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in pieces. The Female Figure picks up a stone and is about to throw it at her consort. Arjillax Springing up and shouting to Pygmalion, who is fondly watching the Male Figure. Look out, Pygmalion! Look at the woman! Pygmalion, seeing what is happening, hurls himself on the Female Figure and wrenches the stone out of her hand. All spring up in consternation. Arjillax She meant to kill him. Strephon This is horrible. The Female Figure Wrestling with Pygmalion. Let me go. Let me go, will you. She bites his hand. Pygmalion Releasing her and staggering. Oh! A general shriek of horror echoes his exclamation. He turns deadly pale, and supports himself against the end of the curved seat. The Female Figure To her consort. You would stand there and let me be treated like this, you unmanly coward. Pygmalion falls dead. The Newly Born Oh! What’s the matter? Why did he fall! What has happened to him? They look on anxiously as Martellus kneels down and examines the body of Pygmalion. Martellus She has bitten a piece out of his hand nearly as large as a finger nail: enough to kill ten men. There is no pulse, no breath. Ecrasia But his thumb is clinched. Martellus No: it has just straightened out. See! He has gone. Poor Pygmalion! The Newly Born Oh! She weeps. Strephon Hush, dear: that’s childish. The Newly Born Subsiding with a sniff. !! Martellus Rising. Dead in his third year. What a loss to Science! Arjillax Who cares about Science? Serve him right for making that pair of horrors! The Male Figure Glaring. Ha! The Female Figure Keep a civil tongue in your head, you. The Newly Born Oh, do not be so unkind, Arjillax. You will make water come out of my eyes again. Martellus Contemplating the Figures. Just look at these two devils. I modelled them out of the stuff Pygmalion made for them. They are masterpieces of art. And see what they have done! Does that convince you of the value of art, Arjillax! Strephon They look dangerous. Keep away from them. Ecrasia No need to tell us that, Strephon. Pf! They poison the air. The Male Figure Beware, woman. The wrath of Ozymandias strikes like the lightning. The Female Figure You just say that again if you dare, you filthy creature. Acis What are you going to do with them, Martellus? You are responsible for them, now that Pygmalion has gone. Martellus If they were marble it would be simple enough: I could smash them. As it is, how am I to kill them without making a horrible mess? The Male Figure

Posing heroically. Ha! He declaims:

Come one: come all: this rock shall fly
From its firm base as soon as I.

The Female Figure Fondly. My man! My hero husband! I am proud of you. I love you. Martellus We must send out a message for an ancient. Acis Need we bother an ancient about such a trifle? It will take less than half a second to reduce our poor Pygmalion to a pinch of dust. Why not calcine the two along with him? Martellus No: the two automata are trifles; but the use of our powers of destruction is never a trifle. I had rather have the case judged. The He-Ancient emerges from the grove. The Figures are panic-stricken. The He-Ancient Mildly. Am I wanted? I feel called. Seeing the body of Pygmalion, and immediately taking a sterner tone. What! A child lost! A life wasted! How has this happened? The Female Figure Frantically. I didn’t do it. It was not me. May I be struck dead if I touched him! It was he. Pointing to the Male Figure. All Amazed at the lie. Oh! The Male Figure Liar. You bit him. Everyone here saw you do it. The He-Ancient Silence. Going between the Figures. Who made these two loathsome dolls? The Male Figure Trying to assert himself with his knees knocking. My name is Ozymandias, king of⁠— The He-Ancient With a contemptuous gesture. Pooh! The Male Figure Falling on his knees. Oh don’t, sir. Don’t. She did it, sir: indeed she did. The Female Figure Howling lamentably. Boohoo! oo! ooh! The He-Ancient Silence, I say. He knocks the Male Automaton upright by a very light flip under the chin. The Female Automaton hardly dares to sob. The immortals contemplate them with shame and loathing. The She-Ancient comes from the trees opposite the temple. The She-Ancient Somebody wants me. What is the matter? She comes to the left hand of the Female Figure, not seeing the body of Pygmalion. Pf! Severely. You have been making dolls. You must not: they are not only disgusting: they are dangerous. The Female Figure Snivelling piteously. I’m not a doll, mam. I’m only poor Cleopatra-Semiramis, queen of queens. Covering her face with her hands. Oh, don’t look at me like that, mam. I meant no harm. He hurt me: indeed he did. The He-Ancient The creature has killed that poor youth. The She-Ancient Seeing the body of Pygmalion. What! This clever child, who promised so well! The Female Figure He made me. I had as much right to kill him as he had to make me. And how was I to know that a little thing like that would kill him? I shouldn’t die if he cut off my arm or leg. Ecrasia What nonsense! Martellus It may not be nonsense. I daresay if you cut off her leg she would grow another, like the lobsters and the little lizards. The He-Ancient Did this dead boy make these two things? Martellus He made them in his laboratory. I moulded their limbs. I am sorry. I was thoughtless: I did not foresee that they would kill and pretend to be persons they were not, and declare things that were false, and wish evil. I thought they would be merely mechanical fools. The Male Figure Do you blame us for our human nature? The Female