'Is there aught wrong with my Lord, Macumazahn, that he waits
not upon me? Say, is he sick?'
I said that he was well enough, and then, without further ado,
I plunged into my story and told it from beginning to end. Oh,
what a rage she flew into! It was a sight to see her, she looked
so lovely.
'How darest thou come to me with such a tale?' she cried. 'It
is a lie to say that my Lord was making love to Sorais, my sister.'
'Pardon me, oh Queen,' I answered, 'I said that Sorais was making
love to thy lord.'
'Spin me no spiders' webs of words. Is not the thing the same
thing? The one giveth, the other taketh; but the gift passes,
and what matters it which is the most guilty? Sorais! oh, I
hate her -- Sorais is a queen and my sister. She had not stooped
so low had he not shown the way. Oh, truly hath the poet said
that man is like a snake, whom to touch is poison, and whom none
can hold.'
'The remark, oh Queen, is excellent, but methinks thou hast misread
the poet. Nyleptha,' I went on, 'thou knowest well that thy
words are empty foolishness, and that this is no time for folly.'
'How darest thou?' she broke in, stamping her foot. 'Hast my
false lord sent thee to me to insult me also? Who art thou,
stranger, that thou shouldst speak to me, the Queen, after this
sort? How darest thou?'
'Yea, I dare.
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