ALI
Abdu!
ABDU
I sleep.
ALI
I can read: give me the paper.
ABDU
I am asleep: get up and take it from my belt if you want it,
Ya Ali, I am heavy with a great sleep, like a tortoise in November.
ALI
Ya Abdu, I am too languishing to move. It is a paper and it is written.
It does not matter. To-morrow or the next day it will be read.
ABDU
To-morrow or the next day I shall wake and pass it to you.
(Interval: more interesting ORIENTALS go by.)
ALI
(With sudden inspiration) Blow me the paper, Abdu.
ABDU
Alas, Allah sent thee to trouble the world!
(ABDU blows the paper over. ALI with infinite difficulty spells it out, murmuring:)