THE PRINCESS. (sadly) Yes—there was order before the world began its tumult, and there will be quiet when the final night sets in. I am only a spark in the great darkness, a cry in the wide silence.
THE KING. Do you submit?
THE PRINCESS. I am not stronger than death. I submit. I would not have those truck drivers leaving their sweethearts to go to war on account of me. (She goes up to the curtain, and touches it.) How thin the prison-wall is! And yet it shuts me away from the sunlight.
THE KING (gently) I am a good king, and I shall be a good husband.
THE PRINCESS. It will be easy for you, perhaps. To me it will not come so easy to be a good wife.
THE KING. Put yourself in my hands, and I will teach you.
THE PRINCESS. I will try. (She kneels at his feet.) O King, I will be obedient to you in all things. I will obey your commands, and be as you wish me to be—a good wife and a good queen.
THE KING. (taking her hand and raising her to his side) For my sake!
THE PRINCESS. For the sake of the truck driver and his sweetheart.
THE KING. As you will.