ISHAK
It is the voice of Ishak that has often sung to you.
CALIPH
Why did you abandon me, Ishak, and flee into the night? I do not know
I shall forgive you.
ISHAK
I was weary of you, Haroun-ar-Raschid.
CALIPH
And if I weary of you?
ISHAK
You will one day or another, and you will have me slain.
CALIPH
And what of this day that dawns?
ISHAK
Dawn is the hour when most men die.
CALIPH
Your death is granted you, Ishak; you have but to kneel.
(A red glow on the horizon.)
ISHAK (As he kneels calmly) Why have they pinned the carpet of execution on the sky?
MASRUR
It is the Caliph's dawn.