Valdemar (inside the oyster, which is partly open): Who is pressing down on my shell? Hey! You up there!
Tartelet (trembling): Now it's talking. It's talking!
Valdemar (opening the shell wider and putting his head out): Tartelet!
Tartelet: It knows my name. It's an oyster that I've met before.
Valdemar: It's me, Mr. Tartelet.
Tartelet: Valdemar!
Valdemar (kneeling inside the oyster): Here I am, Mr. Tartelet.
Tartelet: It was you!
Valdemar: In person!
Tartelet: Inside an oyster?
Valdemar: Why yes. I was quite comfortable in there. I felt right at home. Oh, I'm so happy to see you again. Is everything all right, Mr. Tartelet?
Tartelet: Perfectly all right.
Valdemar: And what about Mr. George? And Mis Eva? And Dr. Ox?
Tartelet: I hope we'll see them again soon.
Valdemar: That's better. But I'd rather see them on terra firma, or, as we say in Copenhagen, on the calves' floor.14
Tartelet: Ah! What kind of floor did you say they call it in Copenhagen?
Valdemar: The calves' floor, Mr. Tartelet.
Tartelet: In our country, when we talk about dry land, we call it the cows' floor. But I was just thinking.... What were you doing in that seashell?
Valdemar: I was hiding from a crab.
Tartelet: From a crab?
Valdemar: And from a shark.
Tartelet: A shark?
Valdemar: And from a giant octopus.
Tartelet (gesturing): An octopus? Ali, yes, an octopus.
Valdemar: All three of them were chasing me, and I can imagine what they had in mind.
Tartelet: What did they have in mind, Valdemar?
Valdemar: Well, you see, Tartelet, on dry land, people eat fish, but I think, at the bottom of the sea, fish eat people.
Tartelet: You're making me nervous, Valdemar.
Valdemar: Ali! I had a bad scare. I'd really like to get away from here and go back up to the surface.
Tartelet: We'll go back up, but first we have to find our fellow passengers.
Valdemar: Ah! If only that ungrateful Babichok hadn't married the traitor Finderup, I'd be in Copenhagen now. I'd be married and living in my own house. What am I saying? In my palace! And eating six meals a day.
Tartelet: Six meals?
Valdemar: Of course! I used to eat three when I was poor. The least I can do, now that I'm rich, is eat six or eight.
Tartelet: That's reasonable.
Valdemar: I can afford it.
(A tentacle of the octopus appears above the rock)
Tartelet: Yes, indeed. And if your stomach can also afford it....
(The tentacle waves back and forth above Valdemar's head.)
Valdemar: My stomach? Oh, I'm quite sure it can.... Hey! What's this I feel? (The tentacle has wound itself around his waist.) Help, Tartelet, help me! (The tentacle drags him behind the rock) Tartelet! Tartelet!
Tartelet: Oh, good heavens! The poor fellow!
Valdemar (reappears in the grip of the tentacle, which is waving him around) Help! Help! It's choking me! Help!
Tartelet: What can I do? Help! Help!
(Tartelet draws back at first, overcome by a powerful fear Then he rushes at the octopus in order to pull Valdemar free. But another tentacle knocks him down, and he is unable to move)
(Enter Ox, George, Volsius, and Eva from the back. Volsius and George rush at the monster. Eva, terrified, dashes toward Tartelet, who has stood up and now holds her Ox joins his friends, who are attacking the octopus with their daggers. At this moment, several other octopuses appear and attack them. Everyone joins in the fight. Then the octopuses emit a blackish liquid which completely obscures the water The combatants can be seen through a kind of heavy fog and eventually disappear completely)
The fog lifts and the stage represents coral caves.
(Enter Valdemar, Volsius, Tartelet, Ox, George, and Eva)
Valdemar (still only half conscious): Where am I?
Eva: You're safe here.
George: You have nothing to fear now.
Valdemar: Really? Ah, sir! Ah, my friends!
Volsius: You're quite safe now.
Valdemar (distraught and weeping): Yes, yes, quite safe. I want to get away. I want to get away.
Eva: You've had a bad fright, Mr. Valdemar.
Valdemar: Oh yes, miss. Yes, I've been frightened a great many times in my life. In fact, I think I can say without boasting that no one has ever been frightened more often than I have. But a fright like this one? Ah! Never, never! Please let me get away from here.
Volsius: But, as I told you before, here amongst these coral reefs, under so much pressure, you're safe from all sea monsters.
Valdemar: That may be, but I'd rather leave.
Volsius: There's nothing to keep you here now. We've reached the very bottom of the sea.
Eva: And this is the spot, no doubt, from which we'll be heading back up to dry land?
Ox: Back to dry land? Not yet.
George: Are there any more unknown wonders down here, any still unsolved mysteries?
Volsius: None, I guarantee you.
Ox: And I guarantee the very opposite. Anyone can come here and live, at least for a few moments. This is almost the possible. But let's go on farther and the impossible will rise up before your eyes, and the past, the irrevocable past itself, will spring up and take shape again before you.
All: The past?
Ox: Do you see those indistinct forms, those objects standing out vaguely, far off in the water?
(Lines indicating vaguely the outlines of a submerged city appear in a confused way.)
George: What's this?
Ox: Ask Captain Nemo. He'll tell you what it is. He's traveled through these waters many times.
Volsius: Here at one time was Atlantis, the immense continent described by Plato,15 bigger than Africa and Asia combined. In a night and a day, it disappeared under the sea, as a result of some frightful cataclysm.
George: Atlantis?
Ox: Yes, Atlantis. This is where the famous Atlantean people lived, who subjugated almost the whole earth, who helped the Titans in their attempt to climb up to heaven and drive out the gods. Tell me, now, do you want to run away at the very moment when you're about to set foot on this continent, which no other human being will ever see again?
George: No, no. But these are only shapeless ruins.
Ox: They are the ruins of Makhimos,16 one of the most famous capitals of Atlantis, which will revive and rise to the surface of the sea for you.
(The scene changes)
The city square in Makhimos, capital ofAtlantis, four or five thousand years B.C. The architecture combines Moorish, Arabic, and the style of Mexican burial caves. The water has entirely disappeared. Beautiful sunshine lights up the whole stage. Two Atlanteans, Ascalis17 and Ammon,'8 are walking around among a crowd of people.
A Herald (shouts): Glory to the gods, and may they inspire the people to raise a new king onto the throne of Atlantis.
All: Glory to the gods.
Ammon: Many days have gone by, and still we wait for a worthy successor to King Atlas.19
Ascalis: His only child is a daughter, Celena,20 who cannot succeed him on the throne.
Ammon: Celena, the most beautiful woman in Atlantis, will not be queen until she has married the king whom we shall choose, and who, like this glorious sovereign, must brave the thunderbolts of Jupiter and climb up to heaven.
The Herald (shouts): Glory to the gods. May they inspire the people to raise a new king onto the throne of Atlantis.
All: Glory to the gods!
(Enter Electra.")
All: The prophetess!
Ammon: What is Electra about to tell us? Has she consulted the oracles? Has she read the future?
Electra: This is the day, 0 people, when the throne, left vacant by the death of the greatest of kings, will finally be occupi
ed.
All: Ah!
Ascalis: What mortal will be worthy to succeed him?
Electra: Listen, all of you. Atlas was vanquished by the Gods and fell when he supported the Titans in their revolt against heaven. But he whose coming is announced to us is no mere mortal. I have consulted the entrails of the sacrificial victims and drunk the intoxicating potion of the laurel bush. When I took my place on the prophetic tripod of the sibyls,22 a strange man, born in a far-off country and endowed with supernatural powers, appeared to me.
Ammon: What man is that?
Ascalis: What mystery did he reveal? Tell us.
All: Yes, tell us.
Electra: Wait. He who calls himself the messenger of destiny will announce it himself.
Ascalis: Let him come, then.
All: Let him come.
Electra: Here he is.
(Enter Ox)
Ammon: Who are you, 0 stranger?
Ox: I am the messenger of him whom your prophecies have foretold, of him who is to reign over Atlantis.
Ascalis: Is our race so inferior that no man worthy of the throne can be found among us?
Ox: When you know what prodigious feats the one whom I represent has performed in order to reach you, he will be your unanimous choice.
Ammon: Is this a God, then, that you are bringing us?
Ox: It is a man, one whose courage has raised him above all the rest of humanity. Neither fire, nor water, nor terrestrial abysses hold any secrets for him. Compared to this daring man, what are the outstanding heroes of your history? Tell me, is there a single one of them who can be compared to him?
All: No, no.
Electra: Let him come, and by popular acclamation he will be raised to a position of supreme power. And he will be the fortunate husband of Celena.
Ox: Celena?
Electra: The wonder of Atlantis, the incomparable daughter of King Atlas.
Ox: Let it be done as you say. He who comes after me will be the worthy husband of your king's daughter.
(Enter George and Eva)
Ox: Here is the man you are waiting for.
All: All hail! All hail!
George: What do they want of me?
Ox: They have heard from me of the prodigious feats you have accomplished, and their admiration calls you to the throne of Atlantis.
Eva: What are you saying?
George: Who? Me? I'm going to be ... ?
Ox: You're going to be king.
All: Yes, yes!
Eva: Oh God!
George: You heard what he said. You heard him, Eva, you heard him. King of this powerful nation, conquered long ago. What an honor! What glory! What a triumph!
Eva (aside): Ah! So that's why he brought him here. This is the last attack on his sanity. (Aloud) George, listen to me. Listen to my voice. Reject this false royalty.
George: False, did you say, when I am the ruler of a whole nation that has been restored to life for me? For me, who will unite, from this moment on, the marvellous memories of antiquity and the glorious discoveries of the present. What power can be compared to mine? King of this continent, which extends from the ancient world to the present. I'm king! I'm king!
Ox: And this immense population will bow before him who has done what no man had ever done before.
George (raving): Yes! Yes! Ah! It has come at last, the glory I have longed for, the supremacy I have so ardently dreamed of. I, the son of Hatteras, I am king of Atlantis!
Eva: Don't let your pride lead you on. Close your ears to these cursed temptations.
All: All hail! All hail!
George: Listen. Don't you hear the people cheering me?
Eva: These people.... Are you forgetting that they are only an empty recollection of the past? That this country is a short-lived empire? That this royalty is a mirage in which your imagination is wandering aimlessly about? George, my darling George, I'm pleading with you. Take pity on my tears.
George: Your tears! Yes, yes, you're crying, Eva. Ah! I don't want you to cry. Really, I don't want you to cry.
Eva: Listen to me, then. Listen carefully.
George: Go on. Go on.
Eva: George, you are walking down a fatal slope that leads to delirium, to madness!
George: Delirium, did you say? Madness?
Eva: Yes, yes. Take my word for it. Have I ever deceived you?
George: Yes, I believe in you, and I want ... I want to struggle. Speak to me, Eva, speak to me.
Eva (overjoyed): Ah! Our love will save him! Take courage, George, take courage! Fight on! I fall at your knees. I am your friend, your sister, your fiancee.
George: Wait, wait. Light is dispelling the darkness. Truth will shine before my eyes.
Eva: And you will be saved! You will be saved, George.
Ox: (aside): Saved! (Aloud) Glory to your sovereign!
All: Glory to him! Glory to our king!
George (in a loud voice): Ah! You heard him! King! I really am king!
Electra: Come to the palace that Makhimos has erected for its sovereigns. When you return to this spot, all the assembled multitudes will crown you with their acclaim.
Eva: No, no. Don't desert me.
All: Glory to him! Glory to him!
George: Come, all of you.
(Exit all except Eva and Ox)
Eva (uttering a final cry): Alas! It's all over!
(She is about to rush after George, but Ox motions to het; and she stops)
Ox: One more outburst like that, one more attack on his sanity, and he will be completely demented, his madness will be incurable.
Eva: Yes, this is where your treachery has brought him, to destroy him.
Ox: Not to destroy him, but to win you, Eva.
Eva: To win me?
Ox: His fate is in my hands, is it not?
Eva: What does that matter?
Ox: You no longer tremble for him, then?
Eva: No!
Ox: Nor for yourself?
Eva: No!
Ox: What are you waiting for, then? What do you still hope for?
Eva: I'm waiting for a greater power to intervene on his behalf. I'm waiting for his love to save him, or for him to die!
Ox: If he dies, at least I will have separated you.
Eva: There you are wrong. If he dies, I'll die with him.
Ox: You would die for this man who has forgotten you, who has never loved you?
Eva: Never loved me, did you say?
Ox: Never! Because he doesn't seek his life's happiness in you, but elsewhere. He only had to reach out his hand and grasp that happiness, but he scorned your love in order to realize his wild dreams.
Eva: Even if George no longer loved me, I would still love him. I'll always love him, always, do you hear?
(Enter Volsius)
Ox (beside himself): Be quiet! Be quiet! I warn you, don't drive me to despair. Stop tormenting my soul.
Volsius: But you yourself are trying to torment her soul, are you not?
Ox: Who dares to speak to me in that tone?
Volsius (approaching): I do.
Ox: We're not aboard your vessel now, Captain Nemo, and you're not all-powerful here. Be careful.
Volsius: I warn you, sir, that I am not easily intimidated.
Ox: That makes no difference to me. And who asked you to become involved?
Eva: I did.
Volsius (to Eva): And your request will not go unanswered.
Ox: Captain Nemo wants to fight with me.
Volsius: I want to wrest from your hands someone whom your cursed science would push from the intermittent delirium that now obsesses him into a state of final and terrible madness. That is what I want, and I will find in you yourself a weapon to use against you.
Ox: A weapon? In me? A weapon to use against me?
Volsius: You love this young woman, and the love that eats at your soul will be your punishment. It will do battle for us.
Ox: My love!
Volsius: And God said to the
serpent, "The woman shall crush thy head beneath her heel." And I say to you that this woman's disdain will break your pride. This woman will crush your heart beneath her scorn and her hatred.
Ox: We'll see about that.
Volsius: Yes, we'll see.
(The sound of cheering outside)
Ox: Meanwhile.... Listen. It's Hatteras's people cheering him, leading him toward the throne where glory and love await him.
Eva: Love!
Ox: Yes, yes, the most beautiful of the daughters of this country, the descendent of King Atlas, is intended for him.
Eva: Oh my God!
Ox: And this time he will not only forget you; he will betray you. Your George will love someone else.
Eva: No, no, that's impossible!
(Enter a great procession composed of the entire royal court of Atlantis, with warriors and lords surrounding the new king. George, clothed in royal robes, is about to take his place on the uppermost steps of the stairway rising at the back, after the procession has passed by to the sound of music and the cheers of the people)
(Enter George, Electra, Ammon, Ascalis, Celena, Atlanteans, Lords, officers, soldiers, people, slaves)
All: All hail! All hail!
George: People of Atlantis, I accept the crown of this immense kingdom, and its power will not diminish during the reign of Hatteras.
All: Long live Hatteras!
(Enter Princess Celena in the procession. Electra walks toward the princess and leads her to the foot of the stairs on which George sits enthroned.)
Electra: And now, 0 king, here is the Princess Celena, who, through you, will become our queen.
All: Hail, Celena!
(The princess is about to take her place beside George.)
Eva (rushing for ward): His wife! No, no! That's impossible! George! George! Have you forgotten the past, your promises, our love? George, do you want me to die at your feet?
George (whispers): Eva, you will share my throne and my power.
Eva: But this throne is ephemeral, this power is a figment of your imagination.
George: What did you say?
Eva: Come back to reality.
Ox: Reality, George Hatteras, is everything you see, everything that is around you. It is your glory, which is already great and will soon be even more dazzling.