While he is doing
so,_
MAGUELONNE
_opens the door of the inn and lets
out_ THE KING, _who goes off singing gaily in the
opposite direction.
World's Greatest Books - Volume 17 - Poetry and Drama
It is the King!
Now let the heavens break above my head,
And the earth rock and open at my feet!
The vengeance of a clown shakes the whole world!
Francois, the pivot on which Europe turns,
Is broken. German, Spaniard, and Turk
Can make a slaughterhouse of Christendom.
The King of France is dead!
[_Leaping up in a fury, he kicks the sack._
Francois the First,
Do you remember how you treated me?
Who is the dog now, eh?--the dog to kick
And tumble about to make the courtiers laugh?
You liked my daughter, did you? A clown's brat
Found favour with a king! You stooped too low.
This is the road that you must take.
[_He drags the sack to the parapet.
While he is doing
so,_
MAGUELONNE
_opens the door of the inn and lets
out_ THE KING, _who goes off singing gaily in the
opposite direction.
_
TRIBOULET (_lifting the sack on the parapet, to push
it over_): Go down!
THE KING:
Oh, woman is fickle, and man is a fool
To trust in her word!
TRIBOULET: Oh, God! Whose voice is that?
[_He pulls back the sack._
THE KING (_now unseen in the darkness_):
She changes without any reason or rule,
As her fancies are stirred.
TRIBOULET: He has escaped! (_Running up to the
inn_) Accursed villains, you have cheated me! (_He
pulls at the door, but it will not open_.)
Who have they put in the sack?
[_He returns to it._
Some innocent wayfarer? I must see.
