"The town in the past..." "Every evening, the high notables of the small town met at the Golden Unicorn for the twilight cup..." "His Ponderousness the Mayor..." "His Reverence the Pastor..." "His Erudition the Doctor..." "His Measuredness the Notary  and the new teacher..." "In other days, the ancient candlesticks heard every evening the most important news of the town..." "But since some time, the esteemed notables had but a single topic:" "the stranger, and ever again the stranger..." "One day, a stranger asked the gravedigger for the way to the town." "To the latter, he looked strangely known, though he had never seen him in person..." ""Who owns the land beside the cemetery?"" ""The Municipality has destined it to the enlargement of the graveyard..."" ""I hardly believe that the Municipality is willing to give away the cemetery land..." "But, why the devil are you interested exactly in that one -?"" ""I'm a much tired wanderer..." "I wish to make me a garden here..."" ""Next to the graveyard - ?" "!"" "The stranger's request gave rise to a fierce debate among the counselors;" "but the gold he offered was highly appealing..." "The stranger's proposal was approved unanimously, and he was granted the graveyard land for ninety nine years..." "But the joy of the conceited town-dwellers was not unclouded;" "because the stranger had built, between his mysterious being and the others, an evenly unclimbable wall all around his estate..." ""You can see by yourselves, Sirs!" "I've run all around the wall, and found neither door nor gate - !"" ""Stop your efforts, men!" "I alone know the door that opens this wall!"" ""And nobody has yet found a door in that weird wall - ?"" "Second Verse." ""It's a good old custom of the Golden Unicorn, that young couples drink the first dip from the bridal cup " "And it's easily guessed that you are sweethearts!"" ""Excuse me..." "do you know where my bridegroom went?"" ""My dear child, your groom went away with the stranger, the one that was sitting at your table..."" "There are plants, that from the magic light of the full moon draw mysterious virtues:" "mandrake and Salomon's seal, wolfberry and centaury..." "Nobody knew better than the old chemist..." ""Child, child, you're quivering by fever!" "But wait, I'll make you a tonic tea, and you'll feel better at once!"" "Hymn XIX." "Put me as a seal on your heart," "And as a seal on your arm." "Because Love is as strong as Death," "Passion as steady as Hell" "Its heat is burning And a flame of the Lord" "Because Love is as strong as Death," ""Hear, people:" "the bell has struck eleven ....."" ""What do you want, child, in my kingdom?" "I didn't call you..."" ""I want to know where's my beloved!"" ""I did not steal him..." "his time was over!"" ""What you see here, are the lives of men..." "They light up and burn for some time long " "And they go out, when God so decides..."" ""Believe me, my task is heavy It's a doom!" "I'm tired of seeing the sufferings of men" "And reaping hate, when I obey to God..."" ""And is there a way, to awake an extinct light to a new life, Death - ?"" ""No way." "You overcome me - ?"" ""I believe that Love is as strong as Death - !"" ""Is your love as strong as death?" "Will you fight against the immortal one?" "I'd bless you, should you succeed in beating me!"" ""Here are three lights, that are about to go out..." "I put them in your hands, save them!" "If you succeed, - even one only - I'll give you back your beloved's life!"" "Third Verse." ""Come, believers!" "Come to the prayer!"" "Ramadan." ""Allah'l Allah il Allah we Mohammed rafful Allah !"" "Zobeide, the Calif's sister." "The pagan..." ""There's no god other than God - and Mohammed is his prophet"" ""Are you crazy - ?" "!" "Do you want both us lost - ?" "!"" ""I haven't seen you since the beginning of Ramadan!" "Night after night, I've waited for a sign to plunge into your arms again..." "in vain..."" ""Tonight..." "I'll send you Aisha..." "but now I beseech you:" "leave the sanctuary, or else you are lost - !"" ""A pagan - !" "An infidel - !" "A giaour !"" ""A giaour has violated the sanctuary !"" ""Back... don't stain the sanctuary with an infidel's blood !"" "The Calif." ""Zobeide - ?" "My sister -- ?" "!"" ""We don't know where the stranger's hiding, but listen to my advice, Calif..."" ""As if I cared for a giaour's fate - !" "I only wanted to save the sanctuary from corruption by his blood - !"" ""You'll be glad, then, knowing that there's no escape for the violator of the sanctuary - !"" ""We are following him closely... and I have had the town surrounded by the guards, so whoever tries to escape will go straight into my hands..."" ""You must go to him, Aisha- go and bring him to me by the secret way - !"" ""Only here he's safe - !" "They won't seek him in his persecutor's palace !"" "El Mot, the gardener..." ""Come, at dark, by the secret way!" "The Mistress will hide you in the palace, till the crowd's rage has died out!"" ""Surround the palace of Princess Zobeide..." "Let anybody in..." "nobody out...!"" "Night..." ""Come with me, I'll hide you until the hounds' watch has weared out..."" ""The Calif -- !"" ""What's happening - ?" "!"" ""Perhaps, they're hunting a raging dog !"" ""Your orders have been carried out, Sir !"" ""The night is beautiful, sister..." "I'd like to stay up late on the palace's terrace..." "Will you keep me company - ?"" ""Who's digging at this late hour in our garden...?"" ""El Mot, the gardener, wants to give you a surprise..."" "Fourth Verse." ""I'm glad to see a smile on your mouth, my beautiful betrothed!"" ""How often men are near their death unknowingly..." "They think they have the eternity before - yet it's no more than a rose's life with which they play..."" ""Messer Giovanfrancesco is much disliked by the Council of the Fourteen..." "Too much..." "Perhaps he'll not see next dawn..."" ""Not for nothing I'm the best fighter among the Fourteen..." "And when Carnival heats one's blood, it's not uncommon to come down to fists... the usual deadly end..."" ""I know, you hate me, Monna Fiametta... and up to the day of our wedding, you're free to doom me for nothing..."" ""Afterwards, I hope you'll have a smile for me too " "And a rose..." "as for the other one." "That by then will be rotten..."" "Cockfight." "Letters." ""This letter is for Messer Girolamo..."" ""Tell him I'm sending him this letter with my most beautiful smile!"" ""With this letter run fast to Messer Giovanfrancesco... beware..." "don't mention it to anyone... less than ever Messer Girolamo...!"" ""Call the Moor here!"" "I, Monna Fiametta, beg you to be my guest tonight." "I think we have much to say." "Come when the bell strucks ten." "The maid will guide you." ""Madonna Fiametta sends you this letter with her most beautiful smile!"" ""Have you by chance a second letter to deliver?"" ""I have an enemy, Moor, - whom I've invited tonight - and I won't let him to leave this house alive " "Do you understand - ?"" "My love, fly away!" "The Council of the Fourteen wants your death, and Girolamo is going to be your hangman!" "Avoid riots!" "Fly secretly, and don't come back home before I call you!" "The destiny that Girolamo prepared for you, shall be fulfilled on himself tonight!" "I kiss your eyes and your heart!" "Fiametta" ""I'll push him here, where you are, with the tip of my sword..." "And when he turns his back on you..."" ""Madonna Fiametta sends this to you!"" ""And this letter..."" "I, Monna Fiametta, beg you to be my guest tonight." "I think we have much to say." "Come when the bell strucks ten." "The maid will guide you." ""... and a good advice - !" "Not a word, not a sound if you care for your life and for Monna Fiametta's honour..." "Whatever happens, stay silent..."" "Ten o'clock." ""Now -- !"" "Fifth Verse." "O Most Reverend One!" "O Millenary One!" "O Phare of Wisdom!" "O Jewel!" "Tomorrow is my birthday, and I've decreed great rejoicings in the whole Empire of the Middle!" "And I wish that on my birthday you, o Pearl among all Wizards, drive out my imperial boredom with new tricks from your excellent mind!" "With best greetings," "Your DJOU SCHÜATI WANG" "Emperor." "P.S. Should you, against all expectations, bore me, o Most Reverend One, with my highest regret I'll be compelled to have you beheaded!" "The Above." ""Tiao Tsien...!" "Liang!" "Tiao Tsien...!" "Liang!"" ""Would you perhaps be so kind to bring me my Sunday jade magic wand - ?" "!"" "... before, the honorable Master A Hi disposed of the cause of his troubles!" ""We go!"" "The Son of Heaven!" "The Emperor's Archer." ""Son of Heaven, have mercy of the lurid toad who kisses the dust under your feet!" "Master A Hi is not seen on any road."" ""O Son of Heaven, have mercy of the miserable earthworm at your feet!" "No trace of Master A Hi is yet seen on any river!"" ""A Hi - !"" ""On with magic!"" ""Abracadabra..." "Witch's fat..." "Three black cats!"" ""Lofty Son of Heaven!" "So that you be always shielded against your enemies, let me present you, on your birthday, with a whole well organized army!"" ""Pay homage to the noble Son of Heaven!"" ""How much will this cost again -!"" ""My dear A Hi, your gift is beautiful, but its bringer is even more so!" "I'll keep her too!"" ""O Son of Heaven, let me give you, in place of this unworthy little frog, a magic horse, matchless in the world!"" ""My dear A Hi, I'm quite satisfied with you I'll keep the horse --- and the girl as well!"" ""O Highest One, that's impossible!" "I cannot do my magic without the girl!"" ""So - ?" "You can not - ?" "Wait and you'll see, that you'll be able to!" "Either you'll be..."" ""... or - !"" ""O Son of Heaven, your eloquence is irresistible!"" ""Lock him in the highest pagoda!" "Tomorrow at dawn he'll be beheaded - !"" ""You must make her more flexible with me, A Hi, otherwise -- you already know !"" ""You will help me, won't you - ?" "!"" ""Be reasonable, Tiao Tsien!" "What can poor Liang offer you!" "But the Emperor ---!"" ""Give me back my magic wand!"" ""You -- you... you miserable, horrid cactus, you -- !"" "The flight..." "The pursuers..." ""We must go faster, Liang!" "The path narrows down!"" ""The jade piece from A Hi's magic wand becomes ever smaller, each time I use its power!"" ""Go on!" "Go on -!"" ""They are close!"" ""Demons of fire, block the way with flames!"" "The night..." ""Take A Hi's magic horse, and bring me the two, dead or alive!"" "The magic steed." "Sixth Verse." ""Do you understand now, child, why I'm tired and fed up with my task?" "I'm the eternal invincible one..." "Go back to the living - and live!"" ""Give me back my beloved's life!"" ""There's a last way - !" "Bring into my magic circle a human hour, of another life not extinguished yet, having before itself years... days... hours. " "Then I'll give back your beloved's life..."" ""...... eleven !" "Guard fire and lights, that nobody be harmed..."" ""Praise be to God - !"" ""Death took my beloved " "I want to join him!"" ""Old man, you have already lived so long!" "..." "What more can life offer you...?"" ""Give me your life, give me the few days that perhaps are left to you - help me to save my beloved's life - !"" ""Not a day -- not an hour -- not a breath - !"" ""The beggar - !"" ""Beggar, do you want to end your troubles - ?"" ""Give me your life - !"" ""Not a day -- not an hour -- not a breath - !"" "The hospital." ""The mother is well and the child is sound..." "But the young man admitted this evening, died just before ten...!"" ""Holy God, poor boy!" "To die so young - !"" ""And ourselves, who would be glad not to wake up next morning, death doesn't want to do with!"" ""If your life is so sad -- who among you gives it to me -- by goodness' sake - ?" "!"" ""She was the last one - !"" ""My child - !"" ""... another life, not extinguished yet..."" ""I can't pay you such price..." "Now take my life too!" "Because without my beloved one it has no value for me - !"" ""I'll take you to the one you love!"" ""Who gives up his life, will gain it..."" ""Hear what I say, people:" "The bell has struck twelve!" "Beware of ghosts and spooks." "That no evil spirit may steal your soul!""