[The King's HERALD enters.]

HERALD. Our Sovereign King comes to-night!

HEADMAN. My God!

AMAL. At what hour of the night, Herald?

HERALD. On the second watch.

AMAL. When from the city gates my friend the watchman will strike his gong, "ding dong ding, ding dong ding" then?

HERALD. Yes, then. The King sends his greatest physician to attend on his young friend.

[STATE PHYSICIAN enters.]

STATE PHYSICIAN. What's this? How close it is here! Open wide all the doors and windows. [Feeling AMAL's body.] How do you feel, my child? AMAL. I feel very well, Doctor, very well. All pain is gone. How fresh and open! I can now see all the stars twinkling from the other side of the dark. PHYSICIAN. Will you feel well enough to leave your bed with the King when he comes in the middle watches of the night?

AMAL. Of course, I'm dying to be about for ever so long. I'll ask the King to find me the polar star. I must have seen it often, but I don't know exactly which it is.

PHYSICIAN. He will tell you everything. [To MadHAV.] Will you go about and arrange flowers through the room for the King's visit? [Indicating the HEADMAN.] We can't have that person in here.

AMAL. No, let him be, Doctor. He is a friend. It was he who brought me the King's letter.

PHYSICIAN. Very well, my child. He may remain if he is a friend of yours.

MADHAV [whispering into AMAL's ear]. My child,

the King loves you. He is coming himself. Beg for a gift from him. You know our humble circum

stances.

AMAL. Don't you worry, Uncle. I've made up my mind about it.

MADHAV. What is it, my child?

AMAL. I shall ask him to make me one of his postmen that I may wander far and wide, delivering his message from door to door.

MADHAV [slapping his forehead]. Alas, is that all? AMAL. What'll be our offering to the King, Uncle, when he comes?

HERALD. He has commanded puffed rice.

AMAL. Puffed rice! Say, Headman, you're right. You said so. You knew all we didn't.

HEADMAN. If you send word to my house then I could manage for the King's advent really nice — PHYSICIAN. No need at all. you. Sleep is coming over him.

Now be quiet, all of
I'll sit by his pillow;

he's dropping into slumber. Blow out the oil-lamp. Only let the starlight stream in. Hush, he slumbers. MADHAV [addressing GAFFER]. What are you standing there for like a statue, folding your palms? - I Say, are they good omens? Why are they darkening the room? How will starlight help? GAFFER. Silence, unbeliever.

am nervous.

[SUDHA enters.]

SUDHA. Amal!

PHYSICIAN. He's asleep.

SUDHA. I have some flowers for him. Mayn't I

give them into his own hands?

PHYSICIAN. Yes, you may.

SUDHA. When will he be awake?

PHYSICIAN. Directly the King comes and calls him. SUDHA. Will you whisper a word for me in his ear?

PHYSICIAN. What shall I say?

SUDHA. Tell him Sudha has not forgotten him.

CURTAIN

SIX WHO PASS WHILE THE

LENTILS BOIL1

BY

STUART WALKER

1 Reprinted by special permission from "Portmanteau Plays" by Stuart Walker, published by Stewart & Kidd Company, Cincinnati. Professional and amateur stage rights strictly reserved by the author.

Probably the most popular play of Stuart Walker, the inventor and director of the Portmanteau Theater, is "Six Who Pass." It is a fanciful bit of action carried out by six persons who pass a pot of boiling lentils. They are on their way to the execution of a Queen who is condemned to die before the clock strikes twelve. Her crime is having stepped upon the ring-toe of the King's great aunt.

If the reader wishes, he may read symbolism into the action, but the content, the vigor, and the grace are sufficient for the reader apart from any such addition.

"Trimplet,' ""Nevertheless" and "Medicine Show are three other one-act plays by this author, which with "Six Who Pass" comprise an evening's performance.