(Dance of the sacred cow.)
ACTRESS 2: The Rani is soon to give birth.
ACTOR 1: Call a feast of thousand brahmins. Let us celebrate!
ACTRESS 2: Rani informs her cousin before her husband. Is the Rani giving us an heir?
ACTRESS 1: Mira is desperate.
ACTRESS 2: Is she or isn’t she?
ACTRESS 1: I don’t know.
ACTRESS 2: Extraordinary! Either she is or she isn’t.
ACTOR 2: Perhaps we can ask her later.
ACTRESS 2: No.
ACTOR 1: Call a feast.
ACTOR 2: She doesn’t seem well.
ACTRESS 2: We must find out.
ACTOR 1: Call the brahmins.
ACTOR 2: She seems sick. Let’s wait till later.
ACTOR 1: Ring the bells!
ACTRESS 1: Stop! There is no son. There is no son.
There is no son. No. No. Never.
ACTOR 1: What is happening?
ACTRESS 2: To be good takes a hundred years; to be bad takes only a day.
ACTOR 2: I made it up. She didn’t say anything.
ACTRESS 1: I feel like a monkey with a snake in its paw.
ACTOR 1: Always the beautiful bird is caught.
ACTRESS 2: To be good, you have to climb up, to be bad you have to climb down.
ACTOR 2: She wants to give the Rana a son.
She wants to very much. So she believes …
ACTRESS 2: Very strange!
ACTOR 1: Why did she do it?
ACTRESS 2: To bring dishonour on Kali.
ACTOR 1: Prince Jai said it is not her fault.
ACTRESS 2: Prince Jaimal worries me. Why has he come?
ACTOR 1: He is a brave fighter. Is Uda jealous?
9. No More a Lovers’ Quarrel
ACTRESS 1: Soft music to suggest it’s no longer a lovers’ quarrel. Rana! O Rana!
ACTOR 1: Yes.
ACTRESS 1: You are still here? I mean you haven’t gone up … I mean I came … I came to apologize. It was wrong of me to …
ACTOR 1: Don’t talk about it.
ACTRESS 1: I make so much trouble for the Rana.
ACTOR 1: I am tired.
ACTRESS 1: Don’t go. I want to talk.
ACTOR 1: It’s late. Go to sleep.
ACTRESS 1: Can I get you anything?
ACTOR 1: No.
ACTRESS 1: Rana …
ACTOR 1: Tomorrow.
ACTRESS 1: Can I come upstairs?
ACTOR 1: No.
ACTRESS 1: But I’m your wife. What’s wrong? I want to know.
ACTOR 1: The Rana strikes her.
ACTRESS 1: Do it again.
ACTOR 1: He does.
ACTRESS 1: Tell me what I should do.
ACTOR 1: Go away.
(And he shuts his door on her face.)
ACTRESS 1: Mira looking very hurt, goes and picks up Krishna. She then sprawls on the floor against the same door. She wants to cry but she can’t. She brings up her knees, crosses her arms on them, and puts her face on her arms.
(Musical transition to hear passage of the night. Dawn music.)
10. I Live in a Golden Cage
ACTRESS 1: I must have gone to sleep with you in my arm. What a strange dream I had! There I was in a field and I had a baby in my arms. He had shining black eyes, and a black dress and a black turban.
(Song of the Black Boy.)
ACTRESS 1: Mira passes her hand over her belly and takes a deep breath. She looks out at the stars and the mist; she smells the morning, the trees and the grass, then lifts her arms in a sigh.
ACTRESS 3: Mira? What are you doing at this hour? And look at you with your legs sprawled out like a peasant and your feet facing god.
ACTRESS 1: Mira self-consciously changes the direction of her feet—away from Kali’s image. Then changes direction again. And again. And again until she has made a full unlady-like turn. Oh Jhali, I can’t help it. I can’t put my feet anywhere because he is everywhere.
ACTRESS 3: I woke up with a start because I heard the wolves howling. It was black as night. I lit the lamp and went to your room to see if you were safe and asleep. You weren’t there! The bed was smooth and cold and empty.
ACTRESS 1: I live in a golden cage hung with silk; my food is honey and my drink is milk—but all I want is a nest in a tree.
ACTRESS 3: Where has the Rani been all night?
ACTRESS 1: Look at the day. How ecstatic it is! Smell the trees and the grass. And the mist and the wind in the sky …
ACTRESS 3: There is no morning without a sun.
ACTRESS 1: Nor a night without a moon.
ACTRESS 3: You have been to see someone, haven’t you?
ACTRESS 1: Yes.
ACTRESS 3: A man?
ACTRESS 1: Yes.
ACTRESS 3: Mother, she has a man! A Rani of this house—after all I have done to keep her pure. What if anyone finds out? She also wants to make a liar out of me. I’m an honest woman.
ACTRESS 1: You can tell the truth.
ACTRESS 3: If I tell the truth I will be turned out of the house along with you.
ACTRESS 1: Then do what you like.
ACTRESS 3: Do what I like? But I am your servant. Oh no! I feel like crying. If the Rana finds out …
ACTRESS 1: He knows.
ACTRESS 3: Mother—help me! How did he find out?
ACTRESS 1: He is the one I came to see.
ACTRESS 3: He is ‘the man.’ You didn’t go to meet another man?
ACTRESS 1: No.
ACTRESS 3: Of merciful Mother! You mean everything is all right? What is the meaning of this? What have you been doing here? And with that doll?
ACTRESS 1: He is not a doll. I fell asleep here. The Rana didn’t want me. I tried to go up with him but he shut the door on my face.
ACTRESS 3: Oh no!
ACTRESS 1: He doesn’t want me anymore.
ACTRESS 3: No, Mira.
ACTRESS 1: Love is like a creeper, Jhali; it withers and dies if it has nothing to embrace.
ACTRESS 3: The Rana didn’t call for you, did he?
ACTRESS 1: He will never call for me now.
ACTRESS 3: If you are a proper queen the Rana will call for you.
ACTRESS 1: I am
