SCENE XIII
ADELMA, veiled, with a lantern in her hand. CALAF sleeping.
ADELMA (aside).
O moment I have sighed for long! O love,
That lendest cunning courage unto me!
And Fortune, thou that through all obstacles
Hast led me hither: help a lovesick maid!
Oh, bring me to the goal of my desires!
Silence this yearning, love! And, Fortune, break
These galling fetters....
(She lets the light of her lantern rest on
CALAF, and gazes at him.)
My belovèd sleeps.
Oh, burst not, heart! Dear eyes, how loth I am
To trespass on the rest possessing you!
And yet I must. At once. The short night flees.
(She puts her lantern down.)
Stranger, awake!
CALAF (starts up in a fright).
Whose voice awakens me?
What seekest thou again, thou creeping ghost?
Why are my eyes denied their sleep?
ADELMA.
Be calm!
Only a wretched woman stands before you.
And she does not come, as the other did,
To lure the names from you by trickery.
CALAF.
Let be! You cannot cheat me.
ADELMA.
I cheat you?
Has not a slave been here with such intent?
(Puts her lantern down.)
CALAF.
Yes, and she went as wise, as when she came,
And you will go as wise as when you came.
ADELMA.
You know me ill to be so rude. Sit up
And listen.
(Sits down on the divan.)
CALAF.
Well, then, what is your desire?
ADELMA.
First look at me, and then.... Prince, tell me now,
Who do you think I am?
CALAF.
In shape and bearing
Noble you seem, but by your dress a slave.
And as a slave I saw you yesterday
In the Divan.
ADELMA.
Five years since I saw you,
And then you were a slave.
(Raises her veil.)
Look at this face!
Do you not know it?
CALAF.
Adelma! How! Adelma,
Whom I thought dead!
ADELMA.
She is a serving-maid,
Who was the daughter of King Kaikobad.
CALAF.
Adelma! A slave!
ADELMA.
A slave! I'll tell you why.
I had a brother, blind with love, as you are,
For Turandot. In the Divan he met her.
(Weeps.)
You saw his head above the city gate
With all the others.
CALAF.
It is true, then, true.
ADELMA.
My father Kaikobad, in fury bold,
Led his array against Altoum. Fortune,
The fickle jade, lured him to his defeat
And death. Altoum's general devised
At one fell stroke to extirpate our race.
My brothers he assassinated. Me,
Together with my mother and three sisters,
He cast into the river, then in spate.
The gentle Emperor, coming on the scene,
Ordered his guards to fish us out again.
I was the only one brought to the shore,
And I was led in the triumphal train,
And given as a slave to Turandot,
To wait on the hard-hearted woman who
Was cause of all my griefs. Now, Calaf, speak,
Am I not worth compassion?
(Weeps.)
CALAF (moved).
Indeed you are,
Adelma, Princess of the Carcasenes!
But what can so unfortunate a man
As I am do for you? If fortune smile
On me to-morrow, I will promise help
For you, and freedom. And your grieving now
Can only heap the measure of my own.
ADELMA.
You know me now, my destiny, my race.
May you the better credit a King's daughter,
What pity—I will not say love—constrains her
Now to confide to you. False Turandot,
Malicious, cunning, cruel Turandot,
Soon as the morning dawns, will have you murdered.
All orders are already given. So much
From her, who is the mistress of your dreams.
CALAF (starts up savagely).
She will have me murdered, do you say?
ADELMA.
(Rises likewise, with the most solemn emphasis.)
Yes, murdered:
While you are on your way to the Divan.
A score of swords await your setting out.
CALAF (beside himself).
I will call the guards.
(Makes for the door.)
ADELMA (holds him back).
Bethink yourself, rash man!
The guards? They have been bought by Turandot!
CALAF (in blind despair).
Timur, my wretched father, thus it stands.
With Calaf, thy proud son; he that set out
To seek good fortune for himself and thee!
(Covers his face with his hands.)
ADELMA (aside).
Haha! Timur... Calaf.... Be thrice blest, lie
That lured this forth. Doubly I hold him now.
CALAF.
Can it be possible that Turandot...
How can it be that such an angel's face
Should hide such devilry?...
(Contemptuously.)
No. You deceive me,
Adelma. Go!
ADELMA.
I will forgive your doubt.
An angel's face? Oh, would that you had seen her
As I have! In the harem rages she,
And like a snapping bitch runs to and fro,
Green in the face, and with her bloodshot eyes
Shining with hate under distorted brows.
Doubt if you will. That you should doubt my words
Is not such pain as your approaching death.
(Weeps.)
CALAF.
What treachery! By the very guards betrayed
Appointed to protect me! He spake right,
That rascal of a captain: Gold kills duty.
Life, fare thee well!
ADELMA.
And yet you may escape
Your evil star. Up, I will show the way.
By saving you from death, I save myself
From slavery. With my jewels I have bought
Two of the guards, an escort I have hired,
And horses are in readiness. The Khan
Of Berlas is my kinsman. Leagued with him
Let us invade and seize my kingdom—yours,
If so you will. And this my hand be yours,
If you will have it. But if you will not,
The Tartar Kings are not unblest with daughters,
Fair maidens full of love and fit for you.
Be you the King, and I will be your subject.
Only flee, death. Only deliver me.
And I will conquer even my love, which now,
Crimson with shame, I have confessed.....
Day dawns!
Day dawns! My head swims.... Stranger, flee with me!
CALAF.
In vain. I have resolved to stay and die.
ADELMA.
Then I will, too, stay for a little while
In slavery yet. And soon it will be seen
Which of us two is readier to die.
(Aside.)
Often persistent love attains at last!
Calaf, Timur's son?
(Aloud.)
Stranger Prince, good-night!
(Exit.)
CALAF.
Oh, will this night of horrors never end?
And this fight of the soul that is consumed
In burning love? By Fortune cast away—
Cast into perils, by her hate pursued,
I tarry for the dawn and traitorous knives.
(The scene grows light.)
See, the sun rises. Now the hour is come
For her to feed her pleasure on my blood,
The hour has come that sees my torment end!
SCENE XIV
BRIGELLA, GUARDS, CALAF.
BRIGELLA.
Time's up, your Highness. Fun begins in a minute.
CALAF.
Oh, is it you? Well, carry out your orders!
Be quick! It doesn't matter. Get it over.
BRIGELLA (astonished).
What orders? Eh? I haven't got any orders.
The only order I've got is to escort you to the
Divan. Double quick! The Emperor has already
combed his beard and may appear in the Divan
any minute.
CALAF (in a tragedy tone).
Up, then, to the Divan! What though I do not
Reach it alive? What matters it? See here,
Am I the man to be afraid of death?
(Casts his sword away.)
I need no weapon. Let the Princess know
That I have offered of my own free will
To her assassins my defenceless breast
(Exit.)
BRIGELLA.
What the devil is the fellow raving about?
Women, those damned women! They've been at
him the whole night, not half, and his brain's
collapsed! Hello, you! Present arms! Dress
your ranks! March!
(Exeunt. Music of drums and other instruments of war.)
END of the SECOND ACT.