Scene V Enter Chacho
CHACHO [coming from left]. Get this stuff out of the way.
SALOME. What is the matter? What has happened?
CHACHO. What was to happen? We are ruined. [Behind the scenes are heard threatening voices:] “Here! Yes! No.” [Then Ossep’s voice:] “Come in, come in.”
CHACHO [to Salome]. Do you not hear them?
Enter Barssegh through middle door
BARSSEGH. This is really splendid! I work for my daily bread, and you illuminate your house on my money.
CHACHO [to Salome]. Now you have it.
SALOME [rising]. Are you mad? Show him out.
BARSSEGH. I will show you pretty soon who is to be shown out.
SALOME. Alexander, show this man out.
ALEXANDER [to Barssegh]. What do you want, sir? How can you indulge in such insolence?
BARSSEGH. That is not your affair, sir! I demand my money. Demand yours also if you can. You will be obliged to wait a long while for it.
CHACHO [to Barssegh]. Have you no conscience?
BARSSEGH. I want my money, and nothing more.
Enter Ossep, Gewo, a sheriff and his secretary, Dartscho, and several others.
OSSEP [opening the door with both hands as he enters]. Come in! come in! [The others follow him.] Play, play and laugh as much as you will over my misfortunes!
CHACHO [aside]. Now it is all over with us!
SALOME. Tell me, for God’s sake, the meaning of this.
OSSEP. God will judge you and me also. [To sheriff and others:] Come, make your inventory, put your seals on everything—the house, the furniture, and on the cards, too.
BARSSEGH. Make an inventory of everything.
[The sheriff lists furniture in the background and puts a ticket on each piece. The guests assemble, frightened, on the left side of the table.
SALOME [beating her head]. Good heavens!
MARTHA. This is a disgrace for us as well.
CHACHO [in a low voice to Martha]. You at least should be silent.
OSSEP [pointing to Barssegh]. He has stripped me of my honor. Now you will honor and esteem him. He will arrange for your parties. Yes, he, the man who takes the shirt from my back and possesses himself of all my property.
ALEXANDER [aside]. I have my sister to thank for all this, who dragged me into this house.
OSSEP [ironically]. Alexander, look for a dowry elsewhere, for I can no longer give my daughter one.
ALEXANDER [angry]. What, you deride me as well! I don’t belong to your class, sir!
OSSEP. And has it come to this!
ALEXANDER [taking his hat]. I have not acquired my present dignity to lose it through you.
OSSEP. Ha! ha! ha! His dignity!
ALEXANDER [coming near Nato]. I have loved you truly, Miss Nato, but I must give you up. I am not to blame for it. Farewell.
[Goes to the door.
[Barssegh laughs for joy.
OSSEP [approaching Salome, who stands dismayed, takes her by the arm and points to the departing Alexander]. There goes your official!
NATO [standing at the left near the sofa]. Alexander! Alexander! [Exit Alexander.] Dear Alexander.
[Sitting down on the sofa, begins to cry.
SALOME [in a low tone, striking her brow with both hands]. Why doesn’t the earth open and swallow me?
OSSEP [to Salome]. Now you are punished, are you not? [Turning to Barssegh:] Take it all, now! Satisfy yourself! [Takes off his coat.] Take this also! [Throws it to Barssegh.] Yes, take it! [Takes his cap from the table and throws it to Barssegh.] Make off with this also; I need it no longer.
[Runs to and fro as if distracted.
BARSSEGH [in a low voice]. Keep on giving!
[Turns to sheriff and speaks softly to him.
OSSEP [taking up different articles from card table and throwing them on the floor]. Take these also! Take these also! [Taking a lighted candelabra and smashing it on the floor] Stick that also down your throat!
SEVERAL OF THE GUESTS. The poor fellow is losing his wits.
[Nato crying; her friends comfort her. Salome faints.
CHACHO. Ossep! My dear Ossep!
GEWO [embracing Ossep]. Be calm, dear Ossep. You behave like a madman.
OSSEP [after a pause]. Gewo, I was mad when I settled in this city. This life is too much for me; it was not for me. I am ruined. I am a beggar. He is to be praised who comes off better than I.
[Exit.
SALOME [with her hand on her brow sinks down on the sofa, groaning loudly]. Ah!
GEWO. Poor Ossep!
BARSSEGH [turns from Dartscho, to whom he has been speaking, to the sheriff]. What are you gazing around for, sir? Keep on with your writing.
[Sheriff looks at Barssegh in disgust, sits down by card table and writes.
MARTHA [to the guests]. We have nothing more to look for here. [Aside:] A charming set!
[Goes toward middle door; some ladies follow; others stand offended.
CHACHO [raising her eyes]. Would that I had died long ago, so that I had not lived to see this unfortunate day!
CURTAIN.
Footnotes
1 From the sense and according to the time in which the action takes place, Nineveh must be understood here; and instead of an Arabian caliph, the Assyrian king Sennacherib. There is an anachronism here, as the reader will see, for a king living 800 years before Christ is called an Arabian caliph, though the caliphs first took up their residence in Bagdad in the year 755.
2 The reference here is to the famous monastery of St. John the Baptist, which was built by Gregory the Illuminator during the fourth century, on the mountain of Kark, near the Euphrates, on a spot where heathen altars had previously stood. On certain days pious Armenians made annual pilgrimages to the place. Among them many poets and champions, who, with long fasts and many prayers, begged from the saint the gifts of song, strength, and courage. John the Baptist was regarded by the Armenians generally as the protector of the arts.
[3] So the Armenians called Christians.
4 The original name of this city is Theodosiopol. It was founded by the Greek commander Anato in the year 412 A.D. and named in honor of Emperor Theodosius II. Later it was captured by the Sultan of Ikonika, Who named it Arsi-Rom, “Land of the Greeks.” The Armenians call it Karin, after the old Armenian province in which it lies.
5 Southwest from the Sea of Wan lies a high mountain called Kraput-Koch (“Blue Ridge,” from its blue color). Probably there was a dukedom or kingdom of Kraput-Koch which served as a city of refuge for the wandering Assyrian princes. Perhaps the legend has preserved in the person of the King of Kraput-Koch the memory of the Armenian prince Skajordi.
6 Pipe-bearer.
7 The servant who prepares the coffee.
8 Probably the King’s brother.
9 “Sassun” signifies “pillar upon pillar.” This explains the origin of the name of Sassun, a district of the old Armenian province Achznik, south of the city of Musch. The residents of this district up to the present day owe their independence to their inaccessible dwelling-place.
10 The names cited here exist to the present day. The places lie in the old districts of the Turuberan and Achznik in the present district Musch.
11 The Armenians now call Egypt Mösr. This probably refers to Mossul.
12 Here the story of Sanassar breaks off and he is not mentioned again in the tale.
13 All these names are poetic and refer to certain characteristics of their bearers. “Zenow-Owan” means “melodiously-speaking John”; “Chor-Hussan” means “good singer”; “Tchentschchapokrik” means “sparrow”; and “Zöranwegi,” “cowardly Wegi.”
14 To Mossul.
15 This means that if a captive is to be sold his kinsmen have a right before all others to redeem him.
16 Schariat, the name of the Turkish court of justice, stands in the original.
17 Although me Armenians became Christians in the fourth century, they still retain many heathen customs which have lost all their original significance. They still sacrifice sheep and cows which have on the previous evening been given some salt consecrated by the priests. The meat is cooked in immense kettles and carried around to the houses. The shepherd speaks of soup of this kind.
18 Maratuk is a monastery built on a mountain of the same name.
19 This Turkish title shows that the legend has been altered at a late date.
20 In Armenia, as is usual in the East, they make butter out of curdled milk; and for this reason the vessel is always covered with scum.
21 A valley near Musch.
22 Literally, a table-like mountain.
23 “Emir,” in the eyes of the orientals, is almost the same as “king.”
24 “Chandud” is a woman’s name. “Chanum” means “lady.”
25 An instrument like a guitar.
26 The song in which the bard praises the beauty of Chandud-Chanum is wanting. A certain carelessness is seen generally in the rest of the narrative.
27 The Armenians use, in ploughing, a kind of plough which is drawn by from five to ten pairs of buffaloes or oxen.
28 Sergo-Sarkus (Sergius) so the Kurds called the Christians, regarding them as descendants of St. Sergius, who is very popular among the Armenians of Wan and Musch.
29 The city of Chlat (Turkish “Achlat”) lies northwest of the Sea of Wan. In olden times it was famous for its splendor, its high walls, and its citadel. The inhabitants had been injured by David’s father and wished to avenge themselves.
30 A marsh at the outlet of the Kara-Su, a tributary of the Euphrates.
31 A small river which empties into the Sea of Wan not far from Chlat.
32 Literally, “I will tear in pieces and scatter.”
33 The small city of Kagisman, not far from Kars.
34 A high mountain not far from Chlat northwest of the Sea of Wan. Many interesting legends about it exist. Haik, the ancestor of the Armenian Nimrod, is said to be buried here.
35 Broad, low sofa.
36 Carpet.
37 Long, round pillows.
38 A long veil, covering the head and upper part of the body.
39 A bazaar in Tiflis.
40 A long overcoat.
41 Musicians.
42 Hall.
43 Abace—20 kopecks.
44 Russian measure of length.
45 A district of Tiflis.