Apu Ollantay: A Drama of the Time of the Incas

A corridor in the palace of Chosen Virgins.

(Enter YMA SUMAC and PITU SALLA.)

Yma Sumac. Pitu Salla, beloved friend, How long wilt thou conceal from me The secret that I long to know? Think, dearest, of my anxious heart, How I shall be in constant grief Until you tell the truth to me. Within these hard and cruel bounds Does some one suffer for my sins? My sweet companion, do not hide From me, who ’tis that mourns and weeps Somewhere within the garden walls. How is it she is so concealed That I can never find the place?

Pitu Salla. My Sumac, now I’ll tell thee all— Only concerning what you hear, And still more surely what you see, You must be dumb as any stone; And you too must be well prepared For a most sad heart-rending sight— ’Twill make thee weep for many days.

Yma Sumac. I will not tell a living soul What you divulge. But tell me all, I’ll shut it closely in my heart.