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The King in Yellow: The Infamous Play moz-extension://7e491b43-38d3-4006-9e59-fb9067d89810/re...

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The King in Yellow: The Infamous Play

The Author in Yellow

89 - 113 minutes

“I pray that God may curse the author as the author curses this world with his
beautiful and stupendous creation, terrible in its simplicity, irresistible in its
truth—a world that now trembles before the King in Yellow. When the French
government seized the translations that had just arrived in Paris, London, of
course, became impatient to read it. It is a notorious fact that the book spread
like a contagious disease, from city to city, from continent to continent,
prohibited here, confiscated there, denounced by the press and the Church,
censored even by the most avant-garde literary anarchists. No definite
principle had been violated in those sly pages, no doctrine promulgated, no
conviction outraged. There was no known standard by which to judge it, and
although it was acknowledged that The King in Yellow reached the highest
degree of art, everyone nevertheless felt that human nature could not bear
such tension nor rejoice in these words into which the essence of the purest
poison insinuated itself. The banality and the very innocence of the first act
only allowed the blow to fall afterwards with an even more dreadful effect.

Excerpt from The Reputation Restorer,

a short story from The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers,
1895
CASSILDA, queen of Hastur
CAMILLA, daughter of Cassilda
ALDONES, archon of Hastur
NAOTALBA, high priest of Yhtill
CASTILLON, old courtier OSTON,
great courtier
THALE, young courtier, cousin of Uoht
UOHT, young courtier, cousin of Thale A
PENGUIN
A PROSTITUTE
A MADMAN

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A STRANGER

ACT I

A large balcony in the highest tower of Hastur's palace, overlooking the city—a
railing at the front of the stage represents the balcony, and at the back of the
stage, two large French windows open onto the ballroom, where silhouettes
can be seen. Present in the center are Uoht, Thale, Aldones, Oston, and
Castillon, conversing together. Apart, leaning on the railing on the stage side,
are Camilla and Naotalba. The stranger, at the far end on the stage side, looks
into the distance. There is a stone throne at the back of the stage, between
two buffets filled with food and wine. All the guests, without exception, wear
masks. There is no trace of yellow in either the sets or the costumes, except
for the stranger, who wears a tattered, yellowish cloak and a pale, cadaverous
mask.

Scene 1.

UOHT

Aldebaran shines in the distant sky, Between

the whirling moons it sparkles; And as its
beautiful diurnal azure shines
Among the high Hyades, mysterious and nocturnal! But
the soft light of the blue star
Is but a pale and faint light before Camilla's eyes.

The dying twilight of the twin suns Ignites and

iridescent the sky with red tinsel. Nothing warms more
than the setting purple When I dread the cold of the
declining evening. But even in the crimson hour, the
flames of the heavens Are a poor wonder compared to
the hair
From Camilla.

The slow clouds roll against the shores of the great

lake Hali, renowned as the wise one. My soul is
soothed by the swirls of its waves when I sail and
wander, dreamy, on its waters. But in more pleasant
waves my heart drowns, in the whirlpools and foam
of the voice

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From Camilla.

Outside Hastur, there are no nobler houses, and its

towers rise beyond the horizon. Its palace is made of
precious and pure stones; of reveries too, when I
wander within its walls. But the most beautiful jewel
of the ancient city
The magnificent Camilla will forever
remain.

THALE

Alas, cousin! We understood that you loved him! Could you not spare us the
outpourings of your heart? Do you know that it is hardly amiable to declaim
a passion to a company that is not its object?

UOHT

It is difficult for me to contain the turmoil of my soul, and the world seems troubled
to me when she is not there.

THALE

So don't come and disturb ours! She's here: go and recite your pretty
courtesies to her and let us enjoy the party.

UOHT

Let the Hyades bear witness, I dare not! For she is a sun and I am but a
shadow: I shall faint before her. She is a great princess, of the most legendary
dynasty! Our House is so small, my cousin, what arrogance would allow me to
present myself to her?

THALE

So remain a poet, my poor Uoht, but for the grace of Yhtill! May your poetry
be silent!

ALDONES

Your cousin's gallantry might not be out of place, dear Thale.

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THALE

What do you mean by that, dear Archon?

ALDONES

Queen Cassilda grows older with each passing day. And each passing year
separates her further from her throne. One fateful day, she will join the
deceased King Alar in the tomb. Who will then accompany young Camilla
through her reign if not her husband?

THALE

This husband would become king?

ALDONES

Only the child born of this union will be the legitimate heir to the line of
Hastur. The father, until his birth, will only be regent. But in his capacity, yes, a
king.

CASTILLON

Impossible !

OSTON

Queen Cassilda wouldn't dare entrust Hastur's future to any of her daughter's
suitors!

THALE, casting a lustful glance at Uoht

But to conquer a heart is to conquer a kingdom. And the empire of love is one
like any other.

UOHT

Stop, that's enough, cousin! I can tell you. What unworthy views your pride
serves! I will prevent you from sacrificing innocent Camilla on the altar of your
ambition!

THALE, mocking

What are you going to do? Do you intend to challenge me? Will you dare to sink my

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blood, which is also yours? The outrage it would be to assassinate one's

own House! And can Camilla's love then overcome the resplendent shame
that will surround you? No, my noble Uoht. We are now at war, I grant
you, but our only battlefield stands in a place where you dare not go.

UOHT

Contemptible yellow! I swear, before the Hyades are extinguished, that I will
keep Camilla from your arms!

THALE

May your wishes come true in Carcosa, my cousin!

Uoht leaves the group to lean on the railing on the stage right. Thale, Aldone,
Oston, and Castillon go to help themselves to the buffet. The stranger slowly
moves towards the stage right.

CAMILLA

May I confide in you, O High Priest?

NAOTALBA

I will listen to everything you have to say to me, my child.

CAMILLA

The masks were my idea.

NAOTALBA

Really? Where did you get the inspiration for this masquerade?

CAMILLA

Mother judges me old enough to choose a husband. She sometimes tells me

how happy I am to have a man by her side; that solitude for a woman is a very
cruel misfortune and that only a family can prevent it. Does she think I am
fooled by her words? I know that behind these words hides her desire for an
heir, and I, daughter of Hastur, understand the duty that falls upon me and
would submit to it as it should be.

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NAOTALBA

But the masks, my child?

CAMILLA

Choosing a husband is difficult. For he cannot only be the one chosen by my

heart, but also the one who will maintain the city when Mother dies. Yet... I
would have liked to have the freedom to love and be loved. Would that Yhtill
had given me a brother to relieve me of this obligation! Love would have been
dear to me, yes, if my beloved were not to be a sovereign.

NAOTALBA

And the masks, my child?

CAMILLA

I cannot let Hastur's future be built on the raptures of my fickle soul. A throne
is not worth the illusion of a pretty face, and for me true beauty must be found
elsewhere. The mind is something invisible to the eyes and only understands
the heart. So, I have asked for tonight that we hide what we see to reveal what
we do not see.

NAOTALBA

The wise Hali said, "We were born from the depths of Yhtill whole, body and
soul united as one. For the body is the mind and the mind is the body."
Amputating one from the other will only give you half, but the whole must
govern.

CAMILLA

First, let souls be tested. When midnight strikes, we will all unmask
ourselves, and only then will bodies have the right to exist.

Oston and Castillon come forward, plate in hand for Oston, a cup of wine for
Castillon.

OSTON

What do you think, my good Castillon, of this story of a husband and a regent?

CASTILLON

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I am just as outraged as you are, my dear Oston. Love seems to have

become master of Hastur's destiny, and I don't like it.

OSTON

Think that one of the frivolous people in this assembly could reign...

CASTILLON

…that he just has to make eyes at Camilla and marry her.

OSTON

Imagine the wedding happening tonight! The lucky fellow must already
be among us.

CASTILLON

Or be one of us…

OSTON

Well Castillon, you're not ambitious, are you?

CASTILLON

Come on, dear Oston! And you yourself, do you consider...?

OSTON

Come on, come on! We're fine the way we are!

CASTILLON

However, the subject is a sensitive one. Shouldn't the announced regent be

of our rank?

OSTON

Do you think the plebs can come and pay court here?

CASTILLON

She will have her chance tonight, but she is not to be feared, my dear Oston.
I was thinking rather of some young upstarts, ambitious and

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pretentious, with a definite taste for disorder. They have a pleasant turn in the
eyes of a young girl, but once made king, a single word from their mouths
would be enough to desolate all of Yhtill, to throw the lakes to the stars and
the stars to the lakes, and to confound the suns! They could just as easily paint
Hastur yellow and rename it Carcosa!

OSTON

Ah, ruin awaits us! Never have the Hyades been blacker! What shall we
do? What shall we do?

CASTILLON

It's simple: let's find the best match for Camilla.

OSTON

But who would it take?

CASTILLON

It takes a noble spirit…

OSTON

Noble, of course!

CASTILLON

Let him be wise…

OSTON

Let him listen to us!

CASTILLON

Not power-hungry…

OSTON

Let us be his advisers in all matters!

CASTILLON

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Generous, and fair…

OSTON

With good people!

CASTILLON

And finally respectful of the natural order.

OSTON

Let him leave the top above and the bottom below!

CASTILLON

Really, my dear Oston, who could this prince be?

OSTON

What do you think of young Uoht, my good Castillon?

CASTILLON

This smug fellow? He only has eyes for Camilla. Will he even linger on the
throne?

OSTON

Exactly! He will need wise and trusted people, friends to guide his
governance.

CASTILLON

Frank friends.

OSTON

Close friends!

CASTILLON

How grateful young Uoht would be to us if, thanks to us, he were to

marry Camilla...

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OSTON

We no longer make intimate benefactors! And this is a significant debt for which
he will never cease to thank us.

Castillon and Oston seize Uoht. Naotalba left Camilla to help herself to the
buffet.

OSTON

Don't just sit there and mope!

CASTILLON

There are so many pretty women at this ball. Oh, if only I were young like you...

OSTON

Oh, if only I were as slim as you!

CASTILLON

So prick!

OSTON

Pick up!

CASTILLON

To the assault!

OSTON

And no pity!

UOHT

I salute your passion, dear sirs, and this compassion with which you honor
me. But all the other beauties of this night are invisible to me when
Camilla alone appears.

CASTILLON

So your heart has made a choice.

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OSTON

It's beautiful; you have to follow it!

CASTILLON

Myself when I was a young man...

OSTON

Like you, a love once consumed me!

CASTILLON

What wouldn't I give to relive those beautiful days...

OSTON

And consume in turn!

CASTILLON

Nothing is more wonderful.

OSTON

Nothing is more delicious!

CASTILLON

So, go! Go see her.

OSTON

And thank us later!

UOHT

Ah, I wouldn't dare! I am the tiniest insect compared to this goddess, a tiny
sir compared to this future queen. I am unworthy!

OSTON

Worthy? And your cousin, is he more worthy than you? Is he worthy of

Camilla?

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CASTILLON

Remember his views, remember his vile pretensions.

OSTON

Are you abandoning Camilla to this pernicious man?

CASTILLON

Hadn't you sworn to protect her from that wicked envious man?

UOHT

Yes. Yes. But… oh, am I not going beyond my proper place? Will she not call
me arrogant when she sees me?

CASTILLON, placing his hand on Uoht's mask

There! What am I touching?

UOHT

My mask, dear sir...

CASTILLON

Can we see your face when you wear it?

UOHT

Certainly not…

CASTILLON

Can you see the young Uoht when you carry him?

UOHT

No, maybe, although...

OSTON

No! For then you are no longer young Uoht. Until midnight strikes, you
are… a mysterious stranger. And as mystery is

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handsome, you are a handsome stranger.

CASTILLON

It doesn't matter which of your ranks is last.

OSTON

No matter how small your house is.

CASTILLON

Only your inner value will be seen.

OSTON

And that is the essential thing in the eyes of the heart.

UOHT

You're right. And I swore! And my love is worthy!

CASTILLON

Go! Be a conqueror.

OSTON

And thank us later!

Uoht, with a hesitant step, approaches Camilla alone, leaning on the railing
on the courtyard side. Aldones addresses Oston and Castillon.

ALDONES

Why don't you do your courting yourselves?

CASTILLON

You yourself, at Archonte, why don't you do your own?

ALDONES

I'm very happy where I am.

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OSTON

So we'll be fine wherever you are.

Aldones retreats to the garden side. Oston and Castillon hurry to help themselves to
more food at the buffet before spying on Uoht approaching Camilla.

UOHT

Camilla…

CAMILLA

Yes ?

UOHT

You are beautiful tonight. I don't need to see it: I know it. You hide your
charms under a few fineries; but the heart has a more piercing gaze than the
eyes, and hidden under a thousand masks still, I will recognize you among
them. A secret grace moves each of your gestures, and even muffled under
your disguise, your crystalline voice rings in my ears like a loving echo.

CAMILLA

That's a nice compliment. Thank you, dear sir.

UOHT

Your words, Camilla, fill my entire soul, and I have never been happier than on
this day. Will you allow me to stay with you longer? Your presence beautifies
everything, and this moment is certainly the most beautiful.

CAMILLA

So stay if this moment is so pleasant for you.

A silence

UOHT

Camilla…

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CAMILLA

Do you know how to speak other than through declamations and spiel?

UOHT

I let the voice of my soul free...

CAMILLA

Maybe you should force her.

UOHT

The heart…

CAMILLA

…surely is nothing without the mind. You love me. I don't need to hear you say
it: I know it. For the heart has finer hearing than the ear, and hidden beneath
a thousand words, I will recognize the trembling voice of a man in love. But
wise Hali said that love alone is no love, and that worship only befits the
divine, and the divine Yhtill. I will grant none of your wishes tonight and you
will grant none of mine. Let us part here, I pray you. Be far less when midnight
strikes, if you wish to continue to mask your embarrassment.

Uoht moves to the back of the stage, quickly joined by Castillon and Oston.

THALE, without realizing that he was addressing a foreigner

Ha! So my cousin had more courage than I expected, and much less charm.
(Realizing who he was talking to and moving away) Fi! What a nasty outfit you
have there!

Aldones goes to meet Naotalba, at the railing, in the center of the scene,
contemplating the distance.

ALDONES

You seem troubled, O high priest Naotalba.

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NAOTALBA

Archon Aldones. Yhtill sent me a dream last night. Only unspeakable

fragments remain, and every time I think I remember them, they vanish like a
warm breath on a winter evening. Only one image still haunts me, the yellow
specter of a quivering city beyond the shores of Hali and Demhe.

ALDONES, mockingly

Is the high priest of Yhtill dreaming of Carcosa?

NAOTALBA

Damned! Too many of you use this blasphemy too lightly! You don't know
what you are invoking.

ALDONES

Queen Cassilda sings a different song. You should share your fears with her.

NAOTALBA

I lost the queen's ear long ago. She became deaf to Hali's wisdom. And
after I reproached her for her singing, she never confided anything to me
again.

ALDONES

What a pity. I had hoped her soul was still listening to you. The queen's
melancholy grows day by day. I can govern her affairs, but she gives me less
and less authority, obsessing over the slightest thing that escapes her. When I
appear before her, she seems to look elsewhere, and I have to wait a long time
in silence. Then, when her eyes finally rest on me, she removes another charge
from me. I am the last of her advisors, and soon, as archon, I will have only the
title.

NAOTALBA

I, too, fear that madness will take hold of her permanently. I still marvel
at the orderliness of her reign. But… Hastur wavers.

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ALDONES

Are your priesthoods still going?

NAOTALBA

I don't know, or I know only too well. The temples are empty. The people no
longer come to listen to the proverbs of the wise Hali. And the preachers
abandon Yhtill without a word. Soon, from high priest, I will have only the title.

ALDONES

Was your dream a bad omen?

NAOTALBA, turning his gaze towards the sky

The Hyades are darkening.

ALDONES, looking in turn

No, it's just a cloud passing by in the evening.

Castillon and Oston, after having consulted fiercely in silence at the back of
the stage, seize Camilla.
CASTILLON, pointing to Uoht

Just now we saw this infamous opportunity.

OSTON

Truly, there are some who do not know how to talk to women.

CASTILLON

We come to talk to you directly.

OSTON

In truth, we intend to court you.

CASTILLON

It's honest, admit it.

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OSTON

In terms of franchising, you can't do better.

CAMILLA, sarcastic

It would be difficult to contradict you.

CASTILLON

We will not go into tributes and compliments.

OSTON

You are beautiful once, repeating it is a waste of time.

CASTILLON

You know it.

OSTON

We know it.

CAMILLA, sarcastic

You are gallant, dear sirs.

CASTILLON

We have learned of the heavy task that has been entrusted to you.

OSTON

Choose a regent and conceive an heir.

CASTILLON

The future is in your charge.

OSTON

We want to relieve you of this.

CAMILLA, sarcastic

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How careful you are.

CASTILLON

You definitely need a husband.

OSTON

Worthy of Hastur and worthy of you.

CASTILLON

It is true, my lady, that I have remained an old bachelor...

OSTON

Know, my lady, that I am a very well-to-do husband...

CASTILLON

But never, my lady, have I remained without reputation.

OSTON

If it were possible, my lady, my deceased wives could testify to it.

CASTILLON

Finally, age is not without value.

OSTON, patting his stomach

The flesh is good where it is!

CASTILLON

My palaces are the most beautiful in Hastur.

OSTON

My lands are the fattest in Yhtill!

CASTILLON

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I have a hundred servants under my command.

OSTON

I have a thousand peasants at my beck and call!

CASTILLON

Goods and art in all my coffers.

OSTON

My granaries are full of grain and wheat!

CASTILLON

I am much more knowledgeable about administering a kingdom.

OSTON

I am much bolder in expanding an empire!

CASTILLON, turning to Oston

I will make the name of Hastur resound through the centuries!

OSTON, turning to Castillon

I will inscribe Hastur's name on the brow of eternity!

CASTILLON, grabbing Oston by the collar

We will sing the praises of King Castillon!

OSTON, grabbing Castillon by the collar

We will dance to celebrate Emperor Oston!

CAMILLA, separating them

Stop! Stop, dear sirs. Neither one nor the other! You are of too equal worth;
choosing one would be an unjust dishonor for the other. I prefer you where
you are, among the most worthy lords. Do not fight for my hand, I beg you.
Remain the good friends that you are and know how to advise me when the
day comes.

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Camilla moves away to the garden side.

CASTILLON

Really, what has our treacherous ambition done to us?

OSTON

Camilla is right, our friendship is a much more beautiful mistress.

CASTILLON

My friend, you are the most precious thing in the world to me.

OSTON

And I, my friend, am more loyal to you than any woman.

CASTILLON

Come on, let's walk together. Arm in arm...

OSTON

Arm in arm, at every moment...

CASTILLON

…at every moment, together, my friend, together!

OSTON

And we will laugh at all our sorrows!

Oston and Castillon walk arm in arm back to the buffet. Naotalba, as he moves,
bumps into the stranger.

NAOTALBA

Forgive me, I... (He looks at the stranger) The color of your rags is heresy.
And this pale mask you wear is absolutely repugnant. If it had been in my
power, I would have had you arrested.

The stranger stares at him silently. Naotalba leaves him, suppressing a shudder.
Thale, leaning on the courtyard balcony, looks out over the city of Hastur.

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below. Aldones joins him.

ALDONES

The view is superb, isn't it? From this height, we can contemplate the
expanses of Hastur as far as the farthest horizon. It must certainly be
a change from your flat countryside.

THALE

Certainly. However, I find some benefits in staying close to the earth.

ALDONES

Your cousin Uoht has been here longer than you. Has he shown you around
the city?

THALE

He barely consented to leave the heights of the palace. He persists in saying

that there is nothing more beautiful outside.

ALDONES

In this sense, he cannot be wrong.

THALE

I am more attached to this proverb of the wise Hali: "The beautiful and the ugly
are joint parts of Yhtill. To see one and ignore the other is to live halfway, and
to live halfway is not to live." I prefer to see everything and not get lost in the
dazzling.

ALDONES

You are a learned scholar. What have you seen beyond the dazzling?

THALE

I left the marble and ivory walls of the palace. I walked through the queen's
lush gardens, where every leaf is an emerald and every flower a ruby.
Following paths paved with shining onyx, I

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crossed the heavy gates of the enclosure, made of steel so blue that they seem to
be made of sapphire, and I ventured alone into the streets of Hastur. In the
provinces, they sing of the wonders of the city against which the waves of Lake
Hali rock, that its flourishing streets are a permanent festival where songs follow
one another with cries of joy, that it shelters so many splendors that a hundred
days would not be enough to discover them all. As for me, in barely an hour, my
mind was made up. I searched in vain for the dream city that I had been told
about, wandering through a maze of rough, gray stones, stumbling over cracked
paving stones. Sometimes I encountered a ghost who immediately fled from me,
there a deplorable human filth dragged itself on its knees, there a whole family
huddled in a single moth-eaten sheet. Doors and windows closed everywhere.
Sometimes, on a crumbling wall, an unknown and vulgar sign, painted in the most
vicious color, stared at me with a disturbing and mocking eye. What's happening,
Archon? What's happening to Hastur?

ALDONES

Nothing that should alarm you more. I hear your concern: it touches me. You
are noble, and that is the quality that should be admired in you. Hastur has
lost none of his greatness, I can assure you, and what you have seen is not a
decline. The spirit of the times is strange, I grant you, but let us not give in to
the most fragile anxieties. We are approaching the delicate moment of
succession from one era to another. Naturally, there are consequences,
however small.

THALE

At last, Archon! Instead of the most majestic of cities, I thought I was walking
among ruins! The inhabitants of Hastur resemble a people of beggars! Do you
not see it? Does not the queen see it? By what help could I assist you? Is there
nothing I can do to restore all their glory to these streets that were said to be
so intoxicating?

ALDONES

I salute your love for Hastur and your willingness to serve. But have no fear:
the queen and I remain in charge, and our control remains unwavering.

THALE

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Alas, I fear I may find the opposite true. The riches of this palace must have
dazzled you too much not to see the misery that lies at your feet. Or perhaps,
and I fear this more than anything, you see it well enough and at your ease.
Perhaps even in trying to deceive me, you are trying to deceive yourself.

ALDONES

You disappoint me, Thale. Of all this assembly, I thought you were the most
reasonable. But if you think your place is not in Hastur, I will not detain you.
There are enough courtiers and ambitious people here to fill the void you will
leave. As for the misery you recount, well, the time for grievances will soon
arrive; you can discuss it with the poor!

Aldones leaves Thale

THALE, seeing Aldones leave

Archon, of all this assembly, I thought you were the wisest.

Uoht is prostrated against the balcony railing, Naotalba at his side

UOHT

She doesn't love me. At these words, what strange despair seizes me. She
doesn't love me. What was I not enough or what was I too much? Where have
I sinned to be thus rejected? What being am I then who is not worth loving?

NAOTALBA

The wise Hali said, "Blame is neither self-blame nor others. The nature of
things is to escape us; it is folly to want to hold them back." Your love for
Camilla was beautiful. Now you must let it fade.

UOHT

So much devotion and adoration thus thrown to the wind! What reward is
there for loving so much? Do not lovers deserve some graces?

NAOTALBA

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Let your tears flow freely. But don't poison yourself with your own bile. Don't
burden yourself with what cannot be.

UOHT

She has made my heart a black and cold abyss, my soul an insipid vanity.
How foolish I was to have loved so much! How foolish I am to love her
always… For, the perfidious one! She is even more beautiful to me now that
she is forever impossible for me! What a cursed being am I who adores the
object of her evil?

NAOTALBA

The wise Hali said, "We decide the misfortunes of our heart, and the only
misfortunes we choose are those that please us." Your love is certainly alive,
but dying. Don't prolong your agony by regretting it.

UOHT

If only I could speak to her while being someone else, someone more
beautiful, someone more charming than I will ever be. Could I not have
another mask to cover the shame of my person and become the man she
awaits? Alas, it would be in vain. She would recognize me and would never
cease to reject me. Poor Uoht's soul is condemned to love without ever being
loved in return, to remain alone, mocked and scorned by love. How helpless I
am in the face of such damnation.

NAOTALBA, leaving him

There is no damnation that is eternal, and this sorrow that torments you will
pass. Be patient. Contemplate. Melt yourself into Yhtill. And you will find
beyond your soul the rest your tortured heart seeks.

Oston and Castillon are at the buffet, the stranger is between them.

OSTON, believing he was speaking to Castillon

Ah my good Castillon, this dish is delicious!

CASTILLON, believing he was speaking to Oston

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Ah my dear Oston, this wine is without equal.

OSTON and CASTILLON, holding out their plate and cup to the stranger

Here, try it! (Realizing the stranger's presence) Ah!

CASTILLON, looking for Oston behind the stranger

Oston!

OSTON, seeking Castillon in front of the stranger

Castillon!

OSTON and CASTILLON, located

I am here !

CASTILLON, abroad

Vile Sir, your joke was unfortunate.

OSTON

Yhtill! And how hideous your disguise is!

CASTILLON

The palace cannot tolerate lunatics like you.

OSTON

Leave, it's the least and the best you can do!

Oston and Castillon go to the other buffet. Thale approaches Camilla, on the balcony
facing the courtyard. Uoht watches them from afar.

THALE

I came to see Camilla.

CAMILLA

It's me, dear sir. I don't have the honor of knowing you.

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THALE

I arrived at the palace a short time ago. I am Lord Thale. My cousin, Lord Uoht,
is very much in love with you and is full of praise for you.

CAMILLA

Is this the transient I sent back earlier?

THALE, laughing

Yes, it's definitely him!

CAMILLA

So you can refrain from defending him and praising him. He knew very well
how to court himself.

THALE

In truth, I am rather quick when an opportunity presents itself to mock him; it

is a game that never tires me. My intention is certainly not to court him for his
sake, for I have seen his charms at work very well.

CAMILLA

So are you coming to do yours?

THALE

Tonight, everyone is courting you for a good reason. Indeed, no one would
judge that there is much glory in sitting at your side, even without a royal
crown. And it seems to me that some here attribute much ambition to me on
the matter. But, I must confess, I believe I am rather ill-suited to palace
intrigue, and I am not sure who would claim to reign for me.

CAMILLA

What do you expect from me then?

THALE

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I told you, Camilla: I came to see you. To see the woman my cousin is madly in
love with. The woman for whom he left his House and his country, and in
whose name he is squandering all his wealth to continue living in the palace, to
stay near you, to admire you, even if only for a moment.

CAMILLA

Do you think I could have wished for such a thing? Or do you blame me for
having rejected him?

THALE

No, and quite the contrary, I thank you. Perhaps he will then stop deluding
himself, and I will then be able to accomplish my mission: to bring him back to
his family, who miss him.

CAMILLA

You only came to Hastur for this?

THALE

Do we need a better reason?

CAMILLA

Neither for honors nor for fortune?

THALE

Of honors here, there are only titles and fine clothes. And fortune remains
cloistered in this one palace. My house will probably never be as rich or as
grand, but I believe I will be content with it. My only regret, when I leave,
will be that I was not able to serve Hastur more against the impending ruin.
I hope the man you marry will protect him from it.

CAMILLA, holding him back

But if you were called, you would answer

THALE, withdrawing

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Of course, my lady. It is my duty.

CAMILLA

Dear Thale, there is only one position in this place to which you could
apply. It would only have to please you...

Scene 2.

Queen Cassilda and the poor people—the one-armed man, the prostitute, and
the madman—enter. The poor people stand aside; no one notices them yet.
They are wearing masks that have been lent to them, and their clothes are
stained yellow.

CAMILLA

Mother !

CASSILDA

Camilla, my daughter, here you are! Come, support me, I can't take it anymore.
I'm suffocating in this great hall. The crowd roars with a deafening roar, I can
no longer hear anything, neither words nor music, and the dancers, if they
move, seem to take only the drum of their own steps for rhythm. I need calm
and solitude, air too! I want to be able to hear the flow of my thoughts and the
sound of my voice. This dance of human waves, Camilla, I had hoped to
discover some mystery that still escaped me. But I feel so alienated from all
this effervescence, so much so that I no longer know who in this world or
myself is touched by madness.

CAMILLA

Catch your breath, Mother. You're tired, and in this state, sadness sees you
as easy prey. Come with me and lean on the railing. The breeze is fresh and
light; it will do you good.

CASSILDA

You are good, my daughter, I love you. How it pains me to inflict my mood
on you.

CAMILLA

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You don't inflict anything on me, mother, since I love you too.

CASSILDA

Let me look at you, my child. How you have grown. How beautiful you are. It
seems like only yesterday I was holding you in my arms, rocking you with
secret nursery rhymes that nurses never knew. Let me kiss you. If only you
could become a little girl again, so that I could hold you in my arms and
against my heart again, singing you songs that I would invent just for you.

CAMILLA

My mother, I am a big girl today, but you have me here, in your arms and
against your heart. All you have to do is sing.

CASSILDA, singing

On the misty shores the waves break, Beyond

the lake the twin suns sink And the shadows
lengthen
On Carcosa

Strange night where black stars are born

Strange swirling moons in the evening In a
stranger dream
Erre Carcosa

And the songs that the Hyades will sing While

the King's rags rustle Will be smothered in the
muffled and
Pale Carcosa

The song of my voice, my soul, is already dying

And vanishes like tears are lost Into dry and
expired tears
In Carcosa

CAMILLA

What a morbid song, my mother! I hope the high priest didn't hear you
invoking the name of this cursed city like that. What's the matter with you,
Mother? Joy has long since deserted your dignified face, you who were made
sublime by a single smile.

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CASSILDA

It's nothing, my daughter, just torments that only agitate fools. I'm stupid to
let myself be troubled like this. And you? Are you enjoying yourself tonight?
Does this masquerade you wanted suit you?

CAMILLA

Alas, Mother! It seems that all the gentlemen this evening have passed the
word, and from amiable people, I have had only pretentious suitors, lovesick
lovers, ambitious old aristocrats, and hardened poets. Even this balcony has
been a useless refuge for me. My mother, what have you said to make me the
object of such assaults?

CASSILDA

What I always tell you, Camilla, is that you are old enough to take a husband.

CAMILLA

Mother, I know what you expect of me and believe that I submit to it willingly.
But do not throw me into such a farmyard!

CASSILDA

Oh my daughter, forgive me! I had thought men less greedy. Alas, no, what
am I saying? It is my haste that has brought you so much trouble. I think of
Hastur's welfare and do not think of my daughter's welfare. Am I then a very
unworthy mother!

CAMILLA

I also think of the good of Hastur, dear mother, and I do not want the one
who will rule her to be blinded by the power of the throne or dazzled by his
love for me.

CASSILDA

How cold your heart is! This is not all I had desired for you. In the parade of
your gallants, is there not at least one who did not seem praiseworthy to
you?

CAMILLA

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If they are not gruff, they are far too affable, if not cajoling when they are not
surly. The intoxication of power has done far worse than the worst of wines.
Your kingdom is lost, my mother, if it must be left in such hands.

CASSILDA

But for you, my daughter, you? Is there not one who knew how to touch you?
One who, with an impromptu heartbeat, lifted your breast in a tender breath?
You want a suitor worthy of Hastur, but have you found one worthy of you
first?

CAMILLA

There is one, I believe, who troubles me. His desire is different from the others,
and he would be the only one to convince us of what everyone covets.

CASSILDA

Is he handsome?

CAMILLA

He has a beautiful mind, I think, and an admirable nobility. Of that man, yes
perhaps, I would like to know his face.

CASSILDA

Midnight is not far off and the Hyades are not yet dark.

Aldones interferes between Cassilda and Camilla

ALDONES, alarmed, curtsying

My queen! You here!

CASSILDA

My dear Archon.

ALDONES

My queen, you must return.

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CASSILDA

No, I'm staying here.

ALDONES

But the poor will soon come to present their grievances.

CASSILDA

There are enough people inside to accommodate them.

ALDONES

But my queen, protocol...

CASSILDA, cutting him off

…is still your responsibility, isn't it?

ALDONES, stiffening

Yes, again.

CASSILDA

Well, from now on you won't have to worry about it anymore. I'll take care of it
myself.

ALDONES, low crossing Naotabla

Now all I have left is my title.

NAOTALBA

My queen, I am happy to see you among us! I will not hide from you that in
recent days, your absence from the ceremonies has worried me. Your
presence here fills me with joy.

CASSILDA, cold

These ceremonies are in vain, Naotalba, and I want to devote my time to

better things.

NAOTALBA

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My queen, this is about communing with Yhtill, our mother and

nourishing earth...

CASSILDA, getting carried away

Don't read to me again! I have scoured all the proverbs of Hali in search of an
answer that was never given to me, and I, ruler of Hastur, have contemplated
Yhtill more than any of her children, every day, from the rising of the twin suns
until their setting, and every night, lost in the whirl of the moons, hoping for a
revelation! My question echoed in the void! Then a voice from the void, or
perhaps from the depths of my soul, whispered to me that there are many
tales that men invent to reassure themselves and make the foreign familiar.
You are one of those men, Naotalba, who divert our gaze from the abyss by
incense to our ears with pious wonders! How I wish you could open your eyes
to the spreading night and its new pale sun quivering in the firmament. Oh, I
think you see the Hyades darkening too, and the towers of Carcosa shining in
the distance, beyond the moons. But what have you to fear from all this, since
faith overcomes all your senses and guards you from all reason?

NAOTALBA, after a silence

My queen, I forgive you these offensive and blasphemous words, for I revere
you and Hastur remains thanks to you. I believe that your anger is the
culmination of an exhaustion that began a trouble of which you stubbornly
refuse to say a true word to me. Know that you will always find support in me
and I pray for your repose.

Naotalba retires to the back of the stage with Aldones

CAMILLA

Mother, what is wrong with you? You are cutting yourself off from your
archon, then from the High Priest...

CASSILDA

I don't know... Your father Alar has been gone for so long, I wish he were
here. How I miss him. My daughter, do you remember him?

CAMILLA

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I know her features, my mother. I gazed at them for hours when you took me,
as a child, to the cavernous tombs that echo beneath the palace; when we
silently contemplated the sculpture made of her image lying on her
sarcophagus.

CASSILDA

No, not that stiff stone face, frozen forever in cold, silent death! Not those
portraits and statues that depict him as grave and solemn! Not those funeral
eulogies and cruel epitaphs that consigned him to legend and darkness. Do
you know that there was warmth in those cheeks before? And that his eyes
crinkled with malice with each of his smiles? He smiled a lot, he always smiled,
that was how he preferred to speak. And his words were gentle,
compassionate in every way, kind to everyone, reassuring at every moment.
His voice consoled days of sorrow and beautified holidays. He brought a light
even brighter than the zenith of the twin suns, and in his great white cloak,
one would have thought he had descended from the sky. Hastur, under his
reign, was the happiest kingdom there could be, and his empire shone
resplendent over all of Yhtill. The nobles respected his influence, the priests
praised his wisdom, the people adored him for his kindness. And I loved him
more than anyone. You alone, my daughter, were a tender rival for his
affection, and I never saw him happier than when you played together in the
verdant groves of the palace. You were then only a hesitant frolic, and you
both laughed with each step, rejoicing in each one like so many victories. I
wished those days could last forever. What I would give, the creatures I would
summon to find them again…

OSTON, shouting with joy on seeing the three poor people

The poor! The poor are here!

The one-armed man, the prostitute and the madman come forward.

ALDONES, addressing them

You face our queen. Salute her! What are you waiting for? Bow down, kneel
before the all-powerful Queen of Hastur, pay homage to her! Aren't you
going to do anything, villains?

CASSILDA

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Enough!

ALDONES,

But my queen, they must...

CASSILDA

These are only useless words and gestures! (to the poor) Dear subjects, be
welcome. Come closer. Delight in the dishes at these buffets. Intoxicate
yourself with the wines that will be served to you. If you have a request, I will
answer you. A favor? I will grant it. Dance, have fun, rejoice! For I am happy to
have you here.

ALDONES, returning with Naotalba in the background.

And these poor people who don't even have a single word of thanks or even
bow. How impudent! King Alar would never have allowed it!

NAOTALBA

Patience, O Archon. The queen will one day come to her senses.

ALDONES

If such be Ythill's will, O high priest!

Oston and Castillon, at the edge of the buffet on the stage right, watch
the poor disperse on stage.

OSTON, feverish

Oh, how fun this is going to be, my good Castillon! I'm always delighted when
the poor regale us with their miserable adventures. And a pie or a silver coin
is enough to amaze them. Oh, how I love it when the poor visit us!

CASTILLON

They are entertaining and fulfill a role they themselves are unaware of. For
without the poor, would we know the joy of being rich? The poor are essential
to the balance of a good society, and they must be proud of it.

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OSTON

Which one should we talk to? The whore looks sly to me.

CASTILLON

Her gaze wanders into the distance, I fear she has already had too much wine.

OSTON, pointing at the fool

And this dazed man, with his big, bright eyes?

CASTILLON

He wanders too feverishly to hold a conversation, and I fear he can only hold
one with a great deal of shouting and screaming.

OSTON, pointing at the penguin

That one! Oh, what a story he can tell us about the loss of his arm!

CASTILLON

You've chosen well, my dear Oston. (Calling the one-armed man) Whoa!
Dear sir, come closer. Oh, how good it is that you're here with us. (Giving
him a dish) Here, try it! These dishes are delicious.

THE PENGUIN

I am very grateful to you, my good Lords, your gesture touches me! But it is the
truth that I have already feasted well and to the fullest! So take it that I am full
and that I am no longer hungry.

OSTON

Listen to how he talks! How funny he is!

CASTILLON

The accent is pleasant, indeed. Tell me, my good fellow, what was your lunch
like?

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THE PENGUIN

Oh that's quite a story, but I want to tell it to you, my Lords.

OSTON

Oh yes, do!

CASTILLON

You would be kind.

THE PENGUIN

I was alone, on a piece of pavement, in the street, in the cold. I was starving, I
hadn't eaten for days. I would have sold everything for a piece of fat, my body,
my body, my soul! But hey! I had nothing left of my body, there would have to
be employment, and my soul, what good would it do? I thought I was going to
die. I cursed everything I still believed in and I begged them all to go and
dance the slut in Carcosa! I closed my eyes, slowly falling asleep, telling myself
that's it, it's time to end. I was about to take my last breath when something
woke me up. It was there. Standing there, in front of me, as I speak! My
savior... He asked me if I was hungry. I said, "Very hungry, my dear Lord." He
asked me if I wanted to eat as I pleased. I told him, yes, indeed! So he took me,
I don't know how, I don't remember the trip, to a beautiful castle! Beautiful!
This one is a cottage next to it! And the towers of this castle, they rose and
rose! And they disappeared into the night... I was afraid one of the moons
would go inside! My savior was a king, the tallest and noblest of kings. He took
me into a room, immense! With tables, as long as... pfff! And on top of it, a
feast! The most feast I've ever seen in my whole life! I salivated, you can't
imagine. So my king turned to me and said (the one-armed man takes on a
deep, foreign voice) "On this one day you can enjoy all the food here as you
wish. Or just turn your gaze towards the Spectre of Truth, and you will never
be hungry again."

OSTON

Let him enjoy the delights offered, this is the opportunity!

CASTILLON

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To starve yourself the next day and the days after? No, the secret to
escaping hunger is more precious.

The penguin leaves them, without Oston or Castillon noticing, to silently

address the stranger in the background.

OSTON

So let's see what he chose!

CASTILLON, turning back to where the penguin was standing

What? Has he already left?

Naotalba approaches the prostitute, who is hanging on the railing, looking into the
distance.

NAOTALBA

My daughter, you seem to be somewhere else. You are not enjoying the
delicate dishes or being dazzled by this splendid palace. What are you
contemplating?

THE PROSTITUTE

Far away, across Lake Hali and the shores of his brother Dehme, lives the
one I adore, and I gaze upon his house rising beyond the horizon and the
swirling moons. I watch the Hyades for when they are black, he will return to
me and we will set out, together, for his city.

NAOTALBA

My dear child, you are delirious. I fear the wine has deceived you...

THE PROSTITUTE

Oh, of course not, not wine! Because it can no longer do anything for me.

NAOTALBA

So some misfortunes overwhelm you?

THE PROSTITUTE

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O priest, I have already seen men like you, when misfortunes overwhelmed
me, yes. I am a girl of ill repute and I am ashamed of it because it is an evil
that one prefers when one is born proud, pretty, and in poverty. But what
pride remains after the tenth? The hundredth? The thousandth? What is it to
be pretty when freshness has vanished? And poverty, that only companion,
never leaves us. I have seen men like you, O priest. They listened to me and I
heard them. They said beautiful things, which relieved my soul. For a few
moments, I thought I was free. Then it was they who came to see me. I
listened to them, we understood each other, and in turn I relieved them for a
few moments. I understood then that we were performing the same function.

NAOTALBA

You blaspheme, my daughter, by insulting the priesthood! Perhaps you

have long since lost the path to purity, but there is still time to turn your
gaze to Yhtill and immerse yourself in her contemplation. You can still be
saved.

THE PROSTITUTE

Only one being in the world can save me, and I have already met him. He came
to me, like all men, so I did not recognize him at first. He was gentle, he was
kind, he stood out from the others. And he loved me, as no man had ever loved
me, as no one had ever loved me, and as I will never again. A love that reveals
your past loneliness, that consoles you from it, that frees you from it, and that
throws you back into it when it is over. Oh, why did this king leave? He offered
me so much without giving anything. My heart is his subject, and his absent
hold reigns over my soul. Before leaving me, he opened his festooned cloak for
me, I nestled in it, and he promised me that soon he would return, when the
Hyades were black, and that he would take me with him, to Carcosa. So I
impatiently watch the stars, and I contemplate the city of my king because I
want to be the first to see him when he arrives.

NAOTALBA

Blasphemy! Blasphemy!

THE PROSTITUTE

Have no fear, dear priest. He is a generous king, and he opens his

cloak to anyone worthy of love—and who isn't?

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Rejoice! You will no longer be alone either, and if necessary, I will accompany
you. (In a deep, foreign voice) We will go to Carcosa together.

NAOTALBA

Heresy! The city you speak of is lost, cursed! It does not exist! There is
nothing on the horizon and nothing beyond the moons! The king you speak
of is unspeakable and I refuse to hear any more of it! Yellow whore, you too
are lost and you will lose me if I listen to another of your words!

Naotalba quickly steps away from the prostitute. The stranger moves closer
to place a compassionate hand on the prostitute's shoulder. As Aldones
crosses the stage to check on Naotalba, he is grabbed by the madman.

THE MADMAN

Have you found the Yellow Sign?

ALDONES

What ?

THE MADMAN

Have you found the Yellow Sign?

ALDONES

What is this horror?

THE MADMAN

Have you found the Yellow Sign?

ALDONES

No, not. Let me go!

THE MADMAN

Blessed are those who see it! For it is the King's call. They are chosen! I

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Seek me too, the Sign addressed to me by name. For the King in Yellow will
then appear to me! He will open his festooned cloak and from his rags will
escape the Specter of Truth! His pale mask will fall and he will reveal to me the
supreme secret, the mystery of the Hyades, that which binds Aldebaraan to
Hastur, Hastur to Yhtill and Yhtill to Carcosa. Then my spirit will plumb the
depths of Dehme, and when I emerge from the mists of Hali, at last I will be
king! Then the King in Yellow will crown me with a diadem of gold and
diamonds, and I, his servant, will become an emperor among emperors! Thus
will begin and end the story of the First and Last King!

ALDONES

You're crazy... these are just stories that don't exist.

THE MADMAN, grabbing Aldones by the shoulders

Don't turn your back on me, misbeliever! You are my brother, but you have gone
astray. Do you think you reign? Only the King in Yellow reigns! And Carcosa stretches
out like night under a pale sun. The Hyades are tinged with black, they are the
trumpets of his arrival! Wait until you see the Yellow Sign, wait for it. And if you see it,
then you will have no hope, for everything will be revealed to you through the Specter
of Truth.

ALDONES, violently pushing the madman away

Let me go, you wretch! Give thanks to the queen for her kindness regarding your
grievances. Otherwise, I would have had you executed for your insolence!

Aldones goes to get Naotalba.

THE MADMAN, passing the stranger without seeing him

The Yellow Sign? The Yellow Sign. The Yellow Sign!

THALE, joining Uoht who is languishing on the garden side

Uoht…

UOHT

My cousin... what do you want from me?

THALE

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Uoht, we have to leave now. Nothing is keeping us here anymore.

UOHT

You want me to leave, of course, I'm a nuisance to you.

THALE

Come on, you've always been a bit of a nuisance to me, my cousin, but
that's not the point.

UOHT

Stop mocking me! Do you think I didn't see you just now? The looks Camilla
was lulling you with, by Yhtill, I longed for with all my heart! What words did
you say to her? What word touched her? No, be quiet! I want to ignore it. Oh,
how you must have laughed at me... well, go ahead! Make fun of yourself!
Don't you have any other jokes to say to me? A witticism, a comical quip, a dirty
joke? Speak!

THALE

How unhappy I am, my cousin, to see you in such great pain, and I have no desire
to sneer this time. I provoked you, I challenged you, in short I hurt you, for you
were so infatuated, it was necessary to operate a bloodletting on your heart. You
were a joyful companion before leaving for Hastur and I found you there imbued
with such languor, I believed that love was truly a disease! You have squandered
your wealth to live here, worse! You have ruined your heart and your mind. What a
beggar would you have become if she had not finally told you that she did not love
you? Come, let us return home. Your family and your House miss you.

UOHT

I don't want to! I can't. Down there, everything is flat, empty, and gray. We live
chained to the earth, the sky is a leaden blanket, and muddy hills form our
only horizon. Dreary days follow solitary nights, the croaking of the rooster the
lowing of men, stinking beasts the foul manure. And time passes, insipid,
silent, murderous. This low country crushes me, I am suffocating, I was
destined for a greater elevation, a more beautiful distinction! Look where we
are. Here everything is high, rich, and shimmering! We live like gods, far in the
sky, the suns and stars are our close neighbors, and the earth

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Our horizon is whole! Every day is a new celebration and every night a dancing
fairyland. The beautiful rubs shoulders with the noble, the admirable
accompanies the sublime. Every moment spent is an enchantment! And
Camilla, oh Camilla is truly the most superb spell. If only she could have loved
me, what a wonderful family this world would have been…

THALE

This world is crumbling. There are only false or blind people, full of their
fortunes and facing ruin.

UOHT

Perhaps, but until then they live fat and content! I prefer to sink into luxury
rather than linger in poverty! And the most fleeting moment of glory is
infinitely more precious than a life spent in banality!

THALE

I don't wish you this happiness...

UOHT

You deprived me of her! You stole Camilla from me!

THALE

I wanted to take you away from it, but now I see that I was mistaken: it was
the whole of Hastur that I should have taken you away from.

Midnight strikes. Everyone stands still for the twelve strokes.

CASSILDA, to all the guests

It's time, my friends. You know what that means.

All the guests unmask themselves, except for the stranger who remains
motionless in the center of the stage.

UOHT, hiding behind Thale

I hope she doesn't see me.

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CAMILLA, to Cassilda, looking for Thale

Where is the noble Thale? I wish to know his face.

CASSILDA, pointing to the stranger

Perhaps he's still hiding it? Because I see a guest over there who
preferred to keep his mask on.

CAMILLA, with disgust

No, Mother, it's not him. His costume wasn't that sinister.

CASSILDA

I believe you, my daughter. But it's worth reminding this one of the rules.

Camilla goes to address the stranger

CAMILLA

You should, sir, unmask yourself.

THE STRANGER

Really ?

CASSILDA

Really, it's time. We've all taken off our disguises, except you.

THE STRANGER

I don't wear a mask.

CAMILLA, terrified at Cassilda

No mask? No mask!

THALE

By Yhtill, but it's a walking corpse!

UOHT

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So what is this curse?

OSTON, frightened, pointing to the sky

Ah! Look! The Hyades are black!

CASTILLON, looking at the sky

Impossible. Ah! It's impossible!

ALDONES, staring into the distance

What is this city shining on the horizon? There was nothing here before, I swear!

NAOTALBA, looking in the same direction

Carcosa… no, it doesn't exist! Carcosa doesn't exist!

CASSILDA, troubled

Who are you, stranger?

THE STRANGER

You know, Cassilda, you know me. You called me, and I came for you. (Then
pointing to the guests one after the other) I came for you. I came for you. I
came for you. I came for you. I came for you. Have you not seen my Sign?

THE MADMAN, in the background, shouting and not seeing the stranger

Have you found the Yellow Sign? Have you found the Yellow Sign? The King
in Yellow will appear if you find him!

CASSILDA

What do you want from us?

THE STRANGER, looking at the guests in turn

You are alone. Abandoned. Despairing. I have come to spread my cloak over
your tormented soul.

CASSILDA, protecting Camilla

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Not upon us, O King, not upon us!

THE STRANGER

Do not reject the consolation I bring you. The truth is a comfort, and its
spectre should not frighten you.

CAMILLA, falling to her knees

O King in Yellow, leave us, I beg you!

THE STRANGER

Oh my child, do you not see that I only want your deliverance?

CASSILDA, with horror

My daughter! Do you not recognize this face? Death and vermin have distorted it,
but now I can distinguish its features! It is that of your father and my deceased
husband, the former King Alar!

The stranger opens his yellow coat. Camilla lets out a scream. Black.

ACT II

On the balcony, a great commotion has overturned everything. The ballroom,

visible through the French windows, is empty. Oston, Castillon, and the one-
armed man, seated at one of the tables covered with ransacked food, lie inert.
Uoht is slumped on the steps of the throne, his eyes closed. Naotalba and the
prostitute, center stage, stare into the distance. The stranger behind them
seems to be guiding them.

Scene 1.

NAOTALBA

The Hyades are black, yet this night is of unparalleled clarity. The blue
Aldebaraan is the brightest star in this strange sky, far brighter than the
swirling moons in the celestial vault. But its light seems so distant compared
to the golden glow emerging on the horizon, through the mists of Hali,
beyond the shores of Dehme.

THE PROSTITUTE

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It is a new pale sun that rises, and sets ablaze the nocturnal dawn. As this star
attracts me, I seem to feel at the tips of my feet the foaming waves of the
nebulous lakes while a gentle wind carries me towards it. Its infinite towers
with invisible summits support the starry firmament, and the moons whirl
around them in a slow dance, perhaps they are in love with them...? But
already I see the walls of a city emerging from the shores where the waves of
clouds of Hali and Dehme break.

NAOTALBA

A tender breeze whispers her name to me: (in a deep, foreign voice)
Carcosa…

THE PROSTITUTE

Aren't we there yet?

THE STRANGER

Soon.

NAOTALBA

Its high walls are of mighty marble, its golden columns are firmly anchored
in the earth.

THE STRANGER

There are no stronger walls in this world or any other.

THE PROSTITUTE

Its steel doors gleam like onyx. Thousands of shadows and demons
move within them through swirls of black bronze. They are titanic, will
they open for us?

THE STRANGER

They are open to all those who have received the Yellow Sign.

NAOTALBA

The polished stones of the paving stones caress the foot like delicate grass. And

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How quiet these streets are...

THE PROSTITUTE

And what joy in these streets! Look at these passersby smiling at us. Do
we know them?

THE STRANGER

Not yet and never has.

NAOTALBA

Is it a bard I hear singing, over there in this shimmering garden with a

thousand colors of flowers, at the edge of this sparkling pond?

THE PROSTITUTE

How handsome he is in his torn purple tunic, with his crown of vine leaves
placed on his blond hair shining with myrrh. The willow weeps over him, its
branches surrounding him and comforting him in his melancholy. What does
he sing?

THE STRANGER

Old songs that no one hears and everyone laughs at, about a city built on
dreams and now resting in oblivion.

THE PROSTITUTE

I want to listen to them.

THE STRANGER

It's not time yet.

NAOTALBA (coming out of her trance)

No… no, no! All this is false! It's an illusion! My mind is wandering, my
senses are deceiving me. Where am I?

THE STRANGER

Your soul walked in the dream of Carcosa, where the shadow of the thought of

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men lie down in the afternoon.

THE PROSTITUTE (in a deep, foreign voice)

Your body rests in Hastur, where slow ruin takes hold of the hearts of
men in the night.

NAOTALBA

A dream, yes... Carcosa doesn't exist! It's just a bad dream you lulled me with. I
don't know what evil or demon you are, but I'm awake now!

THE STRANGER

Yet your eyes have never been so closed, Naotabla. I have revealed to you the
mystery of the Black Hyades, I have revealed to you the Specter of Truth. Why do
you still doubt me?

THE PROSTITUTE

Priest, I beg you, remember all that has been shown to us. Nothing has
ever been truer.

NAOTALBA

I can't. I won't! It's impossible. It's unacceptable! May my soul be damned for
having seen what I saw. These revelations, these unbearable revelations... (to
the stranger) Who are you, to subject us to these ignoble truths? What power
sends you? By what right do you speak? You want to be my master and my
king? Ha! I laugh! Do you think you can upset my faith, crush my soul? But what
have you to offer in exchange? Nothing!

THE STRANGER

I simply offered you...

THE PROSTITUTE (in a deep, foreign voice)

…the Truth.

NAOTALBA

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How? How can this be the truth? There is nothing, nothing! Emptiness,
nothingness! Nothing! It makes no sense! It's absurd! There is... there is
nothing... nothing... O my King, tell me there is something.

Silence of the stranger

NAOTALBA (beginning to pray)

Yhtill, my nourishing earth, I tread your soil, I breathe your air…

THE PROSTITUTE (interrupting him)

The festooned rags of the King in Yellow must hide Yhtill forever.

NAOTALBA

No... leave me Yhtill. For the foolish, weak-minded person that I am, for
the peace of my heart, I beg you, let me believe...

THE STRANGER

It is a strange curiosity that men need to believe when they have eyes to see,
ears to hear, and bodies to feel. Because they want to find their fellow man in
everything, and even more, they invent beautiful stories where chaos is the
avatar of nothingness, its conqueror a superior order, creative and just, and
where even death is not definitive.

NAOTALBA

But I don't want to die. I don't want to disappear...

THE STRANGER

Yet you will disappear, Naotalba. Stars appear in a nebulous multitude and
implode into a black solitude. Planets are born from clumps of stellar dust and
die, slowly returning to be lost in suns.

THE PROSTITUTE (in a deep, foreign voice)

Oceans can expand and dry up, mountains rise and fall.

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THE STRANGER

The flower buds in spring and fades in winter.

THE PROSTITUTE (in a deep, foreign voice)

Animals eat and are eaten.

THE STRANGER

Even the gods are wasting away for lack of followers. Why then should men
be immortal?

NAOTALBA

I just wanted… a little hope.

THE STRANGER

Ah Naotalba, why didn't you finally confess your desire to me? Hope and hope
only, right?

THE PROSTITUTE (in a deep, foreign voice)

Alas, this is something you must give up if you seek peace.

THE STRANGER

For with hope comes fear, and with fear the lies that comfort. And then
how cruel Truth appears when its pale mask falls.

NAOTALBA

What should I do, my King? What should I do?

THE STRANGER

But… I already showed it to you.

NAOTALBA

Carcosa… how to get there?

THE STRANGER

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You know the way. (To the prostitute) See how lost he is. Be good and guide
him.

THE PROSTITUTE

O my King, my beloved, did you not promise me that you would take me
with you to Carcosa?

The prostitute climbs over the balcony railing with Naotalba.

THE STRANGER

I promised you…

NAOTABLA (in a deep, foreign voice)

And I will be with you. We will go together...

THE SMILING PROSTITUTE

…. in Carcosa.

Naotalba and the prostitute join hands and both let themselves fall into the
void. The stranger turns to the table where Oston, Castillon, and the one-
armed man are seated.

THE STRANGER

Did you have a good feast, dear sirs?

Oston, Castillon and the penguin wake up with a start.

OSTON

The best in the world, I enjoyed a lot of things!

CASTILLON

It was all exquisite, I am still very moved by it.

OSTON

Ha, I gorged myself on so many wonders!

CASTILLON

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I grabbed everything I could.

OSTON

I could have swallowed the world and it still wouldn't have been enough!

CASTILLON

I have accumulated more and more in my trough, far more than I could ever
have enjoyed.

OSTON

Not that the taste is running dry...

CASTILLON

The taste for good and beautiful things always remains - those who tire of it
are frustrated fools.

OSTON

…but by swallowing everything, the appetite grows and is thus never satisfied.

CASTILLON

There's always more to come. But it's a pretty satisfying quest.

OSTON

Because nothing is lost...

CASTILLON

As long as we keep everything!

THE PENGUIN

We would be a beast that devours everything it can and never defecates.

THE STRANGER

However foul this approach to nature may be, I know of no beast that does
not retain its filth for pleasure.

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THE PENGUIN

For sure! Life has meaning: everything that goes in must come out.

OSTON

Well, that's misunderstanding the joy of being overweight.

CASTILLON

This is the most sufficient way to make a place for yourself in the world.

OSTON

You are judged by your waist size and what you eat, people are pretty well
informed about what you have.

CASTILLON

And to have is to be able.

THE PENGUIN

I don't believe this saying. One day, I saw a pig so big that it could even
move on its own poor legs.

THE STRANGER

The animal seemed to have far too much power.

CASTILLON

Certainly, but you are forgetting the issue of power.

THE PENGUIN

What is it?

CASTILLON

To preserve ourselves, and to preserve everything that preserves us in the state.

OSTON

Understand, there is a good order in nature. It is appropriate not to

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disturb.

THE PENGUIN

I don't understand. What would happen otherwise?

CASTILLON

Wretched man! Don't you think about it? But the decline!

OSTON

The decay!

CASTILLON

Ruin!

OSTON

Famine!

CASTILLON

Finally death!

OSTON

And a dying society is a world that disappears.

THE PENGUIN

So in a word you eat for the world?

OSTON

Exactly !

CASTILLON

That's it.

THE STRANGER

But now what good is left in this world?

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OSTON

Ah, on that subject... We have seen through the Spectre of Truth a very strange
thing.

CASTILLON

A curious fantasy, it must be said.

OSTON

Arid fields of dead earth and dust.

CASTILLON

Deserts of ruins and collapsed cities.

OSTON

This dream was somewhat disturbing.

CASTILLON

This vision certainly shook me.

THE STRANGER

Neither dream nor vision, it was the Truth and the work of your feast.

OSTON

But... but then, there is nothing left here below.

THE PENGUIN (in a deep, foreign voice)

Nothing more.

OSTON

Where did it all go? When did it get away from us?

THE STRANGER

Nothing has ever escaped you. You have taken everything, swallowed everything, exhausted
everything.

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THE PENGUIN (in a deep, foreign voice)

And you can't blame anyone but your excess weight.

OSTON, alarmed

Castillon Disaster, What Have We Done?

CASTILLON, withdrawn

We followed the order of things, dear Oston. We had an appetite, we satisfied

it. But I do not believe that Hastur's ruin is attributable to us, we who shared
in his glory! It is our possessions and our riches that made this empire so
splendid!

THE STRANGER

Yet all this splendor has disappeared, ruin has come, and here I am, before
you, Castillon.

CASTILLON

I only care about your accusations!

OSTON, recovering himself

Yes... Yes! It's very ungrateful, that, to come and hold us guilty of all the evils
of the world!

CASTILLON

Even if there were nothing left outside, what a great thing! Because we still
have all our possessions. Ha!

OSTON

Haha, that's it! And even if mine isn't enough for me anymore, I still have my
neighbor's!

CASTILLON

Pardon ?!

THE STRANGER

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So you will always be hungry.

Oston stabs Castillon, who throws himself at Oston's throat in retaliation. They
end up rolling on the ground fighting and devouring each other as the one-
armed man laughs hysterically and falls backward. His laughter dies down as
Oston and Castillon stop struggling.

Scene 2.

Aldones enters, crawling on the ground, trying to escape from Thale, who chases him and
catches up with him. The latter grabs him by the collar and begins beating him to death.

THALE, drunk with anger

You betrayed us! You lost us! You condemned us to the night! You saw ruin
approaching! You saw it gradually corrupting the city like rust covers the finest
steel! You saw the walls cracking and the roofs collapsing! You saw famine
setting in and disease growing! You saw our imminent fall and while
everything was given to you to save us, you did nothing! Luxury spoiled you,
titles intoxicated you, and the satisfactions of power left you complacent! Will
you ever have worked only for yourself? Madman! Madman swollen with pride,
you delivered us to the King in Yellow!

Aldone has stopped moving but Thale continues to beat his inert body.

THE STRANGER

He won't be able to answer you back.

THALE

It's all his fault! His and everyone else's who ever claimed to rule us! Kings,
queens, emperors, ministers, priests, nobles, even the smallest schemer with
the slightest bit of wealth and influence, always acting only in their own
interests! They have sunk, swept away by their own greed, but they have
dragged us down with them to the grave! They are guilty! He is guilty!

THE STRANGER

You are too. You too saw the twin suns sinking into the nebulous lakes, and
the night slowly spreading from the horizon.

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ALDONES (moving like a puppet and speaking in a deep, foreign voice)

You too saw corruption poisoning men's dreams, then their hearts and their
works.

THE STRANGER

You too saw the city crumble into darkness, and its infamy marked with my
Sign.

ALDONES (in a deep, foreign voice)

And yet you did nothing.

THALE

That's false! I spoke to the Archon, I denounced Hastur's fall! He didn't listen to
me!

THE STRANGER

You only came once...

ALDONES (in a deep, foreign voice)

…and immediately you decided to leave.

THALE

What else could I have done? I didn't have the power to...

THE STRANGER

You had it. But it cost you too much to use it.

THALE

Lies! I had...

THE STRANGER

You had a wish for a better world, well-defined hopes and a grandiose
vision. The happiness that would have been if the sublime of your dreams

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had come true…

ALDONES (in a deep, foreign voice)

But you did nothing.

THE STRANGER

Because you would have had to sacrifice something you have sought all your life and
which you would have refused above all to give up.

ALDONES (in a deep, foreign voice)

Your ease.

THE STRANGER

Your approval.

ALDONES (in a deep, foreign voice)

Your comfort.

THE STRANGER

You certainly do not live in jeweled palaces nor sleep in satin sheets. But a hole in
the ground, despite all the trouble you would have had to dig it, you would be
content, because it is yours, it is a place you have made for yourself, and that is
enough.

ALDONES (in a deep, foreign voice)

Why go further? Why risk losing what we already have?

THE STRANGER

You can look at the sky and the stars, think about how you would order the
constellations...

ALDONES (in a deep, foreign voice)

… frustrate you with the course of the suns and the whirling of the moons…

THE STRANGER

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Deep down you will never leave the softness of your hole in the ground.

ALDONES (in a deep, foreign voice)

Not out of fear or cowardice...

THE STRANGER

But by the lazy languor which pushes everyone to preserve the least comfort
for themselves.

THALE

What should I have done? Overthrow the throne? Slay ministers and courtiers?
Turn Hastur over? The strength I would have needed for such a purpose! And
impunity, the absence of remorse for the evil I would have caused!

THE STRANGER

There is no evil, nor good.

ALDONES (in a deep, foreign voice)

Only divergent interests.

THE STRANGER

Because what can benefit one can harm another.

THALE

I don't want a power that harms, that enslaves and only serves
interests!

ALDONES (in a deep, foreign voice)

This is the reason for power.

THE STRANGER

This is the reason for the force.

ALDONES (in a deep, foreign voice)

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This is what drives life.

THE STRANGER

Anything can only live at the expense of another. The predator needs its prey
to live. The prey tears the innocent grass from life. And the plant itself steals its
strength from the earth, the water, and the suns.

ALDONES (in a deep, foreign voice)

To live is to subjugate to our preservation that which is foreign to us. We

break and reshape the forms of nature to suit our needs, to make a house, a
field, a fire, clothes, tools… Hastur was only a vast plain before its first king
came.

THE STRANGER

Men also mold themselves, confront each other, and enslave each other. The
strongest is the one who puts his life before that of others.

THALE

This is nothing but brutality and bestial barbarity! A disgrace for anyone who
knows how to use words to convince and persuade.

THE STRANGER

Do you believe it? Taking over the minds of men and controlling even their
unconscious thoughts is hardly different from enslaving their bodies. There
are forces of all kinds, of all violence, and the ways to subject others to one's
will are numerous.

ALDONES (in a deep, foreign voice)

But finally, strength remains the root of power.

THE STRANGER

Strength remains the root of life.

ALDONES (in a deep, foreign voice)

And even if you hate it...

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THE STRANGER

…this is what was revealed to you through the Spectrum of Truth.

Aldones collapses. Thale looks at his corpse and then at his blood-covered
hands.

THALE (recovering his anger)

If that's the truth, do you think I'm going to kneel before you? That I'm going
to resign myself to watching you take over this world without a fight? No! I'm
going to fight! I'm going to fight you! I swear, I'll destroy you!

THE STRANGER

You cannot do that.

Thale hits the stranger without any effect.

THALE, collapsing

Why? My blows land, but they are so weak... my arms, my legs are
weakening... why is my strength leaving me? Why, why can't I...

THE STRANGER

It's too late, far too late.

Scene 3.

The stranger joins Uoht, who sits on the steps of the throne, gazing toward the
French windows. Camilla emerges, dancing a slow waltz alone, entranced. Uoht
follows her with his gaze.

UOHT

She is so beautiful! This spark escaped from the dawn dances beneath the pale
sun of this new night; she hypnotizes me and I envy her, I want her. If only I
had her light feet to join her in her graceful waltz and the bold words to
fascinate her in turn. What a misfortune to love her and not be so in return…

THE STRANGER

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You admire him more than you love him Uoht.

UOHT

Perhaps this is true, but it does not lessen my desire.

THE STRANGER

When you have a desire, you must follow it without delay, otherwise it will spoil.

Uoht stands up like a manipulated puppet and joins Camilla in her dance,
suddenly breaking out of her trance.

CAMILLA

You again?

UOHT (in a deep, foreign voice)

Me again.

CAMILLA

Are you going to confess your love to me again?

UOHT

I wish it were otherwise… I love you, Camilla, and even the sweetest wine
cannot equal the intoxication I derive from it. But it is a feverish passion, which
agitates me violently when I think of you, when I see you, when I hear you.
And it is an even greater pain than knowing that my adoration finds no echo in
you. How I would like to rid myself of these feelings as one sheds a garment
that is too tight. But they are chains that enclose my heart in a prison of love
from which I can hope for no deliverance.

CAMILLA

I don't know what to answer. You love me without knowing me.

UOHT

But from the first glance I wanted to know more!

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CAMILLA

Is this true?

UOHT

Yes !

THE STRANGER

No. He wanted you for his own from the beginning. He doesn't love you, Camilla, even if
he doesn't know it and thinks he does.

UOHT

That's not true, I sincerely wish to be...

CAMILLA (in a deep, foreign voice)

Not to be – to have.

THE STRANGER

In it crystallizes the sum of your desires and appetites.

CAMILLA (in a deep, foreign voice)

To have it is to fill the pathetic void that distends your being.

THE STRANGER

No love or affection in your heart. Only envy.

CAMILLA (in a deep, foreign voice)

And if you ever do get to own it, you'll get tired of it.

THE STRANGER

Because it will then be far removed from the pretty poems you told yourself
about it.

CAMILLA (in a deep, foreign voice)

And disappointed in love, you will search again with the same feverishness

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desperate another flame that will rekindle your passion and plunge you back into
the delights of romantic intoxication.

UOHT

Is this love? Wanting to make another one your own and never being satisfied?

THE STRANGER

That's what you call it.

CAMILLA (in a deep, foreign voice)

And it is much more.

THE STRANGER

To love and to be loved is to suffer and to cause suffering. It is to leave one's

happiness in the hands of strangers and to snatch that of others.

CAMILLA (in a deep, foreign voice)

Don't you feel it in your flesh, all that is taken from you?

THE STRANGER

Don't you feel the emptiness when you're in love?

CAMILLA (in a deep, foreign voice)

The most exquisite dishes lose their flavors; the air is cold and biting in the
heat of a sunny summer.

THE STRANGER

The greatest friends are now but insipid silhouettes; all amusement is
insipid and boring. There is only her...

CAMILLA (in a deep, foreign voice)

...and you, you're nothing but a shadow of yourself. And when with just one word
from her, your happiness could be complete...

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THE STRANGER

…alas then, everything collapses.

CAMILLA (in a deep, foreign voice)

And from shadow, you become nothing more.

THE STRANGER

Otherwise tears.

UOHT

I prefer not to know love anymore if it is such a thing.

THE STRANGER

So close your heart, my prince, never let anyone enter it again. Let the river of
your desires dry up; let the passions that inflamed you cool down; let the stiff
stone gradually gnaw away at your heart. A dry and icy soul will guide your
every thought, your every gesture, every step you take. And no one will ever be
able to touch you again.

UOHT

Would I be alone?

THE STRANGER

Always.

Uoht falls to his knees, inert.

CAMILLA (freed from the hold, horrified)

What did you do to him?

THE STRANGER

I granted his wish, and filled the emptiness within him with an even greater
emptiness.

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CAMILLA

Is this what you do to people? You twist their minds and pervert their every
thought until they are docile to you?

THE STRANGER

I only held up a mirror to him, and he is gazing into it through the Spectre
of Truth.

CAMILLA

A plague on the Specter of Truth! Come back, Uoht. Don't believe all the nasty
things you've been told.

THE STRANGER

You can't save him.

UOHT (in a deep, foreign voice)

You can't save anything. Nothing, and no one.

CAMILLA

No... no, it is my duty to watch over the subjects of Hastur, to watch over the
city, that it may always endure; that it may always remain; that it may always
reign.

THE STRANGER

Who entrusted you with such a charge?

CAMILLA

I am the daughter of the queen and the mother of the future king.

THE STRANGER

So neither really a queen nor really a mother; just the hinge of a still-closed
door.

CAMILLA

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I am fulfilling the role given to me.

THE STRANGER

Are you well recognized for your office? Do you carry out any actions for the
good of your kingdom or are you only a belly to be filled with an heir? Do your
good intentions decide the course of the world or are you only a servile
instrument of the world?

UOHT (in a deep, foreign voice)

Finally, Camilla, the only question that matters: does this duty you honor
bring you happiness? Could your aspirations have been different?

CAMILLA

Perhaps they are. However, I cannot indulge in such fantasies.

THE STRANGER

Why not? Wouldn't you like to take your freedom, far from the city, far from
duty, far from obligations, to live your life at your leisure?

UOHT (in a deep, foreign voice)

To have only the pleasure of living as one's only concern and the sweetness of love as
one's only troubles?

THE STRANGER

Finally leave the world to its own pain?

CAMILLA

It would be pleasant, it is true, to be free of these burdens and live bucolically

far from these marble walls. If only the world were happy, then perhaps
happiness would be permitted to me... But I cannot shirk it like this, I cannot
flee and live out my whims at will. The world is crumbling, my King: how
selfish it would be to abandon it.

THE STRANGER

But there's nothing you can do to save him.

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UOHT (in a deep, foreign voice)

You couldn't do it before, you can't do it now.

THE STRANGER

It's too late... You can only be...

UOHT (in a deep, foreign voice)

… witness.

CAMILLA

No… no, no…

THE STRANGER

You're powerless, Camilla. You've always been powerless. But don't

worry...

UOHT (in a deep, foreign voice)

I will stay with you until the end. I will hold your hand, and together we will
watch the pale sun rise in this dark night, and Carcosa slowly emerge from the
horizon, into the firmament of black stars…

CAMILLA (in a deep, foreign voice)

…and under the aegis of the blue Aldebaraan, the Hyades will sing for the
swirling moons, dancing on the infinite summits of the towers of the ancient
city, a dying and muffled song that will last until the purple dawn. Then…

UOHT (in a deep, foreign voice)

…may the red dawn reveal what we must do…

CAMILLA (in a deep, foreign voice)

…when the starry azure fades at the last hour.

Uoht and Camilla, kneeling in each other's arms, freeze as if

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statues.

Scene 4.

Enter the madman who scans the entire scene with his gaze without seeing the
stranger, and he will not hear him.

THE MADMAN

Where is the Yellow Sign? Where is my sign? O King in Yellow! O my King, my

King, why have you forsaken me? Am I not your most devoted follower? Have I
not announced your coming to those lost souls who have never heard me? I
have walked the endless streets of this doomed city in search of your sign and
it always eludes my sight. So I waited for it, I waited for you, I wait still! Tell me
my King, answer me my King: why do you visit everyone and ignore your
servant? Have I sinned? Do you impose a cruel punishment on me? Do you
test me with this perverse silence? Why do you appear to those who flee from
you and remain invisible to me who seek you?

THE STRANGER

Your quest is in vain because it is already over. You don't need to see me, you
don't need to hear me, to feel my presence. I am here, you know it deep
down, your faith knows no doubt. So why these questions?

THE MADMAN

Reveal yourself! Guide me!

THE STRANGER

There is nothing I can tell you that you don't already know. There is nothing I can
offer you that you don't already have.

THE MADMAN

Send me a sign!

THE STRANGER

You know where your steps should take you. You always have.

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THE MADMAN

Give me the courage to find you.

THE STRANGER

You just have to get up and walk.

THE MADMAN (after a silence)

Since you offer me only your silence, I will leave this city doomed to desolation
and oblivion, and I will walk under the black stars towards the pale sun rising
on the horizon. I will enter the nebulous mists of Hali and cross the dark waves
of Dehme. I will always keep my eyes on the path of the blue star and I will
beware of losing myself in the whirling of the dancing moons. And before the
purple dawn comes, when the dark Hyades are at their zenith and their
mystery is revealed to me, under their icy light, I will pass through the onyx
gates of Carcosa.

THE STRANGER

There you will find me.

THE MADMAN

Will you crown me then, O King in Yellow?

THE STRANGER

You will crown yourself alone. For the inhabitants of Carcosa are all kings: the
world is theirs and they reign in it, free.

THE MADMAN

Even emperor among emperors, I will forever be your servant my King.

THE STRANGER

Come on, your journey begins.

The madman leaves the scene.

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Scene 5.

Cassilda enters the stage out of breath.

CASSILDA

You're here! So you stayed here!

THE STRANGER

I would never have left you, my queen. Why did you run away?

CASSILDA

When I saw your face, I refused to believe what I saw. My eyes deceived me,
the heat of this effervescent masquerade made my head spin, a cloudiness in
the wine deluded me, some evil was playing a trick on me! Or was it you, evil
spirit, who took pleasure in disturbing my vision! My heart must have been
sure. So I rushed out of here and rushed into the abyssal caverns that extend
beneath the palace. The echo of my frantic footsteps resonated in the macabre
depths; the moonbeams, through the guts and shafts that snake in the rock,
pierced the oppressive darkness. I rushed into the gigantic tomb of the kings
and queens of Hastur, of the great princes who reigned over the city and of the
ladies who accompanied them. I entered that abyss of marble and granite, and
rushed without a greeting to the only sepulchre that had ever received my
affection. But the recumbent sculpture that previously sealed the sarcophagus
was broken, as if some terrible force from within had expelled it with a crash.
And the tomb was empty. Ah! I remember when we carried its king into that
sepulchre, his head bare and free of all ornament, and for no other shroud we
covered him with his great white mantle. I see you now wearing his face, dried
and stretched into a horrific pale mask, and wearing his yellowed and moth-
eaten mantle like a common rag. Oh vile creature! Oh perverse demon! Wicked
God! Why did you take the body of the man I loved?

THE STRANGER (then taking on a man's voice)

Because it was the only way the King in Yellow could get to you.

CASSILDA

Alar? Is that you? Can you hear me? Are you alive?

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THE STRANGER (in a man's voice)

Yes Cassilda, yes my queen, it's me.

CASSILDA

Is it really you? Isn't the King in Yellow deceiving me? Isn't he playing a cruel
trick on me?

THE STRANGER (in a man's voice)

He's gone. We're alone.

CASSILDA

Oh Alar, how is this possible? How can you still talk to me?

THE STRANGER (in a man's voice)

It's a mystery I don't know the answer to. But I do know that I'm happy to
have you back, Cassilda.

CASSILDA

No, don't look at me. The years haven't been kind to me.

THE STRANGER (in a man's voice, laughing)

Do you think death was with me? Abandon your coquetry, my queen. We are
two hearts, two souls, who had lost each other and who finally find each other
again.

CASSILDA

Why does it have to be the end of the world?

THE STRANGER (in a man's voice)

We will savor the time allotted to us. How I have missed you, Cassilda, and
the world of the living too. Are we not on the balcony adjoining the ballroom?
And here is still in place the throne that overlooks the sister lakes of Hali and
Dehme. And below, in the gardens, still takes root the stump that our little
Camilla loved. She was so proud when she stood on this

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wooden stand. So many years have passed and yet, yet... nothing seems to
have changed...

CASSILDA

I kept the palace intact my king.

THE STRANGER (in a man's voice)

But everything is frozen, as if in a memory. As if the walls had suddenly

stopped aging. As if time had forgotten this place. As if no one had lived
there anymore, except for intangible ghosts quick to disturb nothing, move
nothing, touch nothing. This is not a palace… it is a mausoleum.

CASSILDA

It is a monument to your glory, my king.

THE STRANGER (in a man's voice)

No… it is a temple of regret. The city! What are these fields of ruin and rubble
that have blossomed within the walls of Hastur? And the Hyades… yes, the
Hyades are black. The King in Yellow whispered many horrors to me about
their mystery in my sleep; now I see he spoke the truth. And there is Carcosa
rising on the horizon, beyond the nebulous mists of Hali and the dark billows of
Dehme, like a pale sun in the terrible night. There were many prophecies that
foretold this day, immemorial secrets passed from ruler to heir, cryptic
sermons preached to the heedless multitudes, forbidden words and names
that we had come to blaspheme impudently, convinced that these dreadful
myths would arise only in the fancies of madmen. O Ythill, we are those
madmen…

CASSILDA

O Alar, O my king, O my beloved, everything that happens is my fault. The

wonderful kingdom you entrusted to me, I led to its ruin. You were the greatest
Prince of Hastur. Never has the city been as flourishing as under your reign. We
were prosperous, powerful, and happy. Each of our subjects shared our happiness
and this is thanks to you. Yet, without daring to admit it to myself, I envied you as
much as I admired you, and I would have wished

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to have your strength. To be worthy of you and, I admit reluctantly, a little for
myself too.

THE STRANGER (in a man's voice)

Why did you never tell me about it, Cassilda?

CASSILDA

You were superb and blameless, and I was ashamed. Can you imagine a wife
being jealous of her husband? What a comedy that would be! It was a
weakness I couldn't show you; I loved you too much to risk it.

THE STRANGER (in a man's voice)

I would have continued to love you my queen.

CASSILDA

Really? Yes, really. Oh, I'm such a ridiculous, unworthy woman to doubt
you!

THE STRANGER (in a man's voice)

Even from our thrones, we remain mere mortals, Cassilda. We are fallible,
subject to fault and error. What obtuse fool would blame us for that?

CASSILDA

But you, you remained immaculate of all blemish!

THE STRANGER (in a man's voice)

You loved me: your gaze absolved me of many things.

CASSILDA

No, my look was genuine. You shouldn't have... it was unfair that you...

THE STRANGER (in a man's voice)

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And yet I passed away.

CASSILDA

I have been lost since you disappeared. All of Hastur's burden has returned
to me. A secret part of my soul had always hoped for it, but without you by
my side, this cursed ambition no longer had any meaning. Yet I never
abandoned the city; I fought with all my might to equal you in its
government; may Hastur always endure; may it always remain; may it always
reign. Alas! The more I delved into its affairs, the more I saw things, piece by
piece, slipping out of my control. I tried to catch up and keep even the
smallest unruly subject under my thumb, but despite all the power I
concentrated in my hands, despite all my will, Hastur, with horror, crumbled
little by little. And slowly ruin took hold of the ideal city you had bequeathed
to me. I have failed, Alar, I have dishonored your legacy. Now the King in
Yellow is going to swallow everything up and it's my fault, I didn't know how
to stop him.

THE STRANGER (in a man's voice)

Oh Cassilda... Did you love me so much that you had to close your heart to
everything else? Did you idolize me to the point of rewriting my entire reign? Did
you worship me like a lost god to whom you had sacrificed everything?

CASSILDA

I would have done even more for you, my beloved.

THE STRANGER (in a man's voice)

Cassilda, my poor queen, my unhappy love, was life so dull for you without
me?

CASSILDA

I have never loved anyone but you; I have never lived except for you.
Everything else is a dullness with a bitter taste of dust; a time that passes as
long as eternity, dull as death; a dull world where promises are stale illusions
and the joys of mediocrity are spoiled. Only your memory brought me a little
comfort, like a fire in the cold night. To forget you was to lose myself in an
unfathomable darkness.

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Everything I did, I did in the foolish hope of finding you again.

THE STRANGER (rediscovering the voice of the King in Yellow)

And so you damned yourself.

CASSILDA

No... No! Not you! Bring him back! Bring Alar back to me! I beg you, I beg
you! I want to hear his voice once more...

THE STRANGER

Alar is gone now, the time you had is up.

CASSILDA

No... it wasn't long enough... you didn't even let me... you didn't even allow
me to ask him for forgiveness. (Silence) O King in Yellow, you mocked me. Did
you laugh at my pain? Did you rejoice in my tears? Did you find pleasure in
my torment?

THE STRANGER

I had to find a way to your heart. I was in your shadow long before the
Hyades turned black; I was creeping in your footsteps long before Carcosa
rose; I was whispering in your ear long before the Spectre of Truth spread.
But you ignored me, Cassilda, you to whom I made myself known even before
my Sign appeared, you closed your soul to me.

CASSILDA

I heard terrible words, from which mournful songs escaped me in a murmur; in

the corridors of the palace, with a shudder, I sometimes thought I felt a ghost
following me; and when I looked into the distance, I saw the horizon flicker as
the twin suns sank into the nebulous lake of Hali. I saw these signs, O King in
Yellow, and I had to ignore them, or you would have appeared.

THE STRANGER

Futile superstition, you didn't even delay me.

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CASSILDA

What are you in the end? What do you want?

THE STRANGER

Neither god nor demon, neither curse nor spell; not a man, much less a beast;
not a spirit or a ghost. Words fail your language to say what I am; you feel me
more than you understand me, and I am much more. I was there at the
beginning and I lead to the end. Do not think that I wish you harm, Cassilda,
nor good: that would be to attribute to me human views. But if you call me,
then I will incarnate myself in the reflection that suits you, and I will deliver you
from the burden that weighs you down. And you called me Cassilda. Hastur
called me. All of Ythill called me.

CASSILDA

I never called upon you.

THE STRANGER

No need for incantation or formula: I alone hear even the most unconscious
prayers.

CASSILDA

So you're announcing the end?

THE STRANGER

Yes. This dream is over.

CASSILDA

I don't want it! Not like this! Not yet! I haven't done anything, I've accomplished
nothing in this world that...

THE STRANGER

It's too late now, Cassilda. There's nothing you can do or prevent; you can't
turn back or take a new path. Choose to deny it, rebel, make amends, despair,
or accept it, all your turmoil will change nothing. Whatever your past actions,
whether colored by regret, pride, joy, or

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Remorse, everything will have been only a fleeting moment without

consequence on the inevitable. Come Cassilda, give me your hand and sit one
last time on your throne. Contemplate one last time Hastur the Magnificent,
who reigned for millennia over the fertile Ythill. Admire one last time the
nebulous mist of Lake Hali and the sea of clouds that rolls against the dark
shores of Dehme. Follow with your eyes one last time the blue path that
Aldebaraan pursues through the celestial night. Close your eyelids my queen,
leave this world and its memories, and flee. Lose yourself in the dream of
another land, where the twin suns are one and the moon is single; where the
Hyades are still luminescent and Aldebaraan blushes in the sky. Dream of a
country where your dynasty has endured and where your descendants frolic,
happy. Leave Carcosa here below and let his empire spread like a pale sun in a
dark night.
The whirling moons celebrate her coming by dancing to the dying song of the
Black Hyades. For the eternity of that song, the festooned rags of Carcosa will
envelop this barren land and dry its last tears, until the blue star runs its course
and its light fades with the first glimmers of the red dawn. Then a purple dawn
will arise and set sky and earth ablaze in a deluge of flame. All of Ythill will be
consumed and will go to waste with the whirling moons in the final embrace of
the twin suns. From that burning kiss will be born a dense darkness that the
Black Hyades will devour. Their morbid song will echo dully through the
expired stars and the vanishing constellations, and gently lay them in a night
shroud. After an infinity that even the gods cannot imagine, the dying voice of
the Hyades will finally be exhausted, and then the black stars will slowly
dissolve into nothingness, inert, cold, unspeakable, immutable. All that has
been will have been for nothing. The stranger stands for a few more moments
in the center of the stage, facing the audience, then the King in Yellow
withdraws and Alar's corpse collapses.

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