The Book of Bob by Seven Pillars of Wisdom [1937]
Epilogue
Epilogue.
(The stage is again bare with black drapings as in the Prologue, and again the steps to the of the sacrifice.
Bob and the youth Enos - Bob in robes - the youth in his simple loin cloth.)
Bob:A little way, a little way and we draw hear to the place of sacrifice.
Enos:Must I then be sacrificed?
Bob:My gods demand a sacrifice. The fat gods of plenty must be propriated. The house I have builded must not be destroyed but he who strikes at its foundations must be destroyed.
Enos:Its foundations are builded on sand. Thou shouldst have built a house for all thy tribe but in thy house dwell only a chosen few ruled by Envy, Greed, and Lust for Power.
Bob:(Enraged) No man shall say such words and live.
Enos:The truth - it is the Truth.
Bob:'Tis Blasphemy.
The Voice:(Stern and reproving) Bob, Bob.
Bob:(Madly) Blasphemy, Blasphemy. Kneel youth. A man must kill the thing that mocks him. For me the past is dead. The voice of the past must be silenced.
Enos:Where now is Freedom, Liberty and Tolerance?
The Voice:Where, O Bob?
Bob:Have I not given all these?
Enos:Thou hast mocked at liberty. Thy tolerance is violence masked, thy freedom an empty shell, Gone are the ideals of thy youth. Betrayed are thy people. Hypocrite. Traitor.........
(He strikes Bob down, seizes the spear that Bob has been carrying and marches to the front stage. As he goes the Voice breaks out in the same words as at the end of the Prologue. He pauses and listens)
The voice:Beware, my son, thy path shall be difficult: the pitfalls of reaction await thee: but I-I shall be with thee, my son: I shall be with thee.
Blackout.
The End.