He breaks off the dangerous interview, and bids sound to arms. Presently the armies join battle, and the old king is overthrown, and his routed army scattered in confused flight. The poor gracioso, Clarin, has now a tragic part assigned to him, and one very characteristic of Calderon's skill in making all parts of his drama work together for one effect. He conceals himself among the rocks, in a place, as he boasts, of such entire security, that no danger can possibly find him out. The king presently appears, with Astolfo and others, also flying; shots are fired from behind, and the poor clown drops from his place of concealment, mortally wounded, at the king's feet. To the question, "Who is he?" he has strength to reply that he is one who, seeking to avoid death, has found it; who has fulfilled in himself that destiny which he thought most certainly to defeat, and this by the very means which he took to defeat it. The lesson is not thrown away upon the king. The pursuers are upon him and his company. They enter, Sigismund and his troops. After a momentary attempt at concealment, the king comes forth from his hiding-place, throws himself at his son's feet, and the menace of the stars is accomplished-here, also, by the very means employed to defeat it. Let us see how Calderon manages this concluding scene: SOLDIER. In this intricate wilderness, Somewhere in its thickest tangles, The king hides himself. SIGISMUND. Pursue him, Till not one bush has remainèd Which you have not thoroughly searched, All its trunks and all its branches. CLOTALDO. Fly, sir! KING. Wherefore should I fly? ASTOLFO. Sire, what mean you? KING. Prince, unhand me! CLOTALDO. What, sir, would you? KING. Use, Clotaldo, That sole help which yet avails me. Prince, if thou art seeking me, Let the snow of these white hairs Serve unto thee as a carpet; SIGISMUND. Princes, nobles, court of Poland, Who those broad and skiey pages, In man's shape a wild beast make me, By the gentle blood that races Might, of good hope, have approved me Of my wild and savage rearing Was alone sufficient amply To have brutalized my soul. Oh, fair way to shun the danger! That he might defeat, to waken Beasts that he perchance found sleeping? From that hour to bear it naked, With its point against his bosom ! "Twere ill done to brave the wild waves, Mountainous heights of crystal raised. With my sire the same thing fortuned, As with one who should awaken Let for an example serve This rare spectacle, this strangest Prodigy, most wonderful Sight of all; for what were stranger Than to have arrived to see |