PAGE 18
The Rim Of The World: A Fantasy
by
THE GYPSY.
This is my last folly. I come to you, O princess,
and offer all I have–my love, and a bed on the heath under the stars.
THE PRINCESS.
That is not enough, my friend. There are other things.
THE GYPSY.
What other things?
THE PRINCESS.
Dimly, as from another life, I seem to remember the jolting of the wagons that rocked me to sleep, and the good smell of the soup in the big kettle over the fire.
THE GYPSY.
( rising )
This is beyond reason!
THE PRINCESS.
All beautiful things are beyond reason, my friend.
THE GYPSY.
You are a Gypsy?
THE PRINCESS.
I am a Gypsy’s sweetheart. Take me away with you.
THE GYPSY.
How can we leave this palace?
THE PRINCESS.
The way we came.
THE GYPSY.
The wall–
THE PRINCESS.
Is seventeen feet high. A guard of soldiers continually marches
around it. And there are spikes on the top. How did we get over?
That is our secret!
THE GYPSY.
You have no regrets?
THE PRINCESS.
None.
THE GYPSY.
Your promise to the King?
THE PRINCESS.
I am as mutable as wind.
THE GYPSY.
Let us go.
THE PRINCESS.
One moment! There is a girl here I am sorry for.
Can we not think of some way to help her before we go?
She loves the King. Think!
THE GYPSY.
I have thought. She is the rightful Princess of Basque– stolen from her cradle by Gypsies. Tomorrow an old woman from the tribe will come with the proofs. The King will marry her, and they will be happy.
THE PRINCESS.
And I am the Gypsy child left in her place! But is it really true?
THE GYPSY.
What matters reality to us? We are not real.
THE PRINCESS.
Good-bye, then, to this place of solid fact that has
imprisoned us too long. In another moment we shall melt into the moonlight.
THE GYPSY.
Kiss me!
THE PRINCESS.
Not here.
THE GYPSY.
No. There is a fire in our kisses that would shatter and destroy these comfortable walls. Under the stars, among the winds, we shall quench the hunger and thirst of our love. And there let our dream come true….
THE PRINCESS.
Ah, there is a fire in our hearts that will shatter and destroy all comfort, even our own. Not even there, under the stars, among the winds, shall the hunger and thirst of love be quenched. Never shall our dream come true….
THE GYPSY.
It is enough that we go to be companions
of the winds and stars, wanderers with them….
He leads her to the window.
THE PRINCESS.
Over the rim of the world!
They ascend and vanish outside.