CALIPH Do I know every slave whom my industrious officials sweep in from the streets? To my knowledge I have never set my eyes on this woman of thine.
HERALD
The maiden Pervaneh!
CALIPH
Let her come before me.
(PERVANEH is ushered into the Presence.)
PERVANEH
(With due reverence) O Master of the World!
CALIPH It is written in the Sacred Law: In the King's presence a woman may unveil, without fear of censure.
PERVANEH
Ah, Master, but only the eagle dare look upon the sun.
CALIPH Thy speech is proud enough for all the eagles, Lady Pervaneh, and I doubt not thy eyes, which I desire to see, are steady in the blaze of danger. Must I command thee to unveil?
PERVANEH Alas, Master of the World, my eyes are dim with long confinement in a jewelled cage, and the wings of my soul are numb. Only on the hills of my country where the rolling sun of Heaven has his morning home, only on their windy hills do the women of my country go unveiled.
ISHAK (To himself, half singing) The hills, the hills, the morning on the hills!