FATE--Your sublime father, Chang-won-yin, has gone to his ancestors. You are Chang-sut-yen, the Great, ruler of this province.

(_Gong-bearer strikes gong._)

CHANG-SUT-YEN--I renounce my rule. I am a lover, not a ruler.

FATE--You are a turtle dove. (_To Mandarin._) To your home, and set forth majestic feasting. Chang-sut-yen will honor your house. He rules.

CHANG-SUT-YEN--I rule not. I am a lover.

KWEN-LIN--Exalted one, a lover is a turtle dove.

FATE--It is sometimes given to women to know the truth. Thus Fate is fulfilled, and Chang-sut-yen, the turtle dove, will live upon a Willow plate.

(_Gong-bearer strikes the gong twice._)

(_CURTAIN_)

CHORUS--For your eager ears, for your shining eyes, for your smiling faces, I bow, I bow, I bow.

(_Chorus followed by the Gong-bearer goes behind the curtains._)

THIS YOUTH--GENTLEMEN!

A FANTASY

CAST

A MAN.

A BOY.

This Youth--Gentlemen!

_Scene I--A narrow lane sharply ascending the hill-side. In the distance a lake shimmers in the sunlight. As the curtain rises the BOY is discovered sitting on a huge boulder. He curiously watches the approaching MAN._

MAN--The road is narrow.

BOY--(_Curtly._) I like it so.

MAN--I have followed you from the valley.

BOY--(_Moving aside._) I'll follow you up the hill.

MAN--(_Smiling._) I may wait here.

BOY--I may play. (_He throws a stone across the waters, and laughs as it strikes the surface._)

MAN--(_Sharply._) Now! You have disturbed the frogs and hidden green things!

BOY--A ripple on the waters! It's the smile that quick adorns my lady's face when I tell.... A little ripple--it whispers of spring and youth to the hidden green things. I am glad I flung the stone!

MAN--Youth! A braggart word employed by fools and poets who have not lived.

BOY--Youth! A magic word, the talisman of those who seek the promised land!

MAN--(_Slowly._) I seek the world of yesterday!

BOY--We left it ... yesterday. Your road lies back in the valley.

MAN--I carry a chart in my breast, it marks the place where yesterday stands. This lane leads there.

BOY--It leads to the land of promise.

MAN--I carry a chart in my breast....

BOY--Your chart, it lies! I'm going on; follow if you like.

MAN--What shall you, who have not lived, do when we reach the world of yesterday?

BOY--Show you my land of promise.

MAN--Then haste!

BOY--Never fear. My feet are swift.

_Scene II--A ledge between a deep ravine and the mountain. Night._

MAN--Dear lad, let us rest here.

BOY--(_Laughing._) This is the edge of the world.

MAN--Sit not too near, I beg you.

BOY--I'll dangle my legs over the cliff, and watch the shadow of the devil diminish.

MAN--(_Lying wearily on the ground._) To flutter like a feather from the wing of a soaring eagle--to lie unseen and forgotten among the dead leaves of the forest.

BOY--Come, and see the shadow.

MAN--I feel it on my heart.