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WAITING FOR THE BARBARIANS (CHAPETR 6- Script)

Scene 1- Apartment of Magistrate and outside

Magistrate

Man1

Man 2

Scene 2- Well Site

Digger 1

Magistrate

Scene 3- Herbalist shop

Magistrate

Herbalist

Scene 4- Mai’s Inn

Magistrate

Mai

Scene 5- Inside of Magistrate’s apartment

Magistrate

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Scene 1

Setting: Apartment of Magistrate and its surrounding

(It is two o'clock in the morning. Magistrate hears pounding by someone on his

door. He goes to check who it is. A man with a lantern stands before him and he is

trying hard to catch his breath. The man stares at him)

Magistrate: (Surprised) Who are you?

Man 1: Where is the warrant officer? (Looks over magistrate’s shoulder as if

searching for someone)

(Enters Colonel Joll's carriage.)

Man 1: We need food, fresh horses, fodder

(Then he goes near the carriage, with magistrate following him and Man1 opens

the carriage door and speaks to Joll)

Man 1: The Warrant Officer is not here, sir, he has left.

(Magistrate goes near the carriage and looks inside the carriage and catches a

glimpse of Joll. Joll sees magistrate and he shuts the door)

(A stone is thrown at the carriage)

Man1: What was that?! (Alarmingly looks around)

(Another man comes rushing into the scene. Talks to Man1)

Man 2: There is nothing. The stables are empty, they have taken every single

one.

(Another stone lands near the carriage but it misses and lands near the magistrate

and he moves a little, as if dodging the stone)

Magistrate: It looks like someone is throwing stones at us and I think its coming

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from the walls (Nobody pays him any attention. Magistrate looks at the wall as if

searching for the culprit who is pelting stones at them. He couldn’t see anyone and

he turns around and looks at Man 1 and Man 2)

Listen to me,you are cold and tired. Stable the horses, come inside, have

something to eat, tell us your story. We have had no news since you left. If that

madman wants to sit in his carriage all night, let him sit. (Still no one pays him

attention. Magistrate looks at the carriage with an angry discontented face. Joll

looks at the magistrate. Takes off his sunglass, revealing his disgust and anger

towards the magistrate. )

Magistrate: I wish I could drag you out of that carriage and kick the pulp out of

you (He shows his fist, gesturing his urge to hit him. Then puts his hands down and

talks as Joll carefully tries to read his lips while sitting in his carriage) I have a

message for you,my friend. The crime that is buried in us we must inflict on

ourselves. Not on others (Magistrate repeat the words, pointing at his chest,

pointing at his. Joll looks at magistrate with a confused face)

(Another stone, heavier one, hits the carriage)

Man1: ( Looks at the wall) Who the fuck is throwing that?! Show yourself, you

cowards! (Panicking)Let’s get out of here. We must go before things get worst.

(Carriage starts to move out with other men following the carriage)

Magistrate: (Taking hold of Man1) Wait! I will not let you go until I know what

has happened!

Man1: (Looking scared) Can't you see? (He looks in the direction of the wall)

Magistrate: (Struggling with Man1 who is trying to escape from him) Tell me and

you can go!

Man1: (Angrily) Fine! What do you want to know?

Magistrate: Where is everyone else?

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Man1: Gone. Scattered. All over the place. I don't know where they are. We had

to find our own way. It was impossible to keep together. (Man1 sobs) Now

please let me go before the carriage gets out of my sight! Please! I beg you!

Magistrate: In a minute. How could it be that the barbarians did this to you?

Man1: We froze in the mountains! We starved in the desert! Why did no one tell

us it would be like that? We were not beaten. They led us out into the desert

and then they...they…vanished!

Magistrate: Who led you?

Man1: They the barbarians! They lured us on and on, we could never catch

them. They picked off the stragglers, they cut our horses loose in the night, they

would not stand up to us!

Magistrate: So you gave up and came home?

Man1: Yes! (Angrily)

Magistrate: Do you expect me to believe that? (with a skeptic look)

Man1: (glares desperately at the magistrate) Why should I lie? I don't want to be

left behind, that is all! (Shouts at him and manages to escape from magistrates

grip and runs towards the carriage) WAIT! WAIT FOR ME!

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Scene 2

Setting: WELL SITE

(Diggers dig for a while,then stopped digging as if waiting for further order)

Magistrate : (Goes near the diggers) What is the trouble? Why you all stopped

digging?

(A digger points at the floor. Magistrate looks closely)

Magistrate: What is that?! It looks like bones. (Examines closely) From the shape

of it, It looks like a child’s bone. There must have been a grave here. A strange

place for a grave.

Digger 1: What do you want to do? We can start digging again nearer the wall if

you like. Also have a look at that pit over there (Points at the pit)

(Magistrate gets down into the pit)

Digger 1: Look under you feet.(Magistrate examines the ground) They aren't

buried properly. They are lying just any old how, on top of each other.

Magistrate : Yes. We can't dig here, can we?

Digger 1: No.

Magistrate: We must fill it in and start again nearer the wall. (Looks disappointed

and stands silent for a while looking at the bones)

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Scene 3

Setting: Herbalist shop

Herbalist: What can I do for you?

Magistrate: I feel uncomfortable with this..this..this..this ugly erection in the

morning and sometimes it happens in the night too. I have no desire of any kind

and yet why my body fails to understand that?! I feel nothing but…Anyway the

thing is I want it gone. (Stays silent for a while)

Herbalist: Hmmm Try bread mould and milkroot. It may work. If it does not,

come back to me. Here is some milkroot. You grind it and mix it to a paste with

the mould and a little warm water. Take two spoonfuls after each meal. It is

very unpleasant, very bitter, but be assured it will not do you any harm.

(Magistrate pays him)

Herbalist: (with a curious tone) But tell me. Why should a fine healthy man like

yourself want to kill off his desires?

Magistrate: It has nothing to do with desire, father. It is simply an irritation. A

stiffening. Like rheumatism! (He smiles and herbalist smiles back and after a

pause) This must be the only shop in town they did not loot.

Herbalist: Yes, they did not trouble me. They suggested that I leave for my own

good. 'The barbarians will fry your balls and eat them'that was what they said,

those were their words. I said, 'I was born here, I'll die here, I'm not leaving.'

Now they are gone, and it's better without them, I say.

Magistrate: Yes. I see

Herbalist: Try the milk root. If it doesn't work, come back

Magistrate: Yes I understand. Thank you (Exit the stage.)

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Scene 4

Setting: Mai’s Inn

(Magistrate goes inside the Inn and finds Mai making tea for him near the kitchen

area)

Mai: (concentrating on making tea)I love the big old stove you have here. It

keeps its warmth for hours. Such a gentle warmth. I wish I had something nice

to offer you. But the soldiers cleaned out the storeroom, there is hardly

anything left. (Looks disappointed)

Magistrate: I want you to come upstairs with me (Mai looks at him) Can you

leave the child here?

Mai: (She looks at her sleeping child and looks bit worried) I'd rather not leave

him,in case he wakes up alone.

Magistrate: It is just for a night or two. Everything is coming to an end. We must

live as we can.

(Mai takes off her apron and goes with him, leaving the baby. Both exit the stage

for a while and comes out after a short while. Both adjust their clothes and sits on

the chairs)

Magistrate: (Looks at the sleeping child)This is your fourth child, isn't it?

Mai: Yes, the fourth. One died

Magistrate: And the father? Does he help?

Mai: He left some money behind. He was with the army.

Magistrate: I am sure he will come back.(Pause) I have grown very fond of your

eldest boy, He used to bring me my meals while I was locked up.

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Mai: Hmmmm(Pause)I will have to go .I can't sleep in such bare rooms, I hear

creaking all night. (Looks around)Can I light the lamp? I'm afraid of falling on the

stairs. (Turns away from him and looks back ) Go to sleep. I will bring you

breakfast in the morning, if you don't mind millet porridge. (Pause) I liked her

very much. We all did. She never complained, she always did what she was

asked, though I know her feet gave her pain. She was friendly. There was always

something to laugh about when she was around.

Magistrate: Hmmm (sighs)

Mai: (Looks outside and detached) I don't want to think about the barbarians.

Life is too short to spend worrying about the future.(Looks at Magistrate but he

doesn’t respond and continues talking)

I don't make you happy, I know you don't enjoy it with me. You are always

somewhere else. (Pause) She told me the same thing. She said you were

somewhere else. She could not understand you. She did not know what you

wanted from her.

Magistrate: (After a pause)I didn't know you and she were intimate

Mai: I was often here, downstairs. We talked to each other about what was on

our minds. Sometimes she would cry and cry and cry. You made her very

unhappy. Did you know that?

Magistrate: You don't understand. (Pause) There is a whole side to the story you

don't know, that she could not have told you because she did not know it

herself. Which I don't want to talk about now.

Mai: It is none of my business

(Both remain silent for a while)

Magistrate: Perhaps when the barbarians come riding in, she will come riding

with them. Then everything will be on a new footing. (Looks detached and lost in

thoughts)

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Mai: I am terrified. (Pause) I am terrified to think what is going to become of us.

I try to hope for the best and live from day to day. But sometimes all of a

sudden I find myself imagining what might happen and I am paralyzed with fear.

I don't know what to do any more. I can only think of the children. What is going

to become of the children? (Repeats in a low tone, facing the magistrate)What is

going to become of the children?

Magistrate: (Holds her hand) They won't harm the children. They won't harm

anyone.

Mai: Hmmm. (Sighs) I better go down and get some sleep. I sleep well

downstairs than in here and I feel more…secure there. Good Night (Mai exit

stage)

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Scene 5

(Magistrate is looking out of his window for a while. Then comes back to his cahir,

sits and tries to write his journal. As he writes, he reads aloud what he is writing.)

Magistrate: (While he is writing)No one who paid a visit to this oasis failed to be

struck by the charm of life here. We lived in the time of the seasons, of the

harvests, of the migrations of the waterbirds. We lived with nothing between us

and the stars. We would have made any concession, had we only known what,

to go on living here. This was paradise on earth.

(Looks away from his journal and indulges in talking to himself while looking at

the direction of the audience, detached by thoughts)Perhaps by the end of the

winter, when hunger truly bites us, when we are cold and starving, or when the

barbarian is truly at the gate, perhaps then I will abandon the locutions of a civil

servant with literary ambitions and begin to tell the truth.(Pause) I wanted to

live outside history. I wanted to live outside the history that Empire imposes on

its subjects, even its lost subjects. I never wished it for the barbarians that they

should have the history of Empire laid upon them. How can I believe that that is

cause for shame? (Pause) I have lived through an eventful year, yet understand

no more of it than a babe in arms. Of all the people of this town I am the one

least fitted to write a memorial. Better the blacksmith with his cries of rage and

woe. (smiles weakly) But when the barbarians taste bread, new bread and

mulberry jam, bread and gooseberry jam, they will be won over to our ways.

They will find that they are unable to live without the skills of men who know

how to rear the pacific grains, without the arts of women who know how to use

the benign fruits. When one day people come scratching around in the ruins,

they will be more interested in the relics from the desert than in anything I may

leave behind. And rightly so. (Pause)There has been something staring me in the

face, and still I do not see it. (Sighs heavily. Closes his journal and walks away)

(Exit stage)

THE END