Page:Poet Lore, volume 34, 1923.djvu/16

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2
RADUZ AND MAHULENA

whom He called forth to a new life Who said to the suffering for their eternal comfort and hope: “I am the Resurrection and the Life!”

In the thousandth year of the usurpation of the Huns.

Persons of the Drama
Stojmír, King of Tatra.
Runa, his wife.
Prija, their daughters
Ziva,
Mahulena,
Raduz, prince of Magura.
Queen Nyola, his mother.
Radovid, an old servant of Radúz.
Přibina, confidant of Stojmír.
Vratko, a woodcutter.
People of Magura and of Tatra. Youths and maidens. The body guard of the king.

ACT I

A lofty, cloud-capped peak of the Tatra Mountains. Leaning against a crag stands a slender maidenly form in a white robe, playing a simple, touching melody on the violin. Her blond tresses are entwined with a wreath of many-colored flowers; on her forehead shines a star. A veil of glittering rainbow tints flows freely in long undulations from her head to her feet. On her shoulder perches a white dove. The song dies away and the maiden speaks.

PROLOGUE

I am a tale of old. Whosoe’er will follow me, him will I lead to the blue realms of fable. Here from these gigantic heights, along ancient paths, overgrown with moss and strewn with leaves of ancient autumns, I descend to the sunny fields of the Slovak people. I know the depths of its soul and its ancient dreams live within my bosom. Did I not stand at its cradle! With my enchanted veil I shroud the deeds of bygone ages in the mists of memory. Yet beneath the glistening of its folds the ancient yearnings of the people are spreading their wings; the people’s tenderness glows from beneath its undulations and the