(From above) Ishak, are you coming up?

ISHAK
(Shouting back) Wait a minute, I will come.

(To himself) What has curved his mouth into that bitter line?
He is an ugly man, but I maintain there is grace in his countenance.

What? A lute? Take my hand, O brother. You loved music too,
and you could sing the songs of the people, which are better than mine--
the songs I learnt from the mother of my mother.

(Taking the broken lute mechanically) What was that one?

"The Green Boy came from over the mountains,
Joy of the morning, joy of his heart"?

I have forgotten it, and the lute is broken. Or that other:

"Come to the wells, the desert wells!
The caravan is marching down; I hear the camel bells."

(Resumes HASSAN's hand) Ah, brother, your hand is warm and your heart
beating, you are not dead.
(Bathing HASSAN's forehead with water from the fountain)
I shall know after all what has twisted your mouth awry.

CALIPH
Ishak, Ishak, we wait and wait.