“I would not go, though they sent twice to fetch me. But if they sent a third time ...”
Then Chancellor Kwan, with a strange look on his face, drew a pomegranate from his sleeve, put it between his lips, crunched it with his teeth, and spat it at the double-doors.
Suddenly the red pomegranate turned into fire; a great flame flickered over the double-doors.
When the Abbot saw it, he twisted his fingers into the Gesture of Libation; he recited the Water-Spell of the Letter Vam, and the flames died down.
And the double-doors still stand before the Abbot’s cell, on the Hill of Hiyei.
When the two dances were over, the master of ceremonies called for a dance from one of those who had been watching. A girl stepped forward and said she would dance the “Dance of Tora Parting from Sukenari.” Then they called across to the man who had lost his wife (he was over by the other waggon). “Come, you must dance now.” “Forgive me, I cannot dance.” “Indeed you must dance.” “Then I will dance the ‘Dance of Tora Parting from Sukenari.’”
“But this dance,” said the master of ceremonies, “is to be danced by a girl on the other side. You must think of another dance.”
MAN.
I know no other dance.
MASTER OF CEREMONIES.