ANNOUNCER:

The Columbia Workshop, under the direction of Irving Reis.

MUSIC:

FOR AN INTRODUCTION ... GRAND AND GODLIKE ... THEN OUT

ANNOUNCER:

"The Gods of the Mountain" by Lord Dunsany.

MUSIC:

SOMBER, IN BG ... OUT AT [X]

NARRATOR:

Outside the walls of the ancient city of Kongros, three beggars sit in the hot gray dust of the ground. [X]

OOGNO:

These days are bad for beggary.

THAHN:

They are bad.

ULF:

(OLDER THAN THE OTHERS) Some evil has befallen the rich ones of this city. They take no joy any longer in benevolence, but are become sour and miserly at heart. Alas for them! I sometimes sigh for them when I think of this.

OOGNO:

Alas for them! A miserly heart must be a sore affliction.

THAHN:

A sore affliction indeed, and bad for our calling.

OOGNO:

They have been thus for many months. What thing has befallen them?

THAHN:

Some evil thing.

ULF:

There has been a comet come near to the earth of late and the earth has been parched and sultry so that the gods are drowsy and all those things that are divine in man, such as benevolence, drunkenness, and extravagance, and song, have faded and died and have not been replenished by the gods.

OOGNO:

Ah, it has indeed been sultry.

THAHN:

I have seen the comet o' nights.

ULF:

The gods are drowsy.

OOGNO:

If they awake not soon and make this city worthy again of our order, I for one shall forsake the calling and buy a shop and sit at ease in the shade and barter for gain.

THAHN:

(DISBELIEF) You will keep a shop?

AGMAR:

(IMPERIOUS, APPROACHING) Is this a beggar who speaks?

OOGNO:

Yes, master, a poor beggar.

AGMAR:

How long has the calling of beggary existed?

OOGNO:

Since the building of the first city, master.

AGMAR:

And, uh, you would forsake the calling?

OOGNO:

The city is unworthy of our calling. The gods are drowsy and all that is divine in man is dead.

ULF:

They are drowsy in their mountains away at Marma. The seven green idols are drowsy. Who is this that rebukes us?

AGMAR:

I am a beggar, and an old beggar.

SLAG:

(WITH GREAT PRIDE) There is none like my master. No traveler has met with cunning like to his, not even those that come from Ethiopia.

ULF:

We would make you welcome to our town, upon which an evil has fallen, the day being bad for beggary.

AGMAR:

(ADMONISHES OOGNO) Let none who has known the mystery of roads or has felt the wind rising new in the morning, or has called forth out of the souls of men divine benevolence, ever speak any more of any trade or of the miserable gains of shops and the trading men.

OOGNO:

(APOLOGETIC) I spoke but hastily, the times being bad.

AGMAR:

I will put right the times.

SLAG:

There is nothing that my master cannot do.

AGMAR:

Be silent and attend to me. I do not know this city. I've traveled from afar, having somewhat exhausted the city of Ackara. Have you any thieves among the calling here?

ULF:

We have a few that we call thieves here, master, but they would scarcely seem thieves to you. They are not good thieves.

AGMAR:

I shall need the best thief you have. We shall need fine raiment; let the thief start at once. Er, let it be green raiment.

THAHN:

I will go and fetch the thief.

ULF:

(INSPIRED) We will dress ourselves as lords and impose upon the city.

OOGNO:

Yes, yes; we will say we are ambassadors from a far land.

ULF:

And there will be good eating.

SLAG:

But you do not know my master. Now that you have suggested that we go as lords, he will make a better suggestion. He will suggest that we go as kings.

ULF:

Beggars as kings?

SLAG:

Aye. Say, you do not know my master.

ULF:

(TO AGMAR) What do you bid us do?

AGMAR:

You shall first come by the fine raiment in the manner I have mentioned.

ULF:

Well, what then, master?

AGMAR:

Why, then -- we shall go as gods.

ULF:

(GASPS) As gods?

OOGNO:

As gods?

MUSIC:

SNEAKS IN BG ... OUT AT [X]

AGMAR:

As gods. Know you the land through which I have lately come in my wanderings? Marma -- where the gods are carved from green stone in the mountains. They sit, all seven of them, against the hills. They sit there motionless, and travelers worship them.

ULF:

Yes, yes, we know these gods. They are much reverenced here, but they are drowsy and send us nothing beautiful.

AGMAR:

They are of green jade. They sit cross-legged with their right elbows resting on their left hands, the right forefinger pointing upwards. We will come into the city disguised, from the direction of Marma, and will claim to be these gods. We must be seven, as they are. And when we sit we must sit cross-legged as they do, with the right hand uplifted. [X]

ULF:

(CONCERNED) It were well not to anger the gods.

AGMAR:

Is not all life a beggary to the gods? Do they not see all men always begging of them and asking alms with incense, and bells, and subtle devices?

OOGNO:

Yes, all men indeed are beggars before the gods.

AGMAR:

Does not the mighty Sultan often sit by the agate altar in his royal temple as we sit at a street corner or by a palace gate?

ULF:

(CONCEDES) It is even so.

AGMAR:

Then will the gods be glad when we follow the holy calling with new devices and with subtlety, as they are glad when the priests sing a new song.

ULF:

Yet I have a fear.

AGMAR:

(TO HIS SERVANT) Slag! Go you into the city before us and let there be a prophecy there which saith that the gods who are carven from green rock in the mountain shall one day arise in Marma and come here in the guise of men.

SLAG:

Yes, master. Shall I make the prophecy myself? Or shall it be found in some old document?

AGMAR:

Let someone have seen it once in some rare document. Let it be spoken of in the market place.

SLAG:

It shall be spoken of, master.

OOGNO:

Here comes our thief.

AGMAR:

(APPROVING) Ah, he's a quick thief.

THIEF:

Master, I could only procure you three green raiments. The city is not now well supplied with them; moreover, it is a very suspicious city and without shame for the baseness of its suspicions.

SLAG:

(DISMISSIVE) This is not thieving.

THIEF:

I could do no more, master. I've not practiced thieving all my life.

AGMAR:

Ah, you've got something; it may serve our purpose. Now, we must tear them up and divide them amongst the seven.

ULF:

We will each wear a piece of it over our rags.

OOGNO:

Yes, yes, we shall look fine.

AGMAR:

No, that's not the way we shall disguise ourselves.

OOGNO:

Not cover our rags?

AGMAR:

No, no, no. The first who look closely would say, "These are only beggars. They've disguised themselves."

ULF:

Well, what shall we do?

AGMAR:

Each of the seven shall wear a piece of the green raiment underneath his rags. And peradventure here and there a little shall show through; and men shall say, "These seven have disguised themselves as beggars. But we know not what they be."

SLAG:

(PROUD) Hear my wise master!

OOGNO:

(IN ADMIRATION) He is a beggar!

ULF:

(EVEN MORE SO) He is an old beggar.

MUSIC:

FOR A TRANSITION ... THEN OUT

ILLANAUN:

Oorander?

OORANDER:

Yes?

ILLANAUN:

See? Seven beggars approach.

OORANDER:

Beggars? We shall end their approach here.

ILLANAUN:

Yes.

OORANDER:

(TO THE BEGGARS) Who are you and whence come you?

AGMAR:

(MYSTERIOUS) Who may say what we are or whence we come?

OORANDER:

What are these beggars and why do they come here?

AGMAR:

Who said to you that we were beggars?

OORANDER:

Why do these men come here?

AGMAR:

Who said to you that we were men?

OORANDER:

Not men?

BIZ:

CITIZENS MURMUR, PUZZLED

OORANDER:

See? They seat themselves cross-legged. Their right elbows rest on their left hands. (REALIZES) Like the gods of Marma.

BIZ:

CITIZENS MURMUR AGREEMENT ... "Yes, yes."

AKMOS:

Their right forefinger points upward.

MUSIC:

SNEAKS IN ... BUILDS OMINOUSLY IN BG

OORANDER:

I heard men speak in the market place. They speak of a prophecy read somewhere of old. It says the seven gods shall come from Marma in the guise of men.

ILLANAUN:

Is this a true prophecy?

OORANDER:

It is all the prophecy we have.

ILLANAUN:

Should we not investigate this prophecy?

OORANDER:

Let us accept it.

AKMOS:

It may be that they are but benevolent gods.

BIZ:

CITIZENS MURMUR AGREEMENT ... "Yes, benevolent gods."

AGMAR:

(IMPERIOUS) There is no benevolence greater than our benevolence.

BIZ:

CITIZENS MURMUR, RELIEVED

OORANDER:

Then we need do little; they portend no danger to us.

AGMAR:

There is no anger greater than our anger.

OORANDER:

Let us make sacrifice to them, if they be gods.

AKMOS:

We humbly worship you, if ye be gods.

BIZ:

CITIZENS MURMUR AGREEMENT ... "Yes, yes."

MUSIC:

HAS BUILT TO A CLIMAX ... THEN BUILDS TO ANOTHER, IN BG

ILLANAUN:

(SKEPTICAL) You are mightier than all men and hold high rank among other gods and are lords of this our city, and have the thunder as your plaything and the whirlwind and the eclipse and all the destinies of human tribes -- if ye be gods.

BIZ:

CITIZENS MURMUR ... "If ye be gods!"

AGMAR:

Let the pestilence not fall at once upon this city, as it had indeed designed to!

BIZ:

CITIZENS MURMUR ... "Pestilence?"

AGMAR:

Let not the earthquake swallow it all up immediately amid the howls of the thunder!

BIZ:

CITIZENS MURMUR ... "Earthquake?"

AGMAR:

Let not infuriated armies overwhelm those that escape -- IF WE BE GODS!

MUSIC:

HAS BUILT TO ANOTHER CLIMAX ... THEN FADES OUT BEHIND--

BIZ:

CITIZENS MURMUR ... SHAKEN, IN HORROR ... "If ye be gods!"

OORANDER:

Come, let us sacrifice.

AKMOS:

Bring lambs! Quick! Quick! (MOVING OFF) Bring lambs and wine!

BIZ:

CITIZENS MURMUR AS SOME OF THEM HURRY AWAY

SLAG:

(SOLEMN) This god is a very divine god.

MLAN:

Indeed, he has made us.

1ST CITIZEN:

(HUSHED, TO SLAG) He wouldn't punish us, master? None of the gods will punish us? We will make a sacrifice, a good sacrifice.

2ND CITIZEN:

We will sacrifice a lamb that the priests have blessed.

3RD CITIZEN:

Master, you are not wroth with us?

SLAG:

Who may say what cloudy dooms are writhing up in the mind of the oldest of the gods? Or those who doubt.

1ST CITIZEN:

Master, we have not doubted!

2ND CITIZEN:

It shall be a good sacrifice, master.

BIZ:

CITIZENS MURMUR AS SOME OF THEM APPROACH

1ST CITIZEN:

Look, they come now with lamb on a spit. And all manner of fruits to offer.

ILLANAUN:

Our humble sacrifices, Masters.

BIZ:

BEGGARS MURMUR EXCITEDLY ... "Lamb!" "Lambs and fruit!"

THAHN:

Ah, yes, yes! Ah, that leg is not being cooked at all.

OOGNO:

Then I'll take it!

BIZ:

BEGGARS MURMUR HAPPILY AND EAT

ILLANAUN:

(SUSPICIOUS, TO OORANDER) It is strange that gods should be thus anxious about the cooking of a leg of lamb.

OORANDER:

It is strange certainly.

ILLANAUN:

Almost I had said that it was a man spoke then.

BIZ:

BEGGARS' MURMUR SUBSIDES TO SILENCE

OORANDER:

Strange. Strange, certainly.

AGMAR:

(SMOOTH) Is it then strange that the gods love roasted flesh? For this purpose they keep the lightning. When the lightning flickers about the limbs of men, there comes to the gods at Marma a pleasant smell, even a smell of roasting. Sometimes, the gods, being pacific, are pleased to have roasted instead the flesh of lamb. It is all one to the gods; let the roasting stop!

AKMOS:

No, no, gods of the mountains!

BIZ:

CITIZENS MURMUR NERVOUSLY ... "No, no."

AGMAR:

I have not eaten since the world was very new and the flesh of men was tenderer than now. These younger gods have learned the habit of eating from the lions.

AKMOS:

O oldest of divinities, partake, partake.

BIZ:

CITIZENS MURMUR IN AGREEMENT

AGMAR:

It is not fitting that such as I should eat. None eat but beasts and men, er, and the younger gods. The sun and the moon and the nimble lightning and I -- we may kill and we may madden, but we do not eat.

AKMOS:

(WHISPERS, TO CITIZENS) If he but eat of our offering he cannot overwhelm us.

BIZ:

CITIZENS MURMUR ... "Oh, ancient deity, partake, partake."

AGMAR:

Enough! Let it be enough that these have condescended to this bestial and human habit.

ILLANAUN:

(ASIDE, TO OORANDER) And yet he is not unlike a beggar whom I saw not so long since.

OORANDER:

But beggars eat.

ILLANAUN:

Now I never knew a beggar yet who would refuse a bowl of Woldery wine.

AKMOS:

This is no beggar.

ILLANAUN:

Nevertheless let us offer him a bowl of Woldery wine.

AKMOS:

You do wrong to doubt him.

ILLANAUN:

I do but wish to prove his divinity. (MOVING OFF) I will fetch the Woldery wine.

AKMOS:

Ah, he will not drink. Yet if he does, then he will not overwhelm us. Let us offer him the wine.

BIZ:

CITIZENS MURMUR AGREEMENT ... "Yes, yes, the wine. Yes, we must."

SLAG:

(TO AGMAR, MOUTH FULL) Master, you do wrong this roasted lamb by not eating. It's soft and sweet as a maiden's cheek.

AGMAR:

Quiet, fool.

SLAG:

(TO ULF) Why does he not eat?

ULF:

I am minded to fill mine own belly once. He is wise; let him look to his own.

OOGNO:

Look, they come with wine.

THAHN:

Woldery!

ULF:

A goblet of Woldery wine!

OOGNO:

O blessed day!

MLAN:

O happy times!

SLAG:

O my wise master!

ILLANAUN:

(CAGEY, TO AGMAR) Master, this goblet would be proud to have you drink from it.

BIZ:

CITIZENS MURMUR AGREEMENT

ILLANAUN:

What say you?

AGMAR:

I will take it.

BIZ:

CITIZENS MURMUR, PLEASED AND RELIEVED ... "He takes it!" ... THEN, THEY GASP! ... THE BEGGARS, TOO, GASP IN DISBELIEF

OORANDER:

Look! He is spilling it upon the ground.

BIZ:

CITIZENS MURMUR, PUZZLED ... "Woldery wine on the ground?"

AGMAR:

It is a fitting libation. Our anger is somewhat appeased.

OOGNO:

(QUIETLY DISMAYED) Oh, but it was Woldery!

AGMAR:

And now it's the hour at which the gods are accustomed to speak to the gods in the language of the gods, and if Man heard us he would guess the futility of his destiny, which were not well for Man. Begone! All! Begone!

BIZ:

CITIZENS MURMUR UNHAPPILY

AGMAR:

(SAVAGE) Begone!

BIZ:

CITIZENS MURMUR AND DEPART

MUSIC:

BRIDGE

AGMAR:

Are they gone?

SLAG:

All gone, master. The gods are alone!

BIZ:

BEGGARS LAUGH

AGMAR:

(NO LONGER IMPERIOUS) Good. Then give me meat. Much meat!

BIZ:

BEGGARS LAUGH

OOGNO:

Ah! Now we've come into our own.

THAHN:

Now we have alms.

SLAG:

(AFFECTIONATE) O master! My wise master!

ULF:

These are the good days, the good days; and yet I have a fear.

SLAG:

Oh, what do you fear? There's nothing to fear. No man is as wise as my master.

ULF:

I fear the gods whom we pretend to be.

SLAG:

The gods?

AGMAR:

Come hither, Slag.

SLAG:

Yes, master?

AGMAR:

Watch in the doorway while I eat. Sit in the attitude of a god. Warn me if any of the citizens approach.

OOGNO:

But, master, shall we not have Woldery wine?

AGMAR:

We shall have all things -- if only we are wise at first for a little.

THAHN:

Master, do any suspect us?

MUSIC:

SNEAKS IN ... UNEASY

AGMAR:

We must be very wise.

THAHN:

But if we are not wise, master?

AGMAR:

Why, then -- death may come to us --

THAHN:

O master!

AGMAR:

-- slowly.

MUSIC:

OUT

OOGNO:

(AWED) Master, are you indeed a man?

AGMAR:

(AMUSED) A man? A man! (LAUGHS) And until just now -- a hungry one.

BIZ:

BEGGARS LAUGH

MUSIC:

BRIDGE ... FOR THE PASSAGE OF TIME

BIZ:

BEGGARS CHUCKLE

OOGNO:

Only five days of this and I begin to bulge with goodness.

MLAN:

Never had beggars such a time.

OOGNO:

Seven thrones in the great hall for us!

SLAG:

And the fruits and the tender lamb!

THAHN:

The Woldery wine!

BIZ:

BEGGARS LAUGH

OOGNO:

To see them pray to us!

AGMAR:

When we were beggars did we not speak as beggars? Did we not whine as they? Was not our mien beggarly?

SLAG:

The thief comes!

THIEF:

(APPROACHES, BREATHLESS) Master! Master! O master! I have been with those that know all and see all. They know me for one of the craft, but they do not know me as being one of us.

AGMAR:

Well? Well?

THIEF:

There is danger, master, there is great danger.

MUSIC:

SNEAKS IN ... UNEASY

AGMAR:

You mean that they suspect that we are men?

THIEF:

That they have long done, master. I mean that they will know it. Then we are lost.

AGMAR:

Then they do not know it?

THIEF:

They do not know it yet, but they will know it, and we are lost.

AGMAR:

When will they know it?

THIEF:

Three days ago they suspected us.

AGMAR:

Far more than you think suspected us, but have any dared to say so?

THIEF:

Oh, no, master.

AGMAR:

Then forget your fears, my thief.

THIEF:

Two men went on dromedaries three days ago to see if the gods were still at Marma.

AGMAR:

(SHAKEN) They went to Marma?!

THIEF:

Yes, three days ago.

OOGNO:

We are lost!

AGMAR:

They went three days ago?

THIEF:

Yes, on dromedaries.

AGMAR:

They should be back today!

OOGNO:

We are lost!

THAHN:

We are lost!

THIEF:

They must have seen the green jade idols sitting against the mountains. They will say, "The gods are still at Marma." And we shall be burnt!

SLAG:

My master will yet devise a plan.

AGMAR:

(TO THE THIEF) Slip away to some high place and look toward the desert and see how long we have to devise a plan.

THIEF:

(MOVING OFF) Aye, master.

SLAG:

My master will find a plan.

OOGNO: He has taken us into a trap.

THAHN:

His wisdom is our doom.

SLAG:

He will find a wise plan yet.

THIEF:

(OFF) It is too late! Too late!

AGMAR:

It's too late?

THIEF:

(OFF) The dromedary men are here!

OOGNO:

We are lost! The citizens come with them!

AGMAR:

Be silent! I must think.

BIZ:

CITIZENS ENTER, MURMURING

AGMAR:

(IMPERIOUS) Why do you assemble here?

ILLANAUN: (EVENLY, TO AGMAR) Two holy pilgrims have gone to your sacred shrines, where you were wont to sit before you left the mountains. They return even now.

AGMAR:

They left us here and went to find the gods? A fish once took a journey into a far country to find the sea.

ILLANAUN:

(CAGEY) Most reverend deity, their piety is so great that they have gone to worship even your shrines.

BIZ:

CITIZENS MURMUR ... "Yes, worship your shrines."

AGMAR:

They will say that the seven gods were still at Marma. They will lie and say that we were still at Marma. So shall they seem more pious to you all, pretending that they alone have seen the gods. Fools shall believe them and share in their damnation!

OORANDER:

(TO ILLANAUN) Hush! You anger the gods.

ILLANAUN:

(QUIETLY) I am not sure whom I anger.

OORANDER:

It may be they are the gods.

ILLANAUN:

Where are these men from Marma?

1ST CITIZEN:

(OFF) Here are the dromedary men; they are coming now.

BIZ:

CITIZENS MURMUR EXPECTANTLY

ILLANAUN:

(TRIUMPHANT, TO AGMAR) The holy pilgrims from your shrine are come to worship you.

AGMAR:

These men are doubters. How the gods hate that word! Let them not enter here.

ILLANAUN:

(BOLDLY) But oh, most reverend deity from the Mountain, we also doubt, most reverend deity.

BIZ:

CITIZENS GASP AT ILLANAUN'S AUDACITY

AGMAR:

You have chosen. You have chosen. And yet it is not too late. Repent and cast these men into prison and it may not be too late. The gods have never wept. And yet when they think upon damnation and the dooms that are withering a myriad bones, then almost, were they not divine, they could weep. Be quick. Repent of your doubt.

ILLANAUN:

(DEFIANT) Most reverend deity, it is a mighty doubt!

BIZ:

CITIZENS GASP

2ND CITIZEN:

He will be killed. (PAUSE) Nothing has killed him!

3RD CITIZEN:

He still lives!

2ND CITIZEN:

They are not the gods!

BIZ:

CITIZENS MURMUR ANGRILY

SLAG:

(QUIETLY, NERVOUS) You have a plan, my master? You have a plan?

AGMAR:

(QUIETLY) Not yet, Slag.

BIZ:

CITIZENS MURMURING SUBSIDES

ILLANAUN:

These are the men that went to the shrine at Marma!

BIZ:

CITIZENS MURMUR EXPECTANTLY

OORANDER:

(TO THE DROM MEN) Were the Gods of the Mountain seated still at Marma, or were they not there?

BIZ:

CITIZENS MURMUR SUBSIDES AS THEY LISTEN INTENTLY

DROM MAN:

(IN AWE) They were not there.

BIZ:

CITIZENS GASP, MURMUR IN BG

MUSIC:

SNEAKS IN ... GRAND AND GODLIKE ... IN BG

ILLANAUN:

(DISBELIEF) They were not there?

DROM MAN:

Their shrines were empty!

OORANDER:

Behold! The Gods of the Mountain!

BIZ:

CITIZENS MURMUR CHAOTICALLY, THEN IN BG

OORANDER:

Let us go away to prepare a sacrifice! A mighty sacrifice to atone for our doubting!

BIZ:

CITIZENS MOVE OFF, MURMURING

MUSIC:

UP, FOR A BRIEF TRANSITION, THEN OUT

SLAG:

My most wise master!

AGMAR:

No, no, no, Slag. (CONFUSED) I do not know what has befallen. When I went by Marma only two weeks ago the idols of green jade were still seated there.

OOGNO:

We are saved now.

THAHN:

Aye, we are saved.

AGMAR:

Aye, we are saved, but I know not how.

ULF:

Yet I have a fear.

OOGNO:

A fear? Why, we are saved.

ULF:

Last night I dreamed.

OOGNO:

What was your dream?

ULF:

It was nothing. I dreamed that I was thirsty and one gave me Woldery wine; yet there was a fear in my dream.

THAHN:

When I drink Woldery wine, I am afraid of nothing.

THIEF:

(APPROACHES) Master! They are making a pleasant banquet ready for us; they are killing lambs, and the girls are there with fruits, and there is to be much Woldery wine.

MLAN:

Never had beggars such a time.

OOGNO:

When will the banquet be?

THIEF:

When the stars come out.

OOGNO:

Ah! It is sunset already. Ah, there'll be good eating.

THIEF:

Quiet. A man comes.

MAN:

(APPROACHES, PLEADS, TO AGMAR) Master, we implore you; the people beseech you. Master, it is terrible. It is terrible when you wander in the evening. It is terrible on the edge of the desert in the evening. Children die when they see you.

AGMAR:

(IMPERIOUS BUT INCREASINGLY NERVOUS) In the desert? When did you see us?

MUSIC:

SNEAKS IN ... OMINOUS

MAN:

Last night, master. You were terrible last night. You were terrible in the gloaming. When your hands were stretched out and groping. You were feeling for the city.

AGMAR:

You yourself saw us?

MAN:

Yes, master, you were terrible. Children too saw you -- and they died.

AGMAR:

How did we appear to you?

MAN:

You were all green, master, all green in the gloaming, all of rock again as you used to be in the mountains. Master, we can bear to see you in flesh like men, but when we see rock walking it is terrible, it is terrible!

AGMAR:

That is how we appeared to you?

MAN:

Yes, master. Rock should not walk. When children see it they do not understand. Rock should not walk in the evening.

AGMAR:

There have been doubters of late. Are they satisfied?

MAN:

Master, they are terrified. Spare us, master.

AGMAR:

It is wrong to doubt. Go and be faithful.

MAN:

(MOVING OFF) Yes, master. Yes.

MUSIC:

FADES OUT

SLAG:

What have they seen, master?

AGMAR:

(GRASPING FOR AN EXPLANATION, IN DENIAL OF THE OBVIOUS) They have seen their own fears dancing in the desert. They have seen something green after the light was gone, and some child has told them a tale that it was us. I do not know what they have seen. What should they have seen?!

ULF:

Something was coming this way from the desert, he said.

SLAG:

What should come from the desert?

AGMAR:

They're a foolish people!

ULF:

That man's white face has seen some frightful thing.

OOGNO:

Frightful thing?

ULF:

That man's face has been near to some frightful thing.

AGMAR:

It is only we that have frightened them and their fears have made them foolish!

SOUND:

HEAVY PERCUSSION EFFECTS FOR THE GODS' FOOTSTEPS, OFF ... GIANT ROCK FOOTSTEPS SLOWLY APPROACH, IN BG ... THEY GROW INCREASINGLY DEAFENING DURING FOLLOWING--

AGMAR:

Hark! They are coming. I hear footsteps.

THAHN:

(IN DENIAL) The dancing girls! They are coming!

THIEF:

There - there is no sound of flutes. They said they would come with music.

OOGNO:

What heavy boots they have. They sound like feet of stone.

THAHN:

I do not like to hear their heavy tread. Those that would dance to us must be light of foot.

AGMAR:

I shall not smile at them if they are not airy.

MLAN:

They are coming very slowly. They should come nimbly to us.

THAHN:

They should dance as they come. But their footfall is like the footfall of heavy crabs.

ULF:

(PROCLAIMS) I have a fear, an old fear and a boding. We have done ill in the sight of the seven gods. Beggars we were and beggars we should have remained. We have given up our calling and come in sight of our doom. I will no longer let my fear be silent; it shall run about and cry; it shall go from me crying, like a dog from out a doomed city; for my fear has seen calamity and has known an evil thing!

SLAG:

(TERRIFIED) Master!

AGMAR:

Come! We must run from here!

BIZ:

BEGGARS SCREAM IN TERROR

OOGNO:

The Gods of the Mountain!

SOUND:

A FINAL MASSIVE CRUSHING FOOTFALL ... THEN A PAUSE

AGMAR:

(HUSHED, TO BEGGARS) Be still. They're dazzled by the light. They may not see us.

SLAG:

(PANICS) Master! Save me! Save me! I'm turning to sto-oooooone! (WEAKLY) Save me! Save me!

SOUND/MUSIC/BIZ:

THUNDEROUS PERCUSSION EFFECTS AS ONE BY ONE, EACH BEGGAR (AND THE THIEF) IS TURNED TO STONE ... EACH TRANSFORMATION IS PUNCTUATED BY A HALF-STRANGLED SCREAM ... AFTER THE EIGHTH SCREAM, A PAUSE ... THEN THE GODS' GIANT ROCK FOOTSTEPS SLOWLY WALK OFF ... THEN, AFTER A TRANSITIONAL PAUSE--

BIZ:

CITIZENS MURMUR AND APPROACH

1ST CITIZEN:

Masters, we bring great sacrifices--

2ND CITIZEN:

Yes!

1ST CITIZEN:

--to repent for our doubting.

BIZ:

CITIZENS MURMUR AGREEMENT ... "Yes, yes, Masters, yes!" ... THEN FALL SILENT

2ND CITIZEN:

(BEAT, CONFUSED) Their anger will not be appeased.

3RD CITIZEN:

(HUSHED) They are silent.

BIZ:

CITIZENS MURMUR, CONFUSED

1ST CITIZEN:

Fruits and lamb and Woldery wine, Masters! Masters, behold!

BIZ:

CITIZENS MURMUR ENCOURAGEMENT

1ST CITIZEN:

They are cold; they have turned back to stone.

BIZ:

CITIZENS MURMUR SURPRISE ... THEN FALL SILENT

2ND CITIZEN:

(BEAT, REALIZES BUT MISUNDERSTANDS) We have doubted them. We have doubted them! They have turned to stone because we have doubted them!

BIZ:

CITIZENS MURMUR CHAOTICALLY, IN BG

3RD CITIZEN:

They were the true gods!

BIZ:

CITIZENS MURMURING REACHES A CLIMAX ... "They were the true gods!" ... THEN FADES OUT BEHIND--

MUSIC:

TO A GRAND AND GODLIKE CLIMAX ... THEN IN BG

ANNOUNCER:

The Columbia Workshop has offered Lord Dunsany's "The Gods of the Mountain." A special musical score was composed and conducted for this presentation by Bernard Herrmann. The Columbia Workshop is under the direction of Irving Reis.

MUSIC:

TO A FINISH ... THEN OUT

ANNOUNCER:

Tune in next week for the Workshop's adaptation of Oscar Wilde's "The Happy Prince."

This is the Columbia Broadcasting System.