VON WEBER

ABU HASSAN (one act)

Hassan and Fatima, much in love, are living on the edge:

HASSAN:

Dearest wife, pour out the wine!

King and queen, tonight we dine.

FATIMA:

Vain illusions you’re pursuing.

Mahomet says nothing doing.

HASSAN:

Let’s begin with escargot and champagne.

FATIMA:

A glass of water . . .

HASSAN:

How that goes against the grain . . .

BOTH:

What do art and music matter

When there’s nothing on the platter?

HASSAN:

Always living in the red.

FATIMA:

Not a sign of hope ahead.

BOTH:

Bread and water! Water, bread!

Hassan’s eyes light up at the prospect of money, however unlikely:

The sky is sunny,

The future bright, and I have plans already

For spending all that money.

I’ll use it for financing

A feast with song and dancing,

For a banquet with music and dancing.

My wife will do the honors --

Goddess of the feast!

With means to muster up the payment,

I’ll deck her out in finest raiment.

My comely queen

Will grace the scene,

My crowning jewel of the Middle East . . .

There’s time for tears hereafter.

For now, with joy and laughter

We’ll celebrate and sing.

Unfurl the flag, be festive,

For life and love go best if

You make the rafters ring.

Back to reality, creditors are pounding at the door:

Gold! Gold! Gold!

Too long you’ve kept us waiting.

You’ve lost your credit rating.

We’ll not be kept on hold.

Gold! Gold! Gold!

Unlike the caged nightingale, Fatima is happy in her restricted circumstances:

The nightingale grows languid

Within a cage confined;

The captive bird is silent,

A prisoner unresigned.

But let the door swing open,

Let distant skies invite,

With wings outspread in rapture,

She gathers into flight.

Around the grove she circles,

And glides from bush to tree,

Then heads for new horizons,

Aloft, at large and free.

How much I differ from her example!

Although confined, my scope is ample.

My home is in my husband’s heart;

I seek no wider spaces.

Here want and worry play a part,

Yet love provides the basis.

Within these walls I find delight,

My reason for existence;

I’ll not be goaded into flight

Toward castles in the distance.

From my own nest I shall not stray

In search of freedom far away.

The hard-pressed couple hit upon a daring scheme to improve their fortunes. Will it plunge them into deeper disaster? Or might it just possibly work?