NEW: Ziyal at Terok Nor 1/3 [PG] (DS9, adaptation)
Laura Taylor
AUTHORS: Euripides; adapted by Laura Taylor (dre...@roanoke.infi.net)
SECTION: 1/3
RATING: PG
SERIES/CODES: DS9, some Zi/Da, K/Du
SUMMARY: As the Dominion prepares to launch an attack against the
Federation from Terok Nor, Dukat is informed that the invasion will fail
if he does not first sacrifice his daughter.
DISCLAIMER: "Iphigenia at Aulis" is probably public property by now;
Paramount owns the Star Trek universe and all that it encompasses. This
is a work of fan fiction and as such is not intended to infringe on any copyrights.
NOTES: For those who are interested, the original text came from:
http://classics.mit.edu/Euripides/iphi_aul.html All I did was adapt it
to the DS9 universe, changing only what was necessary for it to make
sense; even so, I took many liberties with both DS9 canon and Euripides'
play.
This may be added to the ASC and Hawk & Serpent archives; all others,
ask first! All comments welcome in public or private.
Enjoy!
Laura Taylor
*****
The promenade at Terok Nor. Enter DUKAT and CARDASSIAN.
DUKAT: Glinn, come hither and stand before my dwelling.
CARDASSIAN: I come; what new schemes now, Gul Dukat?
DUKAT: Thou shalt hear.
CARDASSIAN: I am all eagerness. 'Tis little enough sleep old age allows
me and keenly it watches o'er my eyes.
DUKAT: What can that star be, steering his course yonder?
CARDASSIAN: Sirius, still shooting o'er the zenith on his way near the
Pleiads' sevenfold track.
DUKAT: The weapons are still at any rate and the sea is calm; hushed
are the winds, and silence broods o'er this narrow firth.
CARDASSIAN: Then why art thou outside thy office, why so restless, my
gul? All is yet quiet here in Terok Nor, the watch on the walls is not
yet astir. Let us go in.
DUKAT: I envy thee, Glinn, aye, and every man who leads a life secure,
unknown and unrenowned; but little I envy those in power.
CARDASSIAN: And yet 'tis there we place the be-all and end-all of
existence.
DUKAT: Aye, but that is where the danger comes; and ambition, sweet
though it seems, brings sorrow with its near approach. At one time the
unsatisfied claims of Heaven upset our life, at another the numerous
peevish fancies of our subjects shatter it.
CARDASSIAN: I like not these sentiments in one who is a chief. It was
not to enjoy all blessings that Cardassia begot thee, O Dukat; but thou
must needs experience joy and sorrow alike, mortal as thou art. E'en
though thou like it not, this is what the Prophets decree; but thou,
after letting thy taper spread its light abroad, writest the letter
which is still in thy hands and then erasest the same words again,
closing and re-opening the display, then flinging the PADD to the ground
with floods of tears and leaving nothing undone in thy aimless behaviour
to stamp thee mad. What is it troubles thee? what news is there
affecting thee, my liege? Come, share with me thy story; to a loyal and
trusty heart wilt thou be telling it; for fortune sent me that day to
form part of thy dowry and to wait upon thee with loyalty.
DUKAT: Bajor, the daughter of the Prophets, had many children, among
them the Celestial Temple; this last it was who had for wooers the
foremost of the favoured sons of the Dominion; but terrible threats of
spilling his rival's blood were uttered by each of them, should he fail
to win the maid. Now the matter filled the Prophets with perplexity; at
length this thought occurred to them; the suitors should swear unto each
other and join right hands thereon and pour libations with burnt
sacrifice, binding themselves by this curse, "Whoever wins the child of
the Prophets for wife, him will we assist, in case a rival takes her
from his house and goes his way, robbing her husband of his rights; and
we will march against that man in armed array and raze his city to the
ground, Cardassian no less than barbarian."
Now when they had once pledged their word and the Prophets with no small
cleverness had beguiled them by their shrewd device, they allowed their
daughter to choose from among her suitors the one towards whom the
breath of love might fondly waft her. Her choice fell on Weyoun; would
she had never taken him! Anon there came to Cardassia from Terra's folk
a man in robes of gorgeous hue, ablaze with gold, in true barbaric pomp;
and he, finding Weyoun gone from home, carried the Celestial Temple off
with him to his steading in the Federation, a willing paramour. Goaded
to frenzy Weyoun flew through the Dominion, invoking the ancient oath
exacted by the Founders and declaring the duty of helping the injured
husband. Whereat the chivalry of the Dominion, brandishing their phasers
and donning their armor, came hither to the narrow straits of Terok Nor
with armaments of ships and troops, with many a steed and many a car,
and they chose me to captain them all for the sake of Weyoun, since I
was his ally. Would that some other had gained that distinction instead
of me! But after the army was gathered and come together, we still
remained at Terok Nor weather-bound; and the Foundress bade us in our
perplexity sacrifice my own begotten child Ziyal, declaring that if we
offered her, we should sail and sack the Terran capital, but if we
forbore, this was not for us. When I heard this, I commanded with loud
proclamation to disband the whole host, as I could never bear to slay
daughter of mine. Whereupon my ally, bringing every argument to bear,
persuaded me at last to face the crime; so I wrote on a PADD and sent to
Kira, bidding her despatch our daughter to me on the pretence of wedding
Damar, it the same time magnifying his exalted rank and saying that he
refused to sail with the Dominion, unless a bride of our lineage should
go to him. Yes, this was the inducement I offered Kira, inventing, as I
did, a sham marriage for the maiden. Of all the Dominion we alone know
the real truth, the Foundress, Weyoun and myself; but that which I then
decided wrongly, I now rightly countermand again in this PADD, which
thou, Glinn, hast found me opening and resealing beneath the shade of
night. Up now and away with this missive to Bajor, and I will tell thee
by word of mouth all that is written herein, the contents of the PADD,
for thou art loyal to my house.
CARDASSIAN: Say on and make it plain, that what my tongue utters may
accord with what thou hast written.
DUKAT: "Daughter of Bajor, in addition to my first letter I now send
thee word not to despatch thy daughter to the Denorios Belt's embosomed
wing, to the waveless bay of Terok Nor; for after all we wilt celebrate
our child's wedding at another time."
CARDASSIAN: And how will Damar, cheated of his bride, curb the fury of
his indignation against thee and Kira?
DUKAT: Here also is a danger.
CARDASSIAN: Tell me what thou meanest.
DUKAT: It is but his name, not himself, that Damar is lending, knowing
nothing of the marriage or of my scheming or my professed readiness to
betroth my daughter to him for a husband's embrace.
CARDASSIAN: A dreadful venture thine Gul Dukat! thou that, by promise
of thy daughter's hand to the son of Cardassia, wert for bringing the
maid hither to be sacrificed for the Jem'Hadar.
DUKAT: Woe is me! ah woe! I am utterly distraught; bewilderment comes
o'er me. Away hurry thy steps, yielding nothing to old age.
CARDASSIAN: In haste I go, my liege.
DUKAT: Sit not down by woodland founts; scorn the witcheries of sleep.
CARDASSIAN: Hush!
DUKAT: And when thou passest any place where roads diverge, cast thine
eyes all round, taking heed that no mule-wain pass by on rolling wheels,
bearing my daughter hither to the ships of the Jem'Hadar, and thou see
it not.
CARDASSIAN: It shall be so.
DUKAT: Start then from the bolted gates, and if thou meet the escort,
start them back again, and drive at full speed to the abodes of the
vedeks.
CARDASSIAN: But tell me, how shall my message find credit with Kira or
thy child?
DUKAT: Preserve the seal which thou bearest on this scroll. Away!
already the dawn is growing grey, lighting the lamp of day yonder and
the fire of the sun's four steeds; help me in my trouble.
Exit CARDASSIAN.
None of mortals is prosperous or happy to the last, for none was ever
born to a painless life.
Exit DUKAT.
Enter CHORUS OF WOMEN OF BAJOR.
CHORUS: To the arching pylons of Terok Nor I came, leaving Bajor on its
narrow firth, that I might behold the army of the Dominion and the ships
manned by the Jem'Hadar; for our husbands tell us that fair-skinned
Weyoun and high-born Dukat are leading them to Terra on a thousand ships
in quest of the Celestial Temple, whom Captain Sisko carried off.
Through the grove of the Prophets, rich with sacrifice, I sped my
course, the red blush mantling on my cheeks from maiden modesty, in my
eagerness to see the soldiers' camp, the tents of the mail-clad
Jem'Hadar, and their gathered steeds. Many chieftains there I saw met
together in council. among them Damar, that nimble runner, swift on his
feet as the wind, whom Cardassia bore and Dukat trained; him I saw upon
the beach, racing in full armour along the shingle and straining every
nerve to beat a team of Jem'Hadar, as he sped round the track on foot.
Close beside them Cardassia's son leapt on his way, in all his harness,
keeping abreast the Jem'Hadar by their heavy armor.
Next I sought the countless fleet, a wonder to behold, that I might fill
my girlish eyes with gazing, a sweet delight. 'the warlike Myrmidons
from Phthia held the right wing with fifty swift cruisers, upon whose
sterns, right at the ends, stood Hebitian goddesses in golden-effigy,
the ensign of Damar's armament. Near these were moored the Dominion
ships in equal numbers; next in order, sixty ships from Romulus, having
the brilliant star set in a winged car drawn by steeds with solid hoof,
a lucky sight for mariners. Then I saw Lessepia's fleet of fifty sails
decked with ensigns; likewise there were ships from Xepolis; and from
Orion came an equal contingent; and from Cardassia Prime, Dukat sent a
hundred wellmanned galleys, his ally being with him in command, as
friend with friend, that the Dominion might exact on her, who had fled
her home to wed a foreigner. There I saw the naval armament, but some
things I heard at home about the gathered host, whereof I still have a
recollection.
Enter WEYOUN and CARDASSIAN.
CARDASSIAN (as WEYOUN wrests a PADD from him): Strange daring thine,
Weyoun, where thou hast no right.
WEYOUN: Stand back! thou carriest loyalty to thy commander too far.
CARDASSIAN: The very reproach thou hast for me is to my credit.
WEYOUN: Thou shalt rue it, if thou meddle in matters that concern thee
not.
CARDASSIAN: Thou hadst no right to read a PADD, which I was carrying.
WEYOUN: No, nor thou to be carrying sorrow to all the Dominion.
CARDASSIAN: Argue that point with others, but surrender that PADD to
me.
WEYOUN: I shall not let go.
CARDASSIAN: Nor yet will I let loose my hold.
WEYOUN: Why then, this staff of mine will be dabbling thy head with
blood ere long.
CARDASSIAN: To die in my commander's cause were a noble death.
WEYOUN: Let go! thou art too wordy for a glinn.
CARDASSIAN (seeing DUKAT approaching): Commander, he is wronging me; he
snatched thy PADD violently from my grasp, Dukat, and will not heed the
claims of right.
Enter DUKAT.
DUKAT: How now? what means this uproar at the gates, this indecent
brawling?
WEYOUN: My tale, not his, has the better right to be spoken.
DUKAT: Thou, Weyoun! what quarrel hast thou with this man, why art thou
haling him hence?
Exit CARDASSIAN.
WEYOUN: Look me in the face! Be that the prelude to my story.
DUKAT: Shall I, the son of Cardassia, close my eyes from fear?
WEYOUN: Seest thou this PADD, the bearer of a shameful message?
DUKAT: I see it, yes; and first of all surrender it.
WEYOUN: No, not till I have shewn its contents to all the Jem'Hadar.
DUKAT: What! hast thou read it and dost know already what thou shouldst
never have known?
WEYOUN: Yes, I read it and know to thy sorrow the secret machinations
of thy heart.
DUKAT: Where didst thou catch my servant? Ye gods what a shameless
heart thou hast!
WEYOUN: I was awaiting thy daughter's arrival at the docking port from
Bajor.
DUKAT: What right hast thou to watch my doings? Is not this a of
shamelessness?
WEYOUN: My wish to do it gave the spur, for I am no slave to thee.
DUKAT: Infamous! Am I not to be allowed the management of my own house?
WEYOUN: No, for thou thinkest crooked thoughts, one thing now, another
formerly, and something different presently.
DUKAT: Most exquisite refining on evil themes! A hateful thing the
tongue of cleverness!
WEYOUN: Aye, but a mind unstable is an unjust possession, disloyal to
friends. Now I am anxious to test thee, and seek not thou from rage to
turn aside from the truth, nor will I on my part overstrain the case.
Thou rememberest when thou wert all eagerness to captain the Jem'Hadar
against the Federation, making a pretence of declining, though eager for
it in thy heart; how humble thou wert then! taking each man by the hand
and keeping open doors for every fellow townsman who cared to enter,
affording each in turn a chance to speak with thee, even though some
desired it not, seeking by these methods to purchase popularity from all
bidders; then when thou hadst secured the command, there came a change
over thy manners; thou wert no longer so cordial before to whilom
friends, but hard of access, seldom to be found at home. But the man of
real worth ought not to change his manners in the hour of prosperity,
but should then show himself most staunch to friends, when his own good
fortune can help them most effectually. This was the first cause I had
to reprove thee, for it was here I first discovered thy villainy; but
afterwards, when thou camest to Terok Nor with all the gathered hosts of
the Dominion, thou wert of no account; no! the want of a favourable
breeze filled thee with consternation at the chance dealt out by Heaven.
Anon the Jem'Hadar began demanding that thou shouldst send the fleet
away instead of vainly toiling on at Terok Nor; what dismay and
confusion was then depicted in thy looks, to think that thou, with a
thousand ships at thy command, hadst not occupied the plains of Terra
with thy armies! And thou wouldst ask my counsel, "What am I to do? what
scheme can I devise. where find one?" to save thyself being stripped of
thy command and losing thy fair fame. Next when the Founder bade thee
offer thy daughter in sacrifice, declaring that the Jem'Hadar should
then sail, thou wert overjoyed, and didst gladly undertake to offer the
maid, and of thine own accord-never allege compulsion!-thou art sending
word to Major Kira to despatch thy daughter hither on pretence of
wedding Damar. This is the same air that heard thee say it; and after
all thou turnest round and hast been caught recasting thy letter to this
effect, "I will no longer be my daughter's murderer." Exactly so!
Countless others have gone through this phase in their conduct of public
affairs; they make an effort while in power, and then retire
dishonourably, sometimes owing to the senselessness of the citizens,
sometimes deservedly, because they are too feeble of themselves to
maintain their watch upon the state. For my part, I am more sorry for
our unhappy Dominion, whose purpose was to read these worthless
foreigners a lesson, while now she will let them escape and mock her,
thanks to thee and thy daughter. May I never then appoint a man to rule
my country or lead its warriors because his kinship! Ability what the
general must have; since any man, with ordinary intelligence, can govern
a state.
CHORUS: For brethren to come to words and blows, whene'er they
disagree, is terrible.
DUKAT: I wish to rebuke thee in turn, briefly, not lifting mine eyes
too high in shameless wise, but in more sober fashion, as an ally; for
it is a good man's way to be considerate. Prithee, why this burst of
fury, these bloodshot eyes? who wrongs thee? what is it thou wantest?
Thou art fain to win a virtuous bride. Well, I cannot supply thee; for
she, whom thou once hadst, was ill controlled by thee. Am I then, a man
who never went astray, to suffer for thy sins? or is it my popularity
that galls thee? No! it is the longing thou hast to keep a fair wife in
thy embrace, casting reason and honour to the winds. A bad man's
pleasures are like himself. Am I mad, if I change to wiser counsels,
after previously deciding amiss? Thine is the madness rather in wishing
to recover a wicked wife, once thou hadst lost her-a stroke of
Heaven-sent luck. Those foolish suitors swore that oath to the Prophets
in their longing to wed; but Hope was the goddess that led them on, I
trow, and she it was that brought it about rather then thou and thy
mightiness. So take the field with them; they are ready for it in the
folly of their hearts; for the deity is not without insight, but is able
to discern where oaths have been wrongly pledged or forcibly extorted. I
will not slay my children, nor shall thy interests be prospered by
justice in thy vengeance for a worthless wife, while I am left wasting,
night and day, in sorrow for what I did to one of my own flesh and
blood, contrary to all law and justice. There is thy answer shortly'
given, clear and easy to understand; and if thou wilt not come to thy
senses, I shall do the best for myself.
CHORUS: This differs from thy previous declaration, but there is good
in it-thy child's reprieve.
WEYOUN: Ah me, how sad my lot! I have no friends then after all.
DUKAT: Friends thou hast, if thou seek not their destruction.
WEYOUN: Where wilt thou find any proof that thou art sprung from the
same purpose as I?
DUKAT: Thy moderation, not thy madness do I share by nature.
WEYOUN: Friends should sympathize with friends in sorrow.
DUKAT: Claim my help by kindly service, not by paining me.
WEYOUN: So thou hast no mind to share this trouble with the Dominion?
DUKAT: No, the Dominion is diseased like thee according to some god's
design.
WEYOUN: Go vaunt thee then on thy sceptre, after betraying thine own
ally! while seek some different means and other friends.
Enter MESSENGER.
MESSENGER: Dukat, Gul of all Cardassians! I am come and bring thee thy
daughter, whom thou didst call Ziyal in thy home; and Kira, is with her,
a sight to gladden thee after thy long absence from thy palace; but, as
they had been travelling long and far, they are now refreshing their
tender feet at the waters of a fair spring, they and their horses, for
we turned these loose in the grassy meadow to browse their fill; but I
am come as their forerunner to prepare thee for their reception; for the
army knows already of thy daughter's arrival, so quickly did the rumour
spread; and all the folk are running together to the sight, that they
may see thy child; for Fortune's favourites enjoy a worldwide fame and
have all eyes fixed on them. "Is it a wedding?" some ask, "or what is
happening? or has Gul Dukat from fond yearning summoned his daughter
hither?" From others thou wouldst have heard: "They are presenting the
maiden to Terok Nor, previous to marriage; who can the bridegroom be,
that is to lead her home?"
Come, then, begin the rites-that is the next step-by getting the baskets
ready; crown your heads; prepare the wedding-hymn, thou and prince
Weyoun with thee; let flutes resound throughout the tents with noise of
dancer's feet; for this is a happy day, that is come for the maid.
DUKAT: Thou hast my thanks; now go within; for the rest it will be
well, as Fate proceeds.
Exit MESSENGER.
Ah, woe is me! unhappy wretch, what can I say? where shall I begin? Into
what cruel straits have I been plunged! Fortune has outwitted me,
proving far cleverer than any cunning of mine. What an advantage humble
birth possesses! for it is easy for her sons to weep and tell out all
their sorrows; while to the high-born man come these same sorrows, but
we have dignity throned o'er our life and are the people's slaves. I,
for instance, am ashamed to weep, nor less, poor wretch, to check my
tears at the awful pass to which I am brought. Oh! what am I to tell
Kira? how shall I welcome her? with what face meet her? for she too has
undone me by coming uninvited in this my hour of sorrow; yet it was but
natural she should come with Ziyal to prepare the bride and perform the
fondest duties, where she will discover my villainy. And for this poor
maid-why maid? Death, methinks, will soon make her his bride-how I pity
her! Thus will she plead to me, I trow: "My father will thou slay me? Be
such the wedding thou thyself mayst find, and whosoever is a friend to
thee!" Alas! to what utter ruin Sisko, the son of Terra, the cause of
these troubles, has brought me by his union with the Celestial Temple!
CHORUS: I pity her myself, in such wise as a woman, and she a stranger,
may bemoan the misfortunes of royalty.
WEYOUN (offering his hand): Thy hand, ally! let me grasp it.
DUKAT: I give it; thine is the victory, mine the sorrow.
WEYOUN: By the Founders and Cardassia I swear to tell thee the truth
from my heart, without any covert purpose, but only what I think. The
sight of thee in tears made me pity thee, and in return I shed a tear
for thee myself; I withdraw from my former proposals, ceasing to be a
cause of fear to thee; yea, and I will put myself in thy present
position; and I counsel thee, slay not thy child nor prefer my interests
to thine; for it is not just that thou shouldst grieve, while I am glad,
or that thy children should die, while mine still see the light of day.
What is it, after all, I seek? If I am set on marriage, could I not find
a bride as choice elsewhere? Was I to lose an ally-the last I should
have lost-to win the Celestial Temple, getting bad for good? I was mad,
impetuous as a youth, till I perceived, on closer view, what slaying
children really meant. Moreover I am filled with compassion for the
hapless maiden, doomed to bleed that I may wed, when I reflect that we
are kin. What has thy daughter to do with the Celestial Temple? Let the
army be disbanded and leave Terok Nor; dry those streaming eyes, ally,
and provoke me not to tears. Whatever concern thou hast in oracles that
affect thy child, let it be none of mine; into thy hands I resign my
share therein. A sudden change, thou'lt say, from my fell proposals! A
natural course for me; affection for my ally caused the change. These
are the ways of a man not void of virtue, to pursue on each occasion
what is best.
CHORUS: A generous speech, worthy of Cardassia! Thou dost not shame thy
ancestry.
DUKAT: I thank thee, Weyoun, for this unexpected suggestion; 'tis an
honourable proposal, worthy of thee.
WEYOUN: Sometimes love, sometimes the selfishness of their armies
causes a quarrel between allies; I loathe a relationship of this kind
which is bitterness to both.
DUKAT: 'Tis useless, for circumstances compel me to carry out the
murderous sacrifice of my daughter.
WEYOUN: How so? who will compel thee to slay thine own child?
DUKAT: The whole Dominion army here assembled.
WEYOUN: Not if thou send her back to Bajor.
DUKAT: I might do that unnoticed, but there will be another thing I
cannot.
WEYOUN: What is that? Thou must not fear the mob too much.
DUKAT: The Foundress will tell the Dominion host her oracles.
WEYOUN: Not if she be silenced ere that-an easy matter.
DUKAT: The whole tribe of seers is a curse with its ambition.
WEYOUN: Yes, and good for nothing and useless, when amongst us.
DUKAT: Has the thought, which is rising in my mind, no terrors for
thee?
WEYOUN: How can I understand thy meaning, unless thou declare it?
DUKAT: The Jem'Hadar First knows all.
WEYOUN: Ramata'klan cannot possibly hurt us.
DUKAT: He was ever shifty by nature, siding with the mob.
WEYOUN: True, he is enslaved by the love of popularity, a fearful evil.
DUKAT: Bethink thee then, will he not arise among the Dominion and tell
them the oracles that the Foundress delivered, saying of me that I
undertook to offer a victim, and after all am proving false? Then, when
he has carried the army away with him, he will bid the Dominion slay us
and sacrifice the maiden; and if I escape to Bajor, they will come and
desTerra the place, razing it to the ground, temples and all. That is my
trouble. Woe is me! to what straits Heaven has brought me at this pass!
Take one precaution for me, Weyoun, as thou goest through the host, that
Kira learn this not, till I have taken my child and devoted her to
death, that my affliction may be attended with the fewest tears.
Turning to the CHORUS
And you, ye stranger dames, keep silence.
Exeunt DUKAT and WEYOUN.
CHORUS: Happy they who find the goddess come in moderate might, sharing
with self-restraint in the gift of marriage and enjoying calm and rest
from frenzied passions, wilerein the Love-god, golden-haired, stretches
his charmed bow with arrows twain, and one is aimed at happiness, the
other at life's confusion. O lady Cypris, queen of beauty! far from my
bridal bower I ban the last. Be mine delight in moderation and pure
desires, and may I have a share in love, but shun excess therein
Men's natures vary, and their habits differ, but true virtue is always
manifest. Likewise the training that comes of education conduces greatly
to virtue; for not only is modesty wisdom, but it has also the rare
grace of seeing by its better judgment what is right; whereby glory,
ever young, is shed o'er life by reputation. A great thing it is to
follow virtue's footsteps-for women in their secret loves; while in men
again an inborn sense of order, shown in countless ways, adds to a
city's greatness.
Thou camest, O Sisko, to the place where thou wert reared to herd the
starships amid the white moons of Bajor, piping in foreign strain and
breathing on thy reeds an echo of the Terran airs Olympus played.
Elegant ships were moored at the spot where that verdict awaiting thee
the cause of thy going to the Dominion to stand before the ivory palace,
kindling love in the Celestial Temple's tranced eyes and feeling its
flutter in thine own breast; whence the fiend of strife brought the
Dominion with her chivalry and ships to the towers of the Federation.
Oh! great is the bliss the great enjoy. Behold Ziyal, the gul's royal
child, and Kira, the daughter of the Prophets; how proud their lineage!
how high their pinnacle of fortune! These mighty ones, whom wealth
attends, are very gods in the eyes of less favoured folk.
Halt we here, maidens of Bajor, and lift the queen from her chariot to
the ground without stumbling, supporting her gently in our arms, with
kind intent, that the renowned daughter of Dukat but just arrived may
feel no fear; strangers ourselves, avoid we aught that may disturb or
frighten the strangers from Bajor.
Enter KIRA and ZIYAL.
KIRA: I take this as a lucky omen, thy kindness and auspicious
greeting, and have good hope that it is to a happy marriage I conduct
the bride.
To CARDASSIANS
Take from the shuttle the dowry I am bringing for my ward and convey it
within with careful heed.
My child, leave the airlock, planting thy faltering footstep delicately.
To the CHORUS
Maidens, take her in your arms and lift her from the airlock, and let
one of you give me the support of her hand, that I may quit with fitting
grace.
Come hither to thy patron, my child, Ziyal, and seat thyself beside me,
and stationed near show my happiness to these strangers; yes, come
hither and welcome the sire thou lovest so dearly.
Hail! my honoured gul, Gul Dukat! we have obeyed thy commands and are
come.
Enter DUKAT.
TBC...
--
=====
"This city of monuments [Washington, D.C.] is itself a monument to
blunders, bungles and boondoggles. Part of what makes this country great
is it can survive Washington year after year."
Tom Shales
Laura Taylor
>
> In article <36BCEA22...@roanoke.infi.net>, Laura Taylor
> <dre...@roanoke.infi.net> writes:
>
> >WEYOUN: My wish to do it gave the spur, for I am no slave to thee.
> >
> >DUKAT: Infamous! Am I not to be allowed the management of my own house?
> >
> >WEYOUN: No, for thou thinkest crooked thoughts, one thing now, another
> >formerly, and something different presently.
>
>
> <bowing humbly to your talent>
Thank you, but the honor truly belong to Euripides and whoever
translated this version (I don't recall who). Even so, I'm glad you
liked it!
> >Oh! what am I to tell
> >Kira? how shall I welcome her? with what face meet her? for she too has
> >undone me by coming uninvited in this my hour of sorrow; yet it was but
> >natural she should come with Ziyal to prepare the bride and perform the
> >fondest duties, where she will discover my villainy.
>
> Yeah and then she shall slay thy villainous carcass. <g>
Heehee...stay tuned...
Laura
Trillseekr
>WEYOUN: My wish to do it gave the spur, for I am no slave to thee.
>
>DUKAT: Infamous! Am I not to be allowed the management of my own house?
>
>WEYOUN: No, for thou thinkest crooked thoughts, one thing now, another
>formerly, and something different presently.
I can really hear their voices in this dialogue...great adaptation! :)
<bowing humbly to your talent>
>Oh! what am I to tell
>Kira? how shall I welcome her? with what face meet her? for she too has
>undone me by coming uninvited in this my hour of sorrow; yet it was but
>natural she should come with Ziyal to prepare the bride and perform the
>fondest duties, where she will discover my villainy.
Yeah and then she shall slay thy villainous carcass. <g>
Trilly