Part 11 (2/2)

THE EIGHT DOCTORS.

(_Open the first of the sealed papers._ _All together._)

Optime. Hope and Faith! Hope and Faith!

Hope and Faith!

ALTOUM (_joyfully_).

Heaven help thee farther, my beloved son!

ZELIMA (_aside_).

Ye G.o.ds, protect him!

ADELMA (_aside_).

Blind him, O ye G.o.ds!

O give him not to her, or I shall die!

TURANDOT (_aside, indignantly_).

Can it be possible that _he_ should win?

(_To_ CALAF, _aloud_.)

Listen, poor fool! And solve this riddle now:

(_She stands up, and continues in her didactic tone._)

Come, stranger, name those slender pillars twain Which bear a bristling fortress on their summit, A fort which still is in my sire's domain, Although thy heart burns high to overcome it; Pillars in strength and beauty smooth and rounded, On which thy Hope and Faith are firmly founded: These pillars holding Heaven upon their height-- Tell me the names, now, of these pillars white.

CALAF.

(_After some meditation, and with the same bow as before._)

These two white pillars soaring to the skies, That bear a kingdom and all Paradise; That bear the magic land my dreams divine, Which are as slender as a forest pine; Of every prince the very n.o.blest aim; Thine empire's fairest ornament and fame, To which my hope clings like a climbing flower-- I call these pillars twain: KNOWLEDGE and POWER.

PANTALONE.

(_Joyfully_.) Hits the bull right in the eye, my dear Lord Chancellor!

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