KING. Magic devices round about us are,
But we are the magicians, we ourselves.
That which is far removed, a thought brings near;
What we have scorned, another time seems fair;
And in this world so full of miracles,
We are the greatest miracle ourselves!
QUEEN. She has thy picture!
KING. And she shall return 't,
In full view I shall nail it to the wall,
And for my children's children write beneath:
A King, who, not so evil in himself,
Hath once forgot his office and his duty.
Thank God that he did find himself again.
QUEEN. But thou, thyself, dost wear about thy neck—
KING. Oh yes! Her picture? So you knew that, too?
[He takes the picture with the chain from his neck, and lays it on the table in the foreground to the right.]
So then I lay it down, and may it lie—
A bolt not harmful, now the thunder's past.
The girl herself—let her be ta'en away!
She then may have a man from out her race—
[Walking fitfully back and forth from the rear to the front of the stage, and stopping short now and then.]
But no, not that!—The women of this race
Are passable, good even, but the men
With dirty hands and narrow greed of gain—
This girl shall not be touched by such a one.
Indeed, she has to better ones belonged.
But then, what's that to me?—If thus or thus,
If near or far—they may look after that!
QUEEN. Wilt thou, then, Don Alfonso, stay thus strong?