The King In Yellow

An Entertainment
2
 Dramatis Personae

CASSILDA A Queen
UOHT A Prince
CAMILLA A Princess
THALE A Prince
the CHILD A clockwork
masterpiece
NOATALBA A High Priest
the STRANGER A Harbinger
the KING A Living God

3
 Act 1

4
(A balcony of the palace in Hastur, overlooking the
Lake of Hali, which stretches to the horizon, blank,
motionless and covered with a thin haze. The two
suns sink towards the rippleless surface).

(The fittings of the balcony are opulent, but dingy

with time. Several stones have fallen from the
masonry, and lie unheeded).

(CASSILDA, a Queen, lies on a couch overlooking

the Lake, turning in her lap a golden diadem set
with jewels. A servant enters and offers her a tray,
but it is nearly empty: some bread, a jug. She
looks at it hopelessly and waves it away. The
servant goes out.

(Enter PRINCE UOHT, a portly man in his early

millions.)

UOHT: Good day, mother.

CASSILDA: Good-bye, day.

UOHT: You have been looking at Carcosa again.

CASSILDA: No… Nobody can see Carcosa before

the Hyades rise. I was only looking at the Lake of
Hali. It swallows so many suns.

5
UOHT: And you will see it swallow so many more.
These mists are bad for you; they seep into
everything. Come inside.

CASSILDA: No, not now. I do not fear a little mist;

nor a little time. I have seen quite a lot of both.

UOHT: This interminable siege! Would that the lake

would swallow Alar for once, instead of the suns.

CASSILDA: Not even Hali can do that, since Alar

sits upon Dehme, which is quite another lake.

UOHT: One lake is like another: water and fog, fog

and water. If Hastur and Alar changed sites
between moons, nobody would notice. They are
the two worst situated cities in the world.

CASSILDA: Necessarily, since they are the only

ones.

UOHT: Except Carcosa. … Well?

CASSILDA: I am not sure, my Prince, that Carcosa

is in the world. In any event, it is certainly fruitless
to talk about the matter.

(CAMILLA, a Princess, enters, then hesitates.)

CAMILLA: Oh. I—

6
CASSILDA: Come ahead, Camilla, hear us. There
are no secrets any longer. Everything has been
worn thin, and Time has stopped.

(Enter THALE, the younger Prince.)

THALE: Nonsense again, mother?

CASSILDA: If it pleases you to call it that, Prince

Thale. As for me, I am only a Queen; I can be
mocked at will.

THALE: But no, I didn’t mean—

UOHT: Mockery or no, Prince Thale is right. Time

does not stop. It is a contradiction in terms.

CASSILDA: Time stops, my Uoht, when you have

heard every possible banality every possible
number of times. Whenever has anything
happened in Hastur, please? Any new word, or any
new event? The siege, as you very justly and
repeatedly observe, is right flat-out interminable,
and that’s that. Neither Hastur nor Alar will ever
prevail. We shall both just wear down into dust – or
boredom, whichever arrives first. Ah, I am sorry for
you, Uoht, but I’m afraid you only remind me now
that there’s no future in being human. Even as a
baby, you were a little dull.

7
UOHT: You may say what you please of me, too,
for royalty of course has its privileges. All the
same, not all time is in the past, Cassilda. It lies in
your power to change things, were you not so
weary of us – and of yourself.

CASSILDA: Oh, are we to talk of the Succession

again? Nothing is duller than dynasties. Here, then,
let us set ourselves upon the only mission left: to
die when we are to die, to scream when one is to
scream, as expected. To go into those darker
places and say to the feast of reason: No more, I
have had my fill.

THALE: Mother, must the Dynasty die only because

you are bored? Only a word from you, and the
Black Stars would rise again. Whatever your
soothsaying, Alar could not stand against them;
you know that. It would be— it would be an act of
mercy, to the people.

CASSILDA: The people! Who are they? You care as

little for the people as Uoht does. Thale, I know
your heart, and his as well. All the diadem means
to either of you is your sister. There’s no other
reward now for being a king in Hastur. As for black
stars, enough! They radiate nothing but the night.

8
THALE: Camilla loves me.

UOHT: Liar!

CASSILDA: Camilla?

UOHT: Ask her, if you dare.

THALE: Who would dare, without the diadem?

You’re not so bold, Uoht. Have you found the
Yellow Sign?

UOHT: Hold your tongue!

CASSILDA: And stop your bickering, you two frogs!

… I will ask her.

CAMILLA: I am not ready to be asked, Mother.

CASSILDA: No? Camilla, you could have the

diadem. Then you could have your pick of your
brothers, and we’d have an end to all our
problems. See how I tempt you. The Dynasty
would go on, and you’d be free of all this
conniving. Perhaps, even, the siege would end. …
Well, Camilla, speak!

CAMILLA: No, no. Please. You cannot give the

diadem to me. I will not have it.

CASSILDA: And why not?

9
CAMILLA: Then I would be sent the Yellow Sign.

CASSILDA: Possibly, if one can believe the runes.

But would that be so very terrible? Tell us, Camilla,
what, after all, does happen when one receives the
Yellow Sign?

CAMILLA (whispering): One—one is come for.

CASSILDA: So they say. I have never seen it

happen. But suppose it does. Who comes for
them?

CAMILLA: The Phantom of Truth.

CASSILDA: And what is that?

CAMILLA: Please, I do not know.

CASSILDA: No more do I. But suppose, Camilla,

whatever it is, that perhaps it’s real. What then?
Does it frighten you?

CAMILLA: Yes, Mother.

CASSILDA: A shame. If that’s the case, then I shall

give the diadem to one of your brothers, and end
this steamy botheration in some other way. You
have only to choose between them, as they ask. I
would be delighted to give you a marriage in the

10
utmost of state. At the very least, it would be a
novelty, in a small and noisy way.

UOHT: A wise decision.

THALE: And not a small one, Mother.

CAMILLA: But Mother, there is something new; we

do not need a stately wedding yet. That’s what I
came to tell you, just before the old quarrel started
up again.

CASSILDA: And what is that?

CAMILLA: Mother, there’s a stranger in the city.

CASSILDA: A stranger! Now living god, hear that.

You have all the mists of Hali in your brains. I know
every face in Hastur, and in Alar, too. Camilla, how
many people do you think there are remaining in
the living world? A spate of handfuls, and I’ve seen
them all.

CAMILLA: This one is new in Hastur. And how can

you be so certain we are the only handful left?
Strangers could be out there. Strange places. What
impossible landscapes wait for us beyond the
corners of this cracked world?

11
CASSILDA: Nobody these days goes about Hastur
but the hearse-driver. Sensible people hide their
faces even from themselves.

CAMILLA: But that’s it. You can’t see his face. He’s
walking masked.

CASSILDA: Oh, covered with a veil? Or is he

hooded?

CAMILLA: Neither, Mother. He wears another face.

A white mask—whiter than the mists. The eyes are
blank, and it has no expression.

CASSILDA: Hmm… In all conscience, strange

enough. How does he explain it?

CAMILLA: He speaks to no one.

CASSILDA: I will see him. He will speak to me.

Everyone does; and then he’ll be unmasked.

UOHT: But Mother, this is only a conceit. It is of no

moment in the tree of time. If Camilla will but
choose—

THALE: And bring back the Succession—

CASSILDA (placing the diadem upon her head): We

will talk of this some other time. Send me now

12
Noatalba, and the man in the pallid mask. Camilla
does not wish to choose now, and no more do I.

UOHT: Time is running out. There has been no king

in Hastur since the last Aldones—

CASSILDA: Do not tell me again the story of the

Last King! Oh, I am so sick, so sick of you all! I tell
you now, if you goad me further, there will be no
other king in Hastur till the King in Yellow!

(There is a long, shocked silence. CAMILLA, UOHT,

and THALE go out, stunned and submissive.
CASSILDA lies back, exhausted and brooding.

(Enter a CLOCKWORK CHILD with jeweled

fingers, wearing a small duplicate of the diadem.)

CHILD (in a tinkling, pleasant voice like a music

box): Tell me a story.

CASSILDA: Not now.

CHILD: Please, tell me a story. Please.

CASSILDA: I do not feel like telling you a story now.

CHILD (menacingly): Grandmother?

(CASSILDA sits up resignedly. She does not look at

the CHILD.)
13
CASSILDA: Once upon a time…

CHILD: That’s better.

CASSILDA: … there were two lakes in the heart of

Gondwanaland, called Dehme and Hali. For
millions of years they lay there with no-one to see
them, while strange fishes bit their surfaces. Then,
there appeared a city by the lake of Hali—

(During the course of this scene, the twin suns set.

Across the water, the Hyades come out, slightly
blurred by the mists.)

CHILD: That’s not a story, that’s only history.

CASSILDA: It is the only story that there is.

Besides, if you’ll be quiet, I shall tell you the rest
that’s in the runes. Is that agreed?

CHILD: Oh good! I’m not supposed to know about

what’s in the runes.

CASSILDA: That doesn’t matter now. But to go on:

This city had four singularities. The first singularity
was that it appeared overnight. The second
singularity was that one could not tell whether the
city sat upon the waters, or beyond them on the
invisible other shore. The third singularity was that
when the moon rose, the towers of the city
14
appeared to be behind it, not in front of it. Shall I
go on?

CHILD: Of course, I know all the rest.

CASSILDA: Unfortunate child. Well then, the fourth

singularity was that as soon as one looked upon
the city, one knew what its name was.

CHILD: Carcosa.

CASSILDA: Even as today. And after a long time,

men came to the lakes and built mud huts. The
huts grew into the city of Hastur and soon a man
arose who proclaimed himself king in Hastur.

CHILD: Aldones. My grandfather.

CASSILDA: Yes, some epochs back. And he

declared that all the kings in Hastur thereafter
should bear his name. He promised that if his
Dynasty be maintained, then someday Hastur
would be as great as Carcosa across the waters.

CHILD: Thank you, that’s enough.

CASSILDA: No, that is not enough. That night

someone heard him. You have asked, and must
hear the end.

CHILD: I have to leave now. I forgot something.

15
CASSILDA (her eyes closed): You must listen, Child:
That same night, Aldones found the Yellow Sign.

(The CHILD runs out.

(CASSILDA opens her eyes and resumes watching

across the Lake. A page enters with a torch, fixes it
in a sconce, and goes out again. CASSILDA does
not stir.

(In the near darkness, NOATALBA, a priest,

enters.)

NOATALBA: My Queen.

CASSILDA: My Priest.

NOATALBA: You forgot the fifth singularity.

CASSILDA: And you are an incurable dropper of

eaves. I am not surprised. In any event, one does
not mention the Mystery of the Hyades to a child.

NOATALBA: No. But you think of it, my Queen. You

are wise to do so. Ah, but we are each a prison, not
a prisoner: time makes prisons of us all. Inside
each a thousand still voices are trapped, that if
freed might fill this world with whispers of fear.

CASSILDA: No, I don’t think of it. Everyone today

imputes philosophy to me, but I’m not so
16
thoughtful. It is only that the shadows of men’s
thoughts lengthen commonly in the afternoon.
Dusk is dusk.

NOATALBA: Long thoughts cast long shadows at

any time of day.

CASSILDA: And no news is good news. Noatalba,

must you wash me clean with banalities too? Next,
you will be speaking of the Succession.

NOATALBA: As a matter of fact, nothing was

farther from my mind.

CASSILDA: A good place for nothing.

NOATALBA: I am pleased to hear you jesting.

Nonetheless, I have something else to ask you.

CASSILDA: The man in the pallid mask?

NOATALBA: You have heard. Good. Then I will be

brief.

CASSILDA: Good.

NOATALBA: I think you should not see him.

CASSILDA: What?! Nothing will prevent me! Do you

think I will refuse the only novelty in human
history, such as it is? You know me little.
17
NOATALBA: I know you better than you know
yourself.

CASSILDA: You tire me with your word games. Why

should I not see this man?

NOATALBA: It is by no means certain that he is a

man. And if he is, then at best he is a spy from
Alar.

(There is a very long silence, as if something had

interrupted the action; both CASSILDA and
NOATALBA remain absolutely immovable
throughout it. Then their dialogue resumes, as if
both were quite unaware of the break.)

CASSILDA: A poor spy then, to be so conspicuous.

And in any event, poor priest, what is there that
Alar does not know about us? That is why we are in
this impasse in the war: We know everything. Were
one stone to fall in Alar that I did not hear about,
the war would be over; and Aldones, poor man, is
trapped in the same whale. But he knows me, and
I know him, and that’s the end of the matter. We
shall die of this glut of familiarity, he and I, lying in
the same tomb, measuring away at each other’s
hair and fingernails in the hope of some advantage
even in death. Why would he send a spy? He is the

18
father of my tiresome children, and the architect of
my miserable city. Oh, Noatalba, how I wish I could
tell him something he does not know! He would die
of joy, and Alar would sink into the Lakes—Hastur
thereafter!

NOATALBA: Perhaps. You think more highly of

novelty than I do; it is a weakness in you. But I
myself do not think this creature in the pallid mask
to be a spy. You are surprised? But no; I only said
of that possibility: “At best.”

CASSILDA (with a short chopping gesture): Alright,

I yield you that. The worst, then?

NOATALBA: This thing may be the Phantom of

Truth. Only ghosts go about in white. Eyes turned
inward, in the dark, a phantom watches an idea of
us. We are trapped by that gaze, like insects
frozen in amber… My Queen, I fear we are toys in
the hands of a monster, and nothing else besides.
From babe’s first mewling to last extremity, the
King watches, eyes empty like a newly polished
sepulcher, expression indifferent as time.

CASSILDA (slowly): Oh. Oh. Is that moment come? I

see. Then I was wise to abort the Dynasty, after all.

19
I am not often wise. But perhaps any end is a good
end… if it is truly an end. But… Noatalba–

NOATALBA: Speak.

CASSILDA: I have not found the sign.

NOATALBA (indulgently): Of course not, or you

would have told me. But we cannot be sure that
the Sign is always sent. The sender—

(He falls silent. CASSILDA, perceiving that she has

the upper hand again, grins mercilessly.)

CASSILDA: —is the King in Yellow.

NOATALBA: Well—yes. The King warns, as he has

warned the first Aldones. We know nothing about
him but that. And should not know.

CASSILDA: Why not? Perhaps he is dead.

(NOATALBA abruptly hides his face at her words, in

obeisance and dismay. She continues despite his
protestations)

Or perhaps too busy with his own affairs in

Carcosa, so that he has forgotten to send the Sign.
Why not? We are well taught that with the King in
Yellow, all things are possible.

20
NOATALBA (unmasking his face slowly): I have not
heard you. You did not speak.

CASSILDA: I only spoke to your point, my Priest—

that this man in the pallid mask may indeed be the
Phantom of Truth, though I have not found the
Sign, no more than you. That was what you were
saying, was it not? Be silent if you wish. Well, I’ll
chance it.

NOATALBA: Blasphemy!

CASSILDA: Is the King a god? I think not. In the

meantime, Noatalba, I would dearly love to see the
face of Truth. It must be curious. I feel as though I
have met every other ghost that remains in the
world; send me this man, phantom or no!

(Exit NOATALBA.

(The STRANGER enters. He is wearing a silken robe

on which the Yellow Sign is embroidered: a single
character in no human script, in gold against a
circular background. CASSILDA turns to look at
him, and then with a quick and violent motion,
plucks the torch from its sconce and hurls it from
the balcony into the Lake. Now there is only
starlight, and some faint scattered lights in the
distance from the bombed ruins of Hastur.)
21
CASSILDA: I have not seen you! I have not seen
you!

STRANGER: You echo your priest. You are all blind

and deaf—obviously by choice.

CASSILDA: I … suppose it is too late to be afraid.

Well then; I am not.

STRANGER: Well spoken, Queen. There is in fact

nothing to be afraid of.

CASSILDA: Please, phantom, no nonsense. You

wear the Sign.

STRANGER: How do you know that? You have

never seen the Yellow Sign.

CASSILDA: Oh I know. The Sign is in the blood.

That is why I aborted the Dynasty. No blood should
have to carry such knowledge through a human
heart; no children’s teeth so set on edge.

STRANGER: You face facts. That is a good

beginning. Very well, then; yes, in fact, this is the
Sign. Nevertheless, Cassilda—

CASSILDA: “Your Majesty”—

22
STRANGER: —Cassilda, there is nothing to fear.
You see how I wear it with impunity. Be reassured;
it has no power left.

CASSILDA: Is that… a truth?

STRANGER: It is the shadow cast by a truth.

Nothing else is ever vouchsafed us, Queen. That is
why I am dressed in all white: in order to survive
such twisting and variegated shadows. And the
Pallid Mask protects me—as it will protect you.

CASSILDA: How?

STRANGER: It deceives. That is the function of a

mask. What else?

CASSILDA: You are not very full of straight

answers.

STRANGER: There are no straight answers. But I

tell you this: Anyone who wears the Pallid Mask
need never fear the Yellow Sign. You tremble. All
the same, my Queen, that era is over. Whatever
else could you need to know? Now your Dynasty
can start again; again there can be a King in
Hastur; and again, Cassilda, the Black Stars can
mount the sky once more against the Hyades. The

23
siege can be lifted. Humankind can have its future
back.

CASSILDA (murmuring): So many dreams!

STRANGER: Only wear the Mask, and these are

given. There’s no other thing required of us.

CASSILDA: Who tells me this?

STRANGER: I am called Yhtill.

CASSILDA: That is only Alaran for “stranger.”

STRANGER: And “Aldones” is only Hasturic for

“father.” What of it?

CASSILDA: Your facts are bitterer than your

mysteries. And what will happen to you, Yhtill, you
with the Yellow Sign upon your bosom, when the
Sign is sent for?

STRANGER: Nothing at all. What has Carcosa ever

had to do with the human world, since you all lived
in mud huts? The King in Yellow has other
concerns, as is only super-natural. Once you don
the Pallid Mask, he cannot even see you. Do you
doubt me? You have only to look again for yourself
across the Lake. Carcosa does not sit upon the
Earth. It is, perhaps, not even real; or not so real

24
as you and I. Certainly, the Living God does not
believe in it. Then why should you?

CASSILDA: You are plausible, you in your ghost

face. You talk as if you know the Living God. Do
you also hear the Hyades sing in the evening of
the world?

STRANGER (shortly): No. That is strictly the King’s

business. It is of no earthly interest to me.

CASSILDA (once more recovering a bit of her

aplomb): I daresay. How can I trust any of these
answers? Do we indeed have to do nothing more
to be saved than don white masks? It sounds to
me like a suspiciously easy answer.

STRANGER: Test it then.

CASSILDA: And die. Thank you very much.

STRANGER: Not so fast. I would not kill you, or

myself. I propose a masque, if you will pardon me
the word-play. All will wear exactly what they
choose, except that all will also wear the Pallid
Mask. I myself shall wear the Yellow Sign, just as I
do now. When you are all convinced, the masks
will be doffed; and then you may announce the
Succession, all in perfect safety.

25
CASSILDA: Oh, indeed. And then the King
descends.

STRANGER: And if the King should then descend,

we are all lost, and I have lost my bet. I have
nothing to lose but my life. You have far more. And
if the King does not descend, what then? Think!
The Yellow Sign denatured, human life suddenly
charged with meaning, hope flowering
everywhere, the Phantom of Truth laid forever, and
the Dynasty free of all fear of Carcosa and
whatever monsters may live there, free of all fear
of the King in Yellow and his tattered, smothering,
inhuman robes!

CASSILDA: Oh Living God! How would I dare to

believe you?

STRANGER: You do not dare not to…

(During this conversation, the moon has been

rising slowly, contrary to the direction of sunset,
and the stars fade, though they do not quite
disappear. Long waves of clouds begin to pass
over the surface of the Lake of Hali, which begins
to sigh and heave. Spray rises. The STRANGER and
CASSILDA stare at each other in a dawn and
sunset of complicity and hatred.)

26
CASSILDA: Why would I not dare?! I, who am
Cassilda, I… I, who am me?

STRANGER: Because, Cassilda, risk nothing, and

you risk it all. That is the first law of rulership. And
too, Cassilda, because in your ancient heart you
love your children.

CASSILDA: Oh, you are a demon! You have found

me out.

STRANGER: That is what I came for. Very well. I

shall see you tomorrow, after sunset. Wear the
Mask, and all eyes will be opened, all ears
unstopped. Good night, my Queen.

CASSILDA: If you are human, you’ll regret this.

STRANGER: Utterly. And so, good night.

(The STRANGER goes out. CASSILDA puts her hand

to her head and finds that she is no longer wearing
the diadem. She gropes for it, and finally locates it
among the cushions. She starts to put it on, and
then instead stands at the balcony rail, turning the
jeweled crown in her hands. The lights go down
into semidarkness.

(The fog rises in the moonlight: the stars

disappear. On the horizon, seemingly afloat upon
27
the Lake of Hali, appear the towers of Carcosa, tall
and lightless. The center of the city is behind the
rising moon, which seems to be dripping silver
blood into the lake.

(Enter NOATALBA.)

NOATALBA: And so, good night, my Queen. You

saw him?

CASSILDA: I—think so.

NOATALBA: And—?

CASSILDA: He says—he says the King in Yellow can

be blinded.

NOATALBA: And you heard him out. Now, very

surely, we are indeed all mad.

(Curtain)

28
29
 Act 2

30
(The clockwork CHILD stands before the curtain.)

CHILD: I am not the Prologue, nor the Afterword;

call me the Prototaph. My role is this: to tell you it
is now too late to close the book or quit the
theatre. You already thought you should have
done so earlier, but you stayed. How harmless it all
is! No definite principles are involved, no doctrines
promulgated in these pristine pages, no
convictions outraged… but the blow has fallen and
now it is too late. And shall I tell you where the sin
lies? It is yours. You listened to us; and all the
same you stay to see the Sign. Now you are ours,
or, since the runes also run backwards, we are
yours… forever.

(The stage falls into darkness as the curtains part.

CASSILDA and CAMILLA are heard from afar)

CASSILDA (faintly): That which hunts us makes us

whole.

CAMILLA: Sing, Mother. Do something to stave off

this melancholy.

CASSILDA: Death is a song of sorts, sung by all but

once…

31
(After a pause, there are a few soft spare chords of
music. The stage remains in darkness, the
audience left alone with the voice of CASSILDA as
she sings in the old ways):

CASSILDA: Along the shore the cloud waves break,

The twin suns sink behind the lake,
The shadows lengthen
In Carcosa.
Strange is the night where black stars
rise,
And strange moons circle through the
skies,
But stranger still is
Lost Carcosa.
Songs that the Hyades shall sing
Where flap the tatters of the King,
Must die unheard in
Dim Carcosa.
Song of my soul, my voice is dead
Die thou unsung, as tears unshed
Shall dry and die in
Lost Carcosa.1

(A murmur of voices and music rises under the

last verse. The lights go up to reveal that the front
of the stage has become a crowded ballroom, with
the balcony at its back. The STRANGER and
1
If this is the correct text of this song. All known versions are corrupted
in the last verse.
32
nobility of Hastur are present; all the latter wear
white masks with the visage of the STRANGER, to
which individual taste has added grotesque
variations. The result is that each mask looks like a
famous person. The costumes are also various and
fantastic. The STRANGER still wears the silken robe
with the Yellow Sign, and CASSILDA, though
masked, still wears the diadem, as does the CHILD.
Many are dancing to a formal measure, something
like a sarabande, something like stalking. CAMILLA
is talking to the STRANGER, front left. CASSILDA
watches the masque from the balcony, Carcosa
and the Hyades behind her; the moon has
vanished.)

STRANGER: There, Princess, you see that there has

been no sending, and there will be none. The Pallid
Mask is the perfect disguise.

CAMILLA: How would we know a sending if it

came?

(CASSILDA descends and joins them.)

STRANGER: The messenger of the King drives a

hearse.

33
CASSILDA: Oho, half the population of Hastur does
that. It’s the city’s most popular occupation, since
the siege began. All that is talk.

STRANGER: I have heard what the Talkers were

talking—the talk of the beginning and the end; but
I do not talk of the beginning or the end.

CAMILLA: But—the sending? Let us hear.

STRANGER: Also, the messenger of the King is a

soft man. Should you greet him by the hand, some
of his fingers would come off to join yours.

(CAMILLA recoils in delicate disgust. NOATALBA,

circling closer and closer to the group, now joins
it.)

NOATALBA: A pretty story. You seem to know

everything. I think perhaps you could even tell us,
given gold, the mystery of the Hyades.

STRANGER: He is King there.

NOATALBA: As everywhere. Everyone knows that.

STRANGER: He is not King in Aldebaran. That is

why Carcosa was built. It is a city in exile. These
two mighty stars are deep in war, like Hastur and
Alar.

34
NOATALBA: Oh, indeed. Who then lives in Carcosa?

STRANGER: Nothing human. More than that, I

cannot tell you.

NOATALBA: Your springs of invention run dry with

suspicious quickness.

CASSILDA: Be silent. Stranger, how did you come

by all this?

STRANGER: My sigil is Aldebaran. I hate the King.

NOATALBA: And his is the Yellow Sign, which you

mock him by flaunting before the world. I tell you
this: he will not be moved. He is a King whom
Emperors have served; and that is why he scorns a
crown. All this is in the runes.

STRANGER: There are great truths in the runes.

Nevertheless, my priest, Aldebaran is his evil star.
Thence comes the Pallid Mask.

NOATALBA: Belike, belike. But I would rather be

deep in the cloudy depths of Dehme than to wear
what you wear on your bosom. When the King
opens his mantle—

(Somewhere deep in the palace, a deep-toned

gong begins to strike.)

35
CASSILDA: Have done… Now is the time I never
thought to see: I must go, and announce the
Succession. Perhaps… perhaps the world itself is
indeed about to begin again. How strange!

(As the gong continues to strike, everyone begins

to unmask. There are murmurs and gestures of
surprise, real or polite, as identities are recognized
or revealed. Then there is a wave of laughter. The
music becomes louder and increases in tempo.)

CAMILLA: You, sir, should unmask.

STRANGER: Indeed?

CAMILLA: Indeed, it’s time. We have all laid aside

disguise but you.

STRANGER: There is nothing left to shed. I wear no

mask.

CAMILLA: No mask?

CASSILDA: No mask?!

STRANGER: I am the Pallid Mask itself. I am the

Phantom of Truth. I came from Alar. My star is
Aldebaran. Truth is our invention, it is our weapon
of war. And see—by this sign we have conquered,
and the siege of good and evil is ended …

36
(On the horizon, the towers of Carcosa begin to
glow. CASSILDA sees the light first, and turns in
wonder. The STRANGER has no more need to look
back than an arrow has to turn back to its quiver.)

CASSILDA: (whispering as she gazes out among

the audience): Look, then, beyond the footlights of
the moons to upturned faces, lost in wonder. Why
here? Why now?

STRANGER: So they might know the joy of the

author’s intent. And the certainty found in an exit
well deserved.

NOATALBA (pointing): Look, look! Carcosa—

Carcosa is on fire! Away, pale demon. Look not on
our lives measured only by your profit! To wake
and live is to sleep and dream, for none may say
when one ends or the other begins.

(The STRANGER laughs and seizes CAMILLA by the

wrists.)

CAMILLA (in agony): His hands! His hands!

(At her cry the music dies discordantly. Then a

tremendous, inhuman voice rolls from Carcosa
across the Lake of Hali.)

37
(The STRANGER releases CAMILLA, who screams
wordlessly and falls.)

THE KING: Have you found the Yellow Sign? Have

you found it?

STRANGER (shouting): I am the Phantom of Truth!

Tremble, O King in tatters!

THE KING: The Phantom of Truth shall be laid to

rest. The scalloped tatters of the King must hide
Yhtill forever. As for thee, Hastur—

ALL: No! No, no!

THE KING: And as for thee, we tell thee this; it is a

fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living god.

(The STRANGER falls, and everyone else sinks

slowly to the ground after him.

(THE KING can now be seen, although only faintly.

He stands in state upon the balcony. He has no
face, and is twice as tall as a man. He wears
pointed shoes under his tattered, fantastically
colored robes, and a streamer of silk appears to
fall from the pointed tip of his hood. Behind his
back he holds inverted a torch with a turned and
jeweled shaft, which emits smoke, but no light. At
times he appears to be winged; at others, haloed.
38
These details are for the costumer; at no time
should all parts of THE KING be sufficiently visible
to make them all out at once.

(Behind him, Carcosa and the Lake of Hali have

vanished. Instead, there appears at his back a
huge sculptured shield, in shape suggesting a
labrys of onyx, upon which the Yellow Sign is
embossed in gold.

(The rest of the stage darkens gradually, until, at

the end, it is lit only by the rapidly decomposing
body of the STRANGER, which phosphoresces
bluely.)

THE KING: I have enfolded Yhtill, and the Phantom

of Truth is laid. (More quietly): Henceforth, the
ancient lies will rule as always. … Now, Cassilda!

(CASSILDA rises mutely to her knees.)

THE KING: Though wert promised a Dynasty by

Truth, and in truth shalt though have a dynasty.
The Kingdom of Hastur was first in all the world,
and would have ruled the world, except for this:
Carcosa did not want it. Hence, thereafter, Hastur
and Alar divided; but those in Alar sent you from
Aldebaran the Phantom of Truth and all was lost;

39
together, you forgot the Covenant of the Sign. Now
there is much which needs to be undone.

NOATALBA (faintly): How, King, how?

THE KING: Henceforth, Hastur and Alar will be

divided forever. Forever shalt thou contend for
mastery, and strive in bitter blood to claim which
shall be uppermost, flesh or phantom, black or
white. In due course of starwheels, this strife will
come to issue; but not now; oh, no, not now.

CASSILDA (whispering): And—until then?

THE KING: Until then Carcosa will vanish, but my

rule, I tell you now, is permanent, despite
Aldebaran. Be warned. Also be promised: He who
triumphs in this war shall be my—can I can
honest?—inheritor, and so shall have the dynasty
back. But think: Once you owned the world. The
great query is, can you rule it? The query is the
gift. The King in Yellow would give it into your
hands again, to hold… or to let loose. Choose,
terrible children.

NOATALBA (faintly): You are King, and are most

gracious. We thank you.

40
THE KING: You thank me? I am the living god!
Bethink thyself, priest. There is a price, I have not
as yet stated the half of it.

(Everyone waits, petrified)

THE KING: The price is: the fixing of the Mask.

(Silence.)

THE KING: You do not understand me. I will explain

it once and then no more. Hastur - you acceded to,
and wore, the Pallid Mask. That is the price.
Henceforth, all in Hastur shall wear the Mask, and
by this sign be known. And war between the
masked men and the naked men shall be
perpetual and bloody, until I come again… or fail to
come.

(NOATALBA starts back up to his knees.)

NOATALBA: Wear the mask? We do not clothe

ourselves, no. Eyes clothe us instead, casting us in
our roles without permission, cruelling insisting our
lives upon us. Unfair, unfair! It was Alar invented
the Pallid Mask! Aldones—

THE KING: Why should I be fair? I am the living

god. As for Aldones, he is the father of you all. That
is my price: the fixing of the Mask. You wished to
41
hide yourself from my sight? Lo, I reverse the arc.
The arrow pulls back in time from your death,
nocked once more in the taut string which men call
hate.

ALL: Oh!

CASSILDA (bitterly): Not upon us, o King; not upon

us!

ALL: No! Mercy! Not upon us!

THE KING: Yhtill! Yhtill! Yhtill!

(The KING vanishes, and with him his throne. The

Hyades and Carcosa are once more visible over
the balcony rail. The mass of corruption that had
been the STRANGER rises slowly and uncertainly.
The clockwork CHILD runs out from the crowd, and
seizing the STRANGER by one mushy hand, leads
him shambling out across the balcony in the wake
of THE KING. There is a low, composite moan as
they exit.)

CASSILDA (standing and throwing her arms wide):

Not upon us! Not upon us!

THE KING (offstage, remote, diminishing): What?!

Did you think to be human still?

42
 {{{GAP / DAMAGE TO MANUSCRIPT /
TRANSITION}}}

(The CHILD returns on stage and draws the

curtain.)

CHILD: And so we come to our end, of sorts. A play

that contains multitudes: all who died, all who live,
all who yet shall, upon this stage with us. Forever.

43