Merchant.
What? Sheriar, Oh yes. And this thy wife?
Gardener.
Aye, lord.
Merchant.
But she is younger far than thou,
And once thou cam'st to me to make complaint
That she and some young lad,—I can't recall ...
Gardener.
It was the donkey-driver.
Merchant.
So I chased
Him from my service, and she ran away.
Gardener (bowing low).
Thou know'st the sacred courses of the stars,
Yet thou rememberest the worm as well,
That in the dust once crawled beside thy feet.
'Tis so, my lord. But she returned to me,
And lives with me thenceforth.
Merchant And lives with thee?
The fellow beat her, doubtless! Thou dost not.
[He turns away, his tone becomes bitter.]
Why, let us seat ourselves here in the grass,
And each will tell his story to the other.
He lives with her thenceforth. Why yes, he has her!
Possession is the end of all! And folly
It were to scorn the common, when our life
Is made up of the common through and through.
[Exit to the right with vigorous strides.]