Ganem (wildly).
Go not with him!
Gülistane (speaking backward over her shoulder).
I go
Where'er my heart commands.
Ganem (beseechingly).
Go not with him!
Gülistane.
Oh, let us through: there will be other days.
Ganem (lying before her on the stairs).
Go not with him!
Gülistane (turning around).
Thou daughter of old Bachtjar,
Keep him, I say, I want him not, I trample
Upon his fingers with my feet! Seest thou?
Sobeide (as if demented).
Aye, aye, now let us dance a merry round!
Take thou my hand and Ganem's; I Shalnassar's.
Our hair we'll loosen, and that one of us
That has the longer hair shall have the young one
Tonight—tomorrow just the other way!
King Baseness sits enthroned! And from our faces
Lies drip like poison from the salamander!
I claim my share in your high revelry.
(To Ganem, who angrily watches them mount
the stairs.)
Go up and steal her from thy father's bed
And choke him sleeping: drunken men are helpless!
I see how fain thou art to lie with her.
When thou are sated or wouldst have a change,
Then come to me, but softly we will tread,
For heavy sleep comes not to my old husband,
Such as they have, who can give ear to this,
And then sleep through it!
[She casts herself on the floor.]