The Blood of Rachel
ACT I
Scene I
Place—Shushan, the Capital of Persia.
Time—478 B.C.
[A hall in the palace of the king. Enter Smerdis, the king's jester, and Ahafid, poet and minstrel to the king, from opposite sides of the hall. Ahafid is already an old man, with long grey beard and a little stooped with age. He carries a golden Persian harp on which he plays and accompanies his own song.]
Ahafid
[Sings.]