clotaldo
CLOTALDO. Stand all aside That I may put into his hand the clue To lead him out of this amazement. Sir, Vouchsafe your Highness from my bended knee Receive my homage first.
SEG. Clotaldo! What, At last--his old self--undisguised where all Is masquerade--to end it!--You kneeling too! What! have the stars you told me long ago Laid that old work upon you, added this, That, having chain'd your prisoner so long, You loose his body now to slay his wits, Dragging him--how I know not--whither scarce I understand--dressing him up in all This frippery, with your dumb familiars Disvizor'd, and their lips unlock'd to lie, Calling him Prince and King, and, madman-like, Setting a crown of straw upon his head?
CLO. Would but your Highness, as indeed I now Must call you--and upon his bended knee Never bent Subject more devotedly-- However all about you, and perhaps You to yourself incomprehensiblest, But rest in the assurance of your own Sane waking senses, by these witnesses Attested, till the story of it all, Of which I bring a chapter, be reveal'd, Assured of all you see and hear as neither Madness nor mockery--
SEG. What then?
CLO. All it seems: This palace with its royal garniture; This capital of which it is the eye, With all its temples, marts, and arsenals; This realm of which this city is the head, With all its cities, villages, and tilth, Its armies, fleets, and commerce; all your own; And all the living souls that make them up, From those who now, and those who shall, salute you, Down to the poorest peasant of the realm, Your subjects--Who, though now their mighty voice Sleeps in the general body unapprized, Wait but a word from those about you now To hail you Prince of Poland, Segismund.
SEG. All this is so?
CLO. As sure as anything Is, or can be.
SEG. You swear it on the faith You taught me--elsewhere?--
CLO (kissing the hilt of his sword). Swear it upon this Symbol, and champion of the holy faith I wear it to defend.
SEG (to himself). My eyes have not deceived me, nor my ears, With this transfiguration, nor the strain Of royal welcome that arose and blew, Breathed from no lying lips, along with it. For here Clotaldo comes, his own old self, Who, if not Lie and phantom with the rest-- (Aloud) Well, then, all this is thus. For have not these fine people told me so, And you, Clotaldo, sworn it? And the Why And Wherefore are to follow by and bye! And yet--and yet--why wait for that which you Who take your oath on it can answer--and Indeed it presses hard upon my brain-- What I was asking of these gentlemen When you came in upon us; how it is That I--the Segismund you know so long No longer than the sun that rose to-day Rose--and from what you know-- Rose to be Prince of Poland?
CLO. So to be Acknowledged
CHAMB. Oh, my good Lord, you laugh at me--and I Right glad to make you laugh at such a price: You know me no enchanter: if I were, I and my wand as much as your Highness', As now your chamberlain--
SEG. My chamberlain?-- And these that follow you?--
CHAMB. On you, my Lord, Your Highness' lords in waiting.
SEG. Lords in waiting. Well, I have now learn'd to repeat, I think, If only but by rote--This is my palace, And this my throne--which unadvised--And that Out of the window there my Capital; And all the people moving up and down My subjects and my vassals like yourselves, My chamberlain--and lords in waiting--and Clotaldo--and Clotaldo?-- You are an aged, and seem a reverend man-- You do not--though his fellow-officer-- You do not mean to mock me?
CHAMB. Oh, my Lord!
SEG. Well then--If no magician, as you say, Yet setting me a riddle, that my brain, With all its senses whirling, cannot solve, Yourself or one of these with you must answer-- How I--that only last night fell asleep Not knowing that the very soil of earth I lay down--chain'd--to sleep upon was Poland-- Awake to find myself the Lord of it, With Lords, and Generals, and Chamberlains, And ev'n my very Gaoler, for my vassals!
Enter suddenly Clotaldo
CLOTALDO. Stand all aside That I may put into his hand the clue To lead him out of this amazement. Sir, Vouchsafe your Highness from my bended knee Receive my homage first.
SEG. Clotaldo! What, At last--his old self--undisguised where all Is masquerade--to end it!--You kneeling too! What! have the stars you told me long ago Laid that old work upon you, added this, That, having chain'd your prisoner so long, You loose his body now to slay his wits, Dragging him--how I know not--whither scarce I understand--dressing him up in all This frippery, with your dumb familiars Disvizor'd, and their lips unlock'd to lie, Calling him Prince and King, and, madman-like, Setting a crown of straw upon his head?
CLO. Would but your Highness, as indeed I now Must call you--and upon his bended knee Never bent Subject more devotedly-- However all about you, and perhaps You to yourself incomprehensiblest, But rest in the assurance of your own Sane waking senses, by these witnesses Attested, till the story of it all, Of which I bring a chapter, be reveal'd, Assured of all you see and hear as neither Madness nor mockery--
SEG. What then?
CLO. All it seems: This palace with its royal garniture; This capital of which it is the eye, With all its temples, marts, and arsenals; This realm of which this city is the head, With all its cities, villages, and tilth, Its armies, fleets, and commerce; all your own; And all the living souls that make them up, From those who now, and those who shall, salute you, Down to the poorest peasant of the realm, Your subjects--Who, though now their mighty voice Sleeps in the general body unapprized, Wait but a word from those about you now To hail you Prince of Poland, Segismund.
SEG. All this is so?
CLO. As sure as anything Is, or can be.
SEG. You swear it on the faith You taught me--elsewhere?--
CLO (kissing the hilt of his sword). Swear it upon this Symbol, and champion of the holy faith I wear it to defend.
SEG (to himself). My eyes have not deceived me, nor my ears, With this transfiguration, nor the strain Of royal welcome that arose and blew, Breathed from no lying lips, along with it. For here Clotaldo comes, his own old self, Who, if not Lie and phantom with the rest-- (Aloud) Well, then, all this is thus. For have not these fine people told me so, And you, Clotaldo, sworn it? And the Why And Wherefore are to follow by and bye! And yet--and yet--why wait for that which you Who take your oath on it can answer--and Indeed it presses hard upon my brain-- What I was asking of these gentlemen When you came in upon us; how it is That I--the Segismund you know so long No longer than the sun that rose to-day Rose--and from what you know-- Rose to be Prince of Poland?
CLO. So to be Acknowledged