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King Shahrayar’s court.
Through cracks in the wall, the faces of SMUGGLES appear one by one. The SMUGGLES bang on the wall, more and more insistently until, like their hope, their protest fades to nothing, and they disappear back into the shadows.
QUEEN SAHAR stands trial. The ADVISER reads the charges to KING SHAHRAYAR and the MOB. An EXECUTIONER is at the ready.
ADVISER: Queen Sahar. You were caught under the palace smuggling outsiders into the kingdom.
MOB: Foreign riffraff!
KING SHAHRAYAR: You are the ringleader of a smuggling ring! Our nosing around has proved it.
ADVISER: Yes. Therefore, by the law of King Shahrayar, you are charged with being an Official Troublemaker …
MOB: A smuggler of Smuggles!
KING SHAHRAYAR: … and sentenced to death.
ADVISER: My Queen. You may say one thing in your defence.
KING SHAHRAYAR: Why did you help the Smuggles?!
QUEEN SAHAR: I found them eating grass …
MOB: Strangers are strange!
QUEEN SAHAR: … saw them at our border, looking back at their burning churches and mosques …
MOB: Strangers are dangerous!
QUEEN SAHAR: … robbed by bandits, with nothing left except the clothes on their backs. It cost nothing to open the gate and let them soak up the sun.
MOB: But they’ve got nits and lice and pimples and germs!
KING SHAHRAYAR: And they’re here, in my kingdom, uninvited!
QUEEN SAHAR: In need of help.
MOB: The queen helped the Smuggles! Down with the Smuggles!
KING SHAHRAYAR: Yes. Down with the Smuggles. Each night, one Smuggle must be brought to my chamber. I will torment them, make them obey, but when the call of dawn is heard, I will have their head chopped off. I, King Shahrayar, vow to do this until every last Smuggle is dead.
ADVISER: But My Lord, O King.
KING SHAHRAYAR: What?!
ADVISER: The dungeon is full to the brim. To kill the Smuggles one by one will take years.
KING SHAHRAYAR: My fury will outlive the lot of them! I’ve tried everything, but they keep coming, a tsunami of Smuggles flooding into my kingdom!
MOB: With nits and lice and pimples and germs! And big noses! And pongy breath! And odd names! And rotten luck!
KING SHAHRAYAR: Let them rot in the dungeon until their number is up.
MOB: They’ll breed like rabbits!
QUEEN SAHAR: O unhappy King. The spell of the wrong story has turned you into a beast.
KING SHAHRAYAR: And you have betrayed me! Your king and husband! Prepare for your death!
QUEEN SAHAR: Spare me and God will spare you.
KING SHAHRAYAR: Executioner!
QUEEN SAHAR: Destroy me and God will destroy you.
KING SHAHRAYAR: Proceed.
The EXECUTIONER takes the QUEEN to the chopping block.
QUEEN SAHAR: You are warned.
KING SHAHRAYAR: Off with her head!
The EXECUTIONER beheads the QUEEN. Her head floats into the air and sings.
QUEEN SAHAR: [singing] I don’t trust the days
I hope things will change
But I can’t see the time
When clouds of doubt will go
We are now
Left hanging
Like our future.
The QUEEN’s head dis...
