Act 3
SCENE I
The great hall of the imperial Divan. In the background, covered by a curtain, an altar with a Chinese idol; two priests standing beside it. ALTOUM on his throne, the doctors on their cushions, PANTALONE and TARTAGLIA on each side of the EMPEROR. ALTOUM, PANTALONE, TARTAGLIA, theDOCTORS, the GUARDS. Later CALAF.
(Enter CALAF excitedly from right. He looks round uneasily and suspiciously. When he arrives at the middle of the room he bows to ALTOUM.)
CALAF (aside).
How's this? No trace of ambushed murderers?
Did the slave lie? Can Turandot have found
The names out, and rescinded her commands?
Then I lose all. Death had been better far.
ALTOUM.
My son, you seem excited and in fear,
And I were fain had you a merry face.
Now all is well. Your sorrows are at end.
Glad tidings that concern you I will save
A little while. As for my daughter, she
Is yours. She sent to me thrice in the night
Petitioning release from this encounter.
Therefore I charge you, son, be of good cheer!
PANTALONE.
Heaven knows, my dearest Royal Highness, I
myself had to trot off in the night to pay a call
on her Royal Highness in the Seraglio and receive
her most illustrious commands. I didn't even
have the time to tumble into my slippers and
get dressed properly. And it was so cold,
Heaven knows (coughs), I'm shivering yet. Never
mind! Never mind!
TARTAGLIA.
They fetched me out of bed at 5 a.m. It was
just beginning to get light a bit. She made
me stand in front of her half an hour while she
went on whining something or other. For sheer
cold and vexation I talked the most clotted
nonsense to her. (Aside.) It would have suited
my humour better if I could have given her a
downright good spanking.
ALTOUM.
You see yourself: she is so slow in coming.
I have already sent explicit orders
In case of need to bring her here by force.
Here she shall stand and learn to blush, a pain
She would not let me spare her. Therefore, son,
Take good heart at the prospect of near joy.
CALAF.
I crave your pardon, sire, and give you thanks!
I am tormented by most fearful doubts,
And by the thought that for my sake she now
Is suffering shame and force. Much rather... No
Not that. If I do lose her, what remains
To me of life? With time and tenderness
I will compel her to forget this rage.
My will shall be her wish, my heart her heart.
For her sake I will grant what either asks,
And my love's banner be: Fidelity!
ALTOUM.
Let there be no more dallying! This Divan
Be changed into a temple, so that she,
Soon as she enters here, may recognize
That I too have a will. Prepare the marriage.
Unveil the altar.
(The curtain in the background opens, and the altar with the priests is seen.)
PANTALONE.
She's coming, my dear Lord Chancellor, she's
coming. I believe I can already hear her whining.
TARTAGLIA.
The accompaniment does at all events sound
decidedly dismal. That's what I call a genuine
wedding march, just the same as for a funeral.
SCENE II
TURANDOT, ADELMA, ZELIMA, TRUFFALDINO, EUNUCHS, SLAVES. The foregoing. (To the strains of a gloomy march TURANDOT appears. Before her proceed eunuchs. Her whole escort wear signs of mourning. With the same ceremonial as in First Act, TURANDOT ascends the throne, and at sight of the altar and the priests starts with surprise. The position of the actors is exactly the same as in the First Act. CALAF stands erect in the centre.)
TURANDOT.
This mourning of my escort, Prince unknown,
These gloomy faces and these necks bowed down,
Are (well I know it) sweet to your hard heart;
And, mourning, I behold the altar ready.
For all my efforts to avenge the shame
Put on me yesterday, I still am helpless.
I have fought my fight. I bow my neck to fate.
CALAF.
Would you could read the heart you say is hard,
Princess, to see what wormwood your hate blends
With all its rapture. Let not your heart rue
Crowning the man with happiness who loves you
And worships you, and if it is a crime
To worship you, I beg you here: forgive!
ALTOUM.
Enough. She is not worth such humble words.
Now teach her to be humble! Music, ho!
Up! To the altar! Let the priests begin!
TURANDOT.
One moment more! What vengeance is so sweet
As this: to cradle in security
And restfulness an unsuspecting heart,
And then from the pinnacle of happiness
To dash it down into the blackest hell
Of torment?
(She rises.)
Hear me, all of you: Depart
From this Divan, Calaf, son of Timur!
There is the riddle solved you set me. Wretch,
Go! seek another wife, and shake with fear
Of Turandot, whom none can overcome.
CALAF (confounded and stricken).
Great Heaven! Lost! Lost!
ALTOUM (taken aback).
What do I hear? Great Heaven!
PANTALONE.
Holy Madonna, she's gone and done it in his
beard, my dear Lord Chancellor, Heaven knows.
TARTAGLIA.
(Mopping his face.) Holy Gorgonzola! this
gets over me and no mistake.
CALAF.
Lost! No one helps me. Who could help me now?
I have-been my own assassin, and in the end
I lose by too much loving love itself.
Why did I solve the riddles yesterday?
If I had failed to solve them, I were now
Cold, dumb, and free from torture worse than death.
Great-hearted Emperor, why do you not
Let that grim law hold good another time?
Now she has found the names, give your cold daughter,
To be her crowning triumph, this last head.
(Approaches TURANDOT'S throne.)
Most cruel Princess, does it not offend you
To know the heart still beating that has dared
To love you? Look upon your victim here,
Calaf, hateful to you, hateful to Heaven,
To the world hateful, and to fortune too—
Calaf, who at your feet now dies.
(He draws a dagger, and makes a thrust at his heart. TURANDOT leaps down from her throne and seizes his arm.)
TURANDOT (in a tone of tenderness).
Calaf,
What are you doing?
ALTOUM.
Dare I trust my eyes?
CALAF.
Leave me alone, cold woman! Let me die!
(Points the dagger again at his breast. TURANDOT restrains him.)
TURANDOT.
Stay! You shall live! and you shall live for me!
Listen!
(To ZELIMA.) Run to the prisoners, Zelima!
Comfort old faithful Barak and your mother!
ZELIMA.
Mistress, I will, and lose no time.
(Exit.)
ADELMA (excitedly, aside).
This moment
Spells death for me.
TURANDOT.
Now hear me: I have won
By accident. For in a sudden burst
Of feeling you betrayed yourself last night
To my quick-witted slave Adelma here.
But let the whole world know: I am above
Injustice. And know you: your chivalrous
Demeanour and fair features have o'ercome
This stubborn heart. Live then, live and be proud:
I am your prize.
ADELMA (in pain, aside).
Oh, torment worse than death....
CALAF (casts his dagger to the floor).
Mine! You! Oh, do not kill me, supreme joy!
ALTOUM (descends from his throne).
Let me embrace thee, daughter. This one hour
Makes good the pain you heaped upon my heart.
PANTALONE.
Wedding! Wedding! Reverend doctors, your
presence is no longer required here.
TARTAGLIA.
Have the goodness to withdraw to the posterior apartment.
(Exeunt doctors back of stage.)
ADELMA (comes to the front. In the greatest excitement to CALAF).
Live! Oh, yes, live! Live with my enemy
In happiness.
(To TURANDOT.) To you, Princess, I say:
I hate you. All I tried to do last night
I did to snatch from you the man I love,
Whom secretly I loved ere he loved you.
Last night I sought to have him flee with me.
He would not. All my arts could lure from him
Were those two names, which I betrayed because
I hated you. I planned you should reject him,
And that I then should have him. All in vain.
There is one last way open to me now.
I, too, am royal, and I am ashamed.
That so long I have suffered servitude.
Take now the last of all the Carcasenes
To crown your triumphing....
(She picks CALAF'S dagger up from the floor.)
This steel, which you
Have warded from his breast, shall open me
The way to freedom....
CALAF (restrains her).
Stay!
ADELMA.
Off! Let me die.
(In a voice stifled with tears.)
Ungrateful wretch!
CALAF (snatches the dagger from her).
No, for I owe you all.
It was your treachery saved me. You shall not
Call me ungrateful.
TURANDOT.
Are you mad, Adelma,
All of a sudden?
CALAF.
Generous Emperor,
If my petition may in aught avail,
Give her her freedom!
TURANDOT.
I petition, too,
My noble father. I conceive it well,
She never can forgive me her distress;
No, nor believe that I can pardon her.
Give her her freedom.... And if you could grant
Some greater favour, do it for our sake!
ALTOUM.
On such a day of gladness be the measure
Of mercy full. I give her not alone
Her freedom but her father's kingdom back.
So let her choose a consort she can love,
And rule the realm with him....
ADELMA.
To all the weight
Of guilt upon my conscience, to my load
Of love sent back from where it should have lodged,
You add the burden of the greatest mercy.
I cannot yet conceive it. Give me time
To understand the height of my good fortune.
But now I have no answer save these tears....
CALAF.
Oh that I knew now where to find you, father!
My heart, so full of joy, burns to embrace you.
ALTOUM.
Calaf, rejoice exceedingly. This empire
You have twice won. Your father, too, has won
His kingdom back. Slain is the Sultan who
Robbed it from him. Until your sire's return
A faithful servant wields the sceptre for him,
And in the meantime sends out messengers
To seek you in all countries. Read this leaf I
It signifies the end of all your grief.
CALAF.
Ye heavenly gods, you raise and you cast down.
You cast down and make mighty, heavenly gods.
(All present sob in their emotion.)
TURANDOT.
Now nothing more trouble this wedding-day.
(Comes meditatively somewhat to the front.)
Calaf here risks his head to win a wife.
A faithful friend and servant risks his life
To save his Prince. A man wins back a throne
For his lost King, and makes it not his own.
A woman, who made out she loved me, hid
A false heart's treachery. And could I then,
After all this, look down in scorn on men?
No. And may Heaven forgive me all I did
That made me seem a monster in men's sight!
(Steps quite up to the footlights.)
Dear gentlemen, I tell you this because
I love you all; and if you are polite
Let my conversion have your loud applause.
QUICK CURTAIN
