Hear, then:
Reveal, O youth: What is that fetter
Which, chaining, sets its captive free,
But broken, makes of liberty
A weary bondage, little better
Than death, to one whose spirits mount and sing
In manacles?
[Calaf remains silent, pressing his closed eyes in thought. Altoum leans forward. The people mutter low. Turandot gazes disdainfully. Soon, letting his raised hands fall, Calaf speaks with tense calmness.]
CALAF
A lover’s ring.