The Tents of the Arabs

By Lord Dunsany

A crown should not be worn upon the head. A sceptre should not be carried in Kings' hands. But a crown should be wrought into a golden chain, and a sceptre driven stake-wise into the ground so that a King may be chained to it by the ankle. Then he would know that he might not stray away into the beautiful desert and might never see the palm trees by the wells. O Thalanna, Thalanna, how I hate this city with its narrow, narrow ways, and evening after evening drunken men playing skabash in the scandalous gambling house of that old scoundrel Skarmi. O that I might marry the child of some unkingly house that generation to generation had never known a city, and that we might ride from here down the long track through the desert, always we two alone till we came to the tents of the Arabs. And the crown—some foolish, greedy man should be given it to his sorrow. And all this may not be, for a King is yet a King.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Start Publishing LLC
• Release date: Aug 24, 2015
• ISBN: 9781681463391

Lord Dunsany

Edward J. M. D. Plunkett, the 18th Baron of Dunsany, was one of the foremost fantasy writers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Lord Dunsany, and particularly his Book of Wonder, is widely recognized as a major influence on many of the best known fantasy writers, including J.R.R. Tolkien, H.P. Lovecraft, and C.S. Lewis. Holding one of the oldest titles in the Irish peerage, Lord Dunsany lived much of his life at Dunsany Castle, one of Ireland’s longest-inhabited homes. He died in 1957, leaving an indelible mark on modern fantasy writing.

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Start Publishing Presents

The Tents of the Arabs

by Lord Dunsany

Start Publishing LLC

Copyright © 2015 by Start Publishing LLC

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

First Start Publishing eBook edition July 2015

Start Publishing is a registered trademark of Start Publishing LLC

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

ISBN 13: 978-1-68146-339-1

Table of Contents

Act I

Act II

The Tents of the Arabs

Dramatis Personæ

The King

Bel-Narb, Aoob (camel-drivers)

The Chamberlain

Zabra (a notable)

Eznarza (a gypsy of the desert)

Scene: Outside the gate of the city of Thalanna.

Act I

Time: Uncertain.

Bel-Narb: By evening we shall be in the desert again.

Aoob: Yes.

Bel-Narb: Then no more city for us for many weeks.

Aoob: Ah!

Bel-Narb: We shall see the lights come out, looking back from the camel-track; that is the last we shall see of it.

Aoob: We shall be in the desert then.

Bel-Narb: The old angry desert.

Aoob: How cunningly the Desert hides his wells. You would say he had an enmity with man. He does not welcome you as the cities do.

Bel-Narb: He has an enmity. I hate the desert.

Aoob: I think there is nothing in the world so