XIMENUNG: I too will be there.
MELIFLOR: And when they see me ...
XIMENUNG: They will see me too ...
MELIFLOR (_rising_): Behold me.
XIMENUNG: So I do.
MELIFLOR: Will they look towards you when this is there?
XIMENUNG: Are birch-trees seen at dawn fairer than I?
MELIFLOR: Behold me; not a poplar is straighter, not a flower is fairer. I will loiter along the lanes at evening.
[_He draws his sword._ XIMENUNG _does the same._ MOOMOOMON _draws his too and places it between them._
MOOMOOMON: Be at peace. _I_ will go to the lanes, and there need be no quarrel between you, for _I_....
OTHERS: No, no, no....
HUZ: We will all go.
ANOTHER: We will all love. Hurrah for love.
[_They have all risen. They wave their swords on high, not threatening each other. Zoon alone has not risen._
MOOMOOMON (_to_ ZOON): You do not speak, Prince of Zoon. Will you not love along the idle hours?
ZOON: Yes, yes. I love.
MOOMOOMON: Come then to the lanes to loiter. It draws towards evening.
Let us all come to the lanes, where the honeysuckle is hanging.
ZOON: I love not in the lanes.
MOOMOOMON: Not in the lanes? Then...!
OTHERS: Not in the lanes?
ZOON: I love her than whom there is no greater on earth--(_Some_ PRINCES: Ah!) unless it be that name that frightens Oomuz.
MOOMOOMON: He loves the...!
XIMENUNG: The ...
MELIFLOR: The Queen!
[OOMUZ _nods his head again._
ZOON: The Queen.
MOOMOOMON: If the Queen knew such a thing she would flee from the palace.
ZOON: I would pursue.
MOOMOOMON: She would go by Aether Mountain, where her mother went once before her.
ZOON: I would follow.
HUZ: We would all follow.
MELIFLOR: I would follow too. I would dance after her down the little street: the bright heels of my shoes would twinkle: my cloak would float out behind me: I would pursue her and call her name, beyond the street and over the moor as far as Aether Mountain: but I would not come up with her: that would be _too_ daring.
ZOON: Love is not a toy, Prince Meliflor. Love is no less than a mood of Destiny.
MELIFLOR: Pooh! We must enjoy the idle hours that are for us alone.
ZOON: There will be no idle hours on Aether Mountain, following from crag to crag; if it be true that she would go that way.
MOOMOOMON: It is true. They know it. They say her mother went that way before. It is one of the royal impulses.
ZOON: Oomuz, did the mother of the Queen go once up Aether Mountain?
OOMUZ: Aye, and _her_ mother.
ZOON: It is true.
XIMENUNG: You are sure of this?
OOMUZ: We know it. It has been said.
HUZ: We will all follow her up Aether Mountain.
MELIFLOR: We will follow merrily.
XIMENUNG: If we did this what would they do when we returned?
MELIFLOR: Who?
XIMENUNG: They.
MELIFLOR: They? They would not dare to speak to _us_.
XIMENUNG: Who knows what they would dare if we dared go after the Queen?
MOOMOOMON: They would dare nothing, knowing whence we come.