Part 82 (2/2)
_Zira springs up and goes to the cas.e.m.e.nt in Courtyard and then, plucking a rose, throws it out. She then unlocks cas.e.m.e.nt and goes back to the fountain._
_Young Sultan appears in simple clothes, climbing in._
_Zira. Love scene.
Young Sultan._ His madness to come at daytime.
Since he saw her first three nights ago from neighboring roof-tops cannot rest.
She asks who he is.
He is so different from her father.
His hands so beautiful.
He has love scene, In which they exchange rhymed couplets In Arabian Nights fas.h.i.+on.
He puts a question (line one and two rhyming) She caps it (line three not rhyming, but line four rhyming with one and two).
The girl is witty but natural.
This charms the Sultan beyond measure.
All the women he has had presented to him are so stupid.
She says: '”All the women'!” Who is he?
He says a simple scribe--brought up in a monastery. His uncle wishes him to marry.
He has never loved before, Till meeting Zira.
They embrace.
_Noise of key in gate._ They hear noise.
They separate--He will come back after sundown to see her. She gives him a rose. Then he will tell her something which will surprise her.
He escapes through the window.
_Zira back to fountain, (to her work)._
_Old Woman reenters breathless._
_Old Woman. Old Woman says Zira's father is coming.
Zira._ Thing he has never done during daytime.
Luckily she saw him as she returned from bazaar.
He was coming out of Public Bath, Beautifully dressed.
They pretend to be busy working.
_Noise of key._
_Hajji arrives, dressed in good clothes, curls trimmed and beard combed._
_Hajji. Greetings.
Zira. Zira admires her father.
Old Woman._ Old Woman sent off to get meal ready.
_Hajji. Hajji has great plans for his daughter.
Zira._ His affection for her profound.
He plans for her future.
She is very charming to him, As she naturally wishes to hide her love affair, and get into his good graces.
She takes out her guitar.
Begins to sing to him.
He sways before her admiringly on his knees.
Says she is beautiful.
<script>