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SECTION
TEN
CONVERSATIONS OF THE
DEAD
I
DINSHAH
— PERIZADE
II
TURIU
— URIU
III
MAZZINI
— CAVOUR — GARIBALDI
IV
SHIVAJI
— JAI SINGH
V
LITTLETON
— PERCIVAL
ONE
Dinshah — Perizade
DINSHAH
Perizade, the shades of Iran were not so cool and sweet as these
in our city of Mazinderan. The gardens that bloom on the banks
of the river of peace are carpeted with lovelier and sweeter-scented flowers and the birds that sing upon every tree and make
the day melodious with the unearthly delight of their clamorous
harmonies, are of so various a plumage and hue that one is content to satiate the eye with the softness and splendour without
caring to know name and kind. Here for two thousand years we
have tasted the bliss of the angels; but, I know not why, it seems
to me that memories of Iran come back to my heart. The waters
of the Jihun and the tents of the Tartars where the tribes of Afrasiab wander, Damascus the opulent, and our own cities, where
the houses of our parents adjoined and we leaned from the
balcony and talked in soft whispers seem to me again desirable.
PERIZADE
I too would not mind returning to our old haunts. It is not that
I am weary of Mazinderan, but something calls to me to have joy
again that is mortal and fleeting, but not without its poignant
sense of a swiftly-snatched and perfect bliss. Yet Dinshah, two
thousand years have passed and shall we not consider before we
go what has come to the places we loved? Other men, other
tongues, other manners may now possess them, and we should
come as strangers into a world for which we are no longer fit.
DINSHAH
I will go and see. Wait for me, Perizade.
Page
– 475
II
DINSHAH
Perizade, Perizade, let us not return to earth, but remain for ever
in Mazinderan. I have seen the earth and it is changed. How wise
wert thou, my angel!
PERIZADE
What didst thou see or hear, beloved?
DINSHAH
I saw a world stripped of beauty. Mean and clumsy were the
buildings, or pretentious and aimed at a false elegance. Miles of
brick, with hardly a bit of green here and there, these are the cities. Ever a
raucous roar goes up from them, the glint of furnaces and the clang of metal; a dull, vicious smoke clouds the
sky; the gardens are blasted and there is no beauty in them. Men
wear a hideous dress uglier than their joyless faces and awkward
limbs. It is a world of barbarians; the gnomes have come up
from under the earth to work in the sunlight.
PERIZADE
Dinshah, this is sorrowful news, for go we must. Do you not
know that these urgings are the signal?
DINSHAH
Yes, my Perizade, but not to this hideousness did our hearts move
us to resort, but to the towers and gardens of Iran.
PERIZADE
It may be, Dinshah, that we go down to make the world once
more what it was, a place of beauty, song and delight. Surely,
if we enter into the world you describe, we shall not be content
to leave it till it is utterly changed into the likeness of our desire.
DINSHAH
I think you are right, Perizade, as you always are. Let us then
arise and go.
Page
– 476
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