you have never loved me.
SEANCHAN.
[Seizing her by wrist.]
You, a child,
Who have but seen a man out of the window,
Tell me that I know nothing about love,
And that I do not love you! Did I not say
There was a frenzy in the light of the stars
All through the livelong night, and that the night
Was full of marriages? But that fight’s over,
And all that’s done with, and I have to die.
FEDELM.
[Throwing her arms about him.]
I will not be put from you, although I think
I had not grudged it you if some great lady,
If the King’s daughter, had set out your bed.
I will not give you up to death; no, no!
And are not these white arms and this soft neck
Better than the brown earth?
SEANCHAN.
[Struggling to disengage himself.]
Begone from me!
There’s treachery in those arms and in that voice.
They’re all against me. Why do you linger there?
How long must I endure the sight of you?
FEDELM.
O, Seanchan! Seanchan!
SEANCHAN.
[Rising.]
Go where you will,
So it be out of sight and out of mind.
I cast you from me like an old torn cap,
A broken shoe, a glove without a finger,
A crooked penny; whatever is most worthless.
FEDELM.
[Bursts into tears.]
O, do not drive me from you!
SEANCHAN.
[Takes her in his arms.]
What did I say,
My dove of the woods? I was about to curse you.
It was a frenzy. I’ll unsay it all.
But you must go away.
FEDELM.
Let me be near you.
I will obey like any married wife.
Let me but lie before your feet.
SEANCHAN.
Come nearer.
[Kisses her.
If I had eaten when you bid me, sweetheart,
The kiss of multitudes in times to come
Had been the poorer.
[Enter KING from palace, followed by the two PRINCESSES.
KING.
[To FEDELM.]
Has he eaten yet?
FEDELM.
No, King, and will not till you have restored
The right of the poets.
KING.
[Coming down and standing before SEANCHAN.]
Seanchan, you have refused
Everybody that I have sent, and now
I come to you myself; and I have come
To bid you put your pride as far away
As I have put my pride. I had your love
Not a great while ago, and now you have planned
To put a voice by every cottage fire,
And in the night when no one sees who cries,
To cry against me till my throne has crumbled.
And yet if I give way I must offend
My courtiers and nobles till they, too,
Strike at the crown. What would you have of me?
SEANCHAN.
When did the poets promise safety, King?
KING.
Seanchan, I bring you bread in my own hands,
And bid you eat because of all these reasons,
And for this further reason, that I love you.
[Seanchan pushes bread away, with FEDELM’S hand.
You have refused it, Seanchan?
SEANCHAN.
We have refused it.
KING.
I have been patient, though I am a king,
And have the means to force you. But that’s ended,
And I am but a king, and you a subject.
Nobles and courtiers, bring the poets hither;
[Enter COURT LADIES, MONK, SOLDIER, CHAMBERLAIN, and COURTIERS with PUPILS, who have halters round their necks.
For you can have your way. I that was man,
With a man’s heart, am now all king again,
Remembering that the seed I come of, though
A hundred kings have sown it and resown it,
Has neither trembled nor shrunk backward yet
Because of the hard business of
