THE SCORPION
LAYLAH. Sliman
is strong and
brave — my
splendid
boy.
FATMA. Ay, there are hairs on his chin.
But the strongest
and the bravest fall first,
LAYLAH. Thou ominous owl I
Be silent, or I will have thee
whipped.
FATMA. Oh! Oh
! indeed Ι only say what we all know.
If he should die indeed, thou mayst have Sidi Omar left, thy
dear lord.
And Othman, and Akbar, and Mohammedl
LAYLAH. Sliman is my first-born.
FATMA. Ay, he is not like his brothers.
He is square and
solid-set.
He is more like the cedar than the palm.
LAYLAH.
Sidi
Omar's
mother
was
a
princess
from
Lebanon.
FATMA. He is silent and stem.
LAYLAH. Sidi Omar’s father was the holiest man of Syria.
He lived alone forty years in the mountain.
FATMA. He is relentless in anger, and obeys not.
One
would say there was Christian blood in him.
LAYLAH. On the night of his begetting there was Christian
blood on Sidi Omar’s hands.
FATMA. He is as fair as a Christian.
LAYLAH. The men of Sidi Omar‘s tribe are white men,
thou wizened old black witch.
FATMA. Ah! Sidi Omar! Sidi Omar! Sidi Omar! Happy
the prince whose wife is as faithful as thou.
Thou canst not
open thy mouth without uttering his name.
LAYLAH. Do not take it in thine, mother of lies!
FATMA. My mouth has been shut these twenty years.
LAYLAH. What?
Any time these twenty years thou hast
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