Snow Glass Apples: A Play For Voices Read Online Free Page B

majesty. Better.
     
    SFX: WE HEAR THE SOUNDS OF HAGGLING, AD-LIB
DWARFS AND MARKET FOLK …
     
    QUEEN
    Over there. The forest folk. Those
dwarf-things. What are they doing?

     
    LORD OF THE FAIR
    What they’ve been doing this whole market.
Buying glass. All the glass they can get. Paying good money for it,
too.
     
    QUEEN—INTIMATE
    I saw the little hairy men of the
forest-cave buying and bargaining for pieces of glass, and lumps of
crystal and of clear quartz. They paid for the glass with silver
coins—the spoils of my stepdaughter’s depredations, I had no doubt.
When it got about what they were buying, townsfolk rushed back to
their homes, came back with their lucky crystals, and, in a few
cases, with whole sheets of glass.
    I thought, briefly, about having the dwarfs
killed, but I did not. As long as the heart hung, silent and
immobile and cold, from the beam of my chamber, I was safe, and so
were the folk of the forest, and, thus, eventually, the folk of the
town.
     
    SFX: PASSAGE OF TIME MUSIC … LUTE,
PERHAPS?

    SFX: EXT—HORSES DRAW UP AND ARE STAMPING AND
WHINNYING …
     
    QUEEN—INTIMATE
    My stepdaughter had eaten the poisoned fruit
two winters back, when the Prince came to my Palace.
     
    SFX: INT NOW, THE HORSES ARE DISTANT AND
BELOW US …
     
    MAIDSERVANT
    Do you know who he is, majesty?
     
    QUEEN
    From his arms, he’s Prince of the land beyond
the mountains.
     
    MAIDSERVANT
    He is very handsome.
     
    QUEEN
    Yes. He is.
     
    SFX: …CROSSFADE INTO THE NOISE OF A
BANQUET.

    PRINCE
    …of choosing a retinue is that it need be
large enough to defend oneself in case of , well, bandits, let us
say, but small enough that another monarch—well, yourself, for
example— would not see it as any kind of a threat.
     
    QUEEN
    No threat at all?
     
    They are flirting here, very seriously…
     
    PRINCE
    Certainly not to you, majesty.
     
    QUEEN
    How very charming. And what would you say,
your highness, would be the purpose of all your…
peregrinations?
     
    PRINCE
    I travel to make alliances. I am looking for
allies. With other monarchs, and other kingdoms.
     
    QUEEN
    Alliances.
     
    SFX: FADEOUT THE BANQUET.
     
    QUEEN—INTIMATE
    I was practical: I thought of the alliance
of our lands, thought of the
    Kingdom running from the forests all the way
south to the sea; I thought of my golden-haired bearded love, dead
these eight years; and, in the night, I went to the Prince’s
room.
     
    SFX: FOOTSTEPS ECHOING ON A STONE FLOOR.
     
    QUEEN—INTIMATE
    I am no innocent, although my late husband,
who was once my king, was truly my first lover, no matter what they
say.
     
    SFX: WE ARE IN THE PRINCES’S CHAMBER.
    A FIRE CRACKLES IN THE GRATE.
    A KNOCK ON THE DOOR.
     
    PRINCE
    Yes?
     
    SFX: A DOOR OPENS.
     
    PRINCE (CONT’D)
    My. A visitor. And such a damn pretty
one.
     
    QUEEN
    Thank you.
     
    PRINCE
    No. Don’t come any closer.
     
    QUEEN
    I thought you wanted me.
     
    PRINCE
    I do. I just… I want you to do what I tell
you. Do you understand?
     
    QUEEN
    As you wish.
     
    PRINCE (CONT’D)
    Take off your robe. Let it fall. Good. You
are. You are very beautiful. Now, walk over to the open window.
     
    SFX. THE WIND BLOWS …
     
    QUEEN
    It’s cold.
     
    PRINCE
    And do not say another word. Stand there
until your skin is chilled and cold.

     
    QUEEN
    I am chilled, your highness.
     
    PRINCE
    Come here. Lie on your back. Good. Now, fold
your hands across your breast. Like this. No, keep your eyes open,
but do not look at me. Look up at the beams.
    (he is getting very excited)
    Now. You must not move. Breathe as—as little
as possible. No.
    Don’t move. Let me open your legs… Oh yes.
Don’t say anything.
    Do not make a sound.
     
    SFX: His body starts to move on hers… And
then a MOAN of passion from the queen. And, immediately, the noise
of bodies moving together stops.
     
    QUEEN—INTIMATE
    I could not help moaning. It had been so
long.
     
    PRINCE
    No… Damn you…
     
    QUEEN—INTIMATE
    His