N: Our scene opens at the seaside where Mestra, having been sold by her father for a considerable sum of money, is waiting to be loaded onto the slave merchant’s ship.

Scene 1

Only Mestra lowers her mask. During the scene, and all the subsequent scenes, the chorus will make sea sounds with rainsticks, hissing, blowing, and whistling, and rubbing drumheads. They should seek to imitate the sound of gentle waves on the shore - not titanic gales.

M: Farewell, farewell.

Farewell to the city of me childhood.

I never dreamed

How I never dreamed

I never dreamed I’d leave you bound in chains.

Farewell, farewell.

Farewell my darling papa, I still live you.

And I’m weeping

How I’m weeping

I’m weeping more for you than for myself.

Farewell, farewell.

Farewell to the home I’ve always loved.

Abandoned

Abandoned

Abandoned by my father,

And abandoned by my lover,

And abandoned by the gods

By the gods who show no pity

Show no mercy

No compassion

Abandoned by them all.

P: (still behind his mask. ) No, not all.

M: Did someone call?

Who’s there? I thought I heard a noise.

Perhaps it was the merchant’s voice,

He has returned.

P: (still behind his mask. ) No, no. Not he.

M: It’s there again! Who could it be?

P: (slowly lowering his mask. )

You have called upon the gods,

And they have heard your many prayers.

I have come to bring relief

From all your sorrows and your cares.

M: Oh Lord Poseidon! (with awe and astonishment )

P: Rise , my daughter.

I sensed your sorrow in the ocean’s water,

And I searched for something I could do

To dry your tears. And so to you

I offer this emancipation

Through the powers of transformation:

Three pearls here, within my hand,

Hold magic now at your command.

Throw each one into the sea

And you shall then transformed be

Into whatever shape you wish:

A cloud, a horse, a snake, a fish.

But magic such as this is rare.

So with these pearls you must take care.

For only thrice will they conceal.

Three times your form shall be unreal.

Use them wisely, use them well,

And when you wish to break the spell,

Simply utter forth my name,

And your true form you shall regain. (He hands her three pearls )

M: Oh Lord Poseidon,

Ruler of the waters

King of the waves and the oceans wide:

Oh my salvation,

Thee will I honor

Great Master of the sea and tide.

P: Cast the pearl into the sea,

And take what shape you wish to be.

Mestra throws the pearl into the audience.

N: No sooner had the pearl sunk beneath the waves, than Mestra found herself free of the ropes which tied her wrists together. Instead of ropes, they became fishing nets. And where just before her face was soft and smooth, it had turned rought and withered, with a stubbly beard and wisps of coarse, white hair.

Her fine-spun dress lost all its colors and became a fisherman’s tunic, wrapped lightly around her. No sooner had she taken into account the miraculous transformation wrought upon her by Poseidon’s gift, than the Merchant himself came back with a puzzled expression on his face.

P. raises his mask as the merchant lowers his.

ST: Hey there, old man! Perhaps you’ve seen

A slave pass by… a girl, I mean,

Hands bound in cords.

M: (gruffly) I swear to you

By all the gods, one thing is true:

I’ve seen no woman on these sands.

ST: That throws a wrench in all my plans.

Perhaps she ran the other way.

I’ll hunt her down. Farewell, good day.

(He raises his mask. The chorus may cease the sea sounds. )