(To a soldier) Ali
(To the other ALI, who runs and says: Excellence, I hear and obey)
Not thou, fool. Did Allah make the name Ali for thee alone?
Who art thou that I should address thee? Are there not ten thousand Alis
in Bagdad, and wilt thou lift up thy head, O worm, when I say Ali?
(To POLICEMAN) Here is my ring. Take this paper,
and run with all thy might and show it to the Captain of the Palace Guard.

POLICEMAN
I hear and obey. (Starts off.)

ISHAK
(Stopping him) Wait!

CHIEF OF POLICE
What right have you to stop my man, you bastard son
of a quill-bearing barn-fowl?

ISHAK
Since when had a bludgeoning policeman the practical good sense
of a thought-breathing poet? Tell them, Ali, to send a few men
with levers and ladders.

CHIEF OF POLICE
It is well ordered: run, run, Ali!

ISHAK
You other Ali, who brought the paper...

ALI