Poppy was Saddam's footstool. Saddam was Shrub's footstool. Ad infinitum.

[UTUSN]

This allegory sounds so effing REAL, it's UNREAL. Down to where NEBUCHANDNEZZAR says his empire will be inherited by his idiot son.



************QUOTE***********

From, “An Angel Comes to Babylon: A Fragmentary Comedy in Three Acts,” by Friedrich Durrenmatt. Copyright 1957 by Peter SCHIFFERLI, Verlags AG “Die Arche,” Zurich. English version Copyright 1964 by William McELWEE (translator).

NEBUCHADNEZZAR. …. …I have conquered the world.

ALL. We congratulate His Majesty, King Nebuchadnezzar, on the New Order he has established in the world.

NEBUCHADNEZZAR. I spent nine hundred years as King Nimrod’s footstool in an extremely cramped, unpleasant position. …. Nimrod has been arrested. …. Now Nimrod will be my footstool.

PRIME MINISTER. …. …in the distant past, you were King and Nimrod a footstool… …nine hundred years ago, Nimrod became King and Your Majesty a footstool… …. …every time this reversal of fortune takes place--

NEBUCHADNEZZAR. …. Life is short, and I have to carry out the plans I formulated while I was Nimrod’s footstool. .... It would be the easiest thing in the world to have him hanged. But it is not unbecoming in a great ruler to try to gain his ends humanely. .... If, however, he persists in remaining miserable, then he shall be strung up on this lamp-post. (The HANGMAN bows.)

AKKI. He’s the stupidest king I’ve ever come across. He finds ruling very difficult.

NEBUCHADNEZZAR. It’s an exalted and difficult task to rule the world.

AKKI. …. It’s the excuse kings make. ….

(…. …soldiers drag in the captured NIMROD. He is dressed in royal robes exactly like NEBUCHADNEZZAR’s… ….)

NEBUCHADNEZZAR. …. Now, here are some soldiers dragging along a state prisoner whose evil deeds brought the world to the brink of destruction, as the historians unanimously agree. ….

1ST SOLDIER. …. …Nimrod, who was once King of the World.

NIMROD. …. I left the throne vacant to go and put down the rebellion … and who sits on it now? My footstool!

NEBUCHADNEZZAR. Who seized his chance.

NIMROD. I am down now, but I shall get on top again. Nebuchadnezzar is on top now, but one day he’ll be down again.

NEBUCHADNEZZAR. That will never happen.

NIMROD. It has been happening continuously for thousands of years. ….

AKKI. Nebby is renowned for his inhuman and carefully thought-out death sentences. ….

1ST SOLDIER. ….Here is the ex-King for you, Excellency. He is fettered and gagged… ….

AKKI. ….National heroes are the outstanding killers of mankind… …. The more perfect a State, the more stupid the officials it needs.

POLICEMAN. …. The hangman will come to you. …. The hangman … is a tall, lean chap---a master of his art. It’s a real pleasure to watch him. Outstanding technically.

AKKI. ….Man should be as sand, for sand alone does not show the footprints of the evil-doer or of the hangman on the ground. ….

(…. …the ANGEL is suddenly there again, sitting on the head of Gilgamish. …. )

AKKI. …. And who are you?

FORMAL ONE. Hangman. …. World empires go, world empires come. …. I, too, never alter, never change, don’t migrate--remain a hangman. I shout it with pride to the heavens. Bureaucracy, beggary, and hanging---these three are the hidden framework of the world, within which all else rises and falls. ….

(He puts the noose round AKKI’s neck, after softening it with soap.)

FORMAL ONE. ….Hanging all the time, and never getting anywhere. ….

AKKI. …. …to meet strength with strength is the act of a fool. …. In this world the powerful man seizes your house, your wife, whatever he pleases. Only what he despises escapes… …. …only he who is nothing and has nothing remains unharmed. So draw this conclusion: if you wish to grow old pretend to be stupid. Attack from within. …. Be lowly and all the walls will go down before you. …. …bury all beneath the hangman’s cloak.

( …. The throne, left, in front of the screen, is raised on steps. On it sits NEBUCHADNEZZAR, with his feeet resting on NIMROD’s shoulders, the head appearing between them. ….)

NEBUCHADNEZZAR. Clap the ex-king into our deepest dungeon.

PRIME MINISTER. … …by definition the King’s feet must rest on the shoulders of his predecessor. If this definition goes, the King goes with it.

NEBUCHADNEZZAR. We are chained together, you (NIMROD) and I.

BOTH. I beneath and you on top. I on top and you beneath. For ever and ever. .... Mow the people down. …. Our throne is threatened. We are waiting for your proposals, Prime Minister.

PRIME MINISTER. Your Majesties. The throne of Babylon, this noble institution which has come down to us from time immemorial, founded by Gilgamish, our national hero, this true centre of the whole earth, round which the peoples have gathered themselves … ….We have the chance to use religion to stabilize a structure which stands on very weak political foundations. ….

NEBUCHADNEZZAR. Here is no occasion in my empire with which the hangman has not something to do… …. (to HANGMAN: ) I don’t feel safe if I don’t have you near me. …. …you have the most to do. …. You are the only person in the whole of my empire who does not misrepresent himself--who is what he seems to be. .... (NIMROD tries to get on to the throne, but NEBUCHADNEZZAR gets there first.) Down, you. (He forces NIMROD back into the position of a footstool. ….)

(NIMROD has taken the chance to slip on to the throne.)

UTNAPISHTIM. So Babylon falls victim to the everlasting desire for world conquest.

NEBUCHADNEZZAR (who has taken NIMROD’s place (as footstool), sadly). I had hardly become a King and here I am, a footstool again. ….

PRIME MINISTER. Your Majesty exaggerates a little. People like ourselves will always come out on top somehow. …. The more often a politician contradicts himself, the greater is.

(NIMROD runs from the throne….)

NEBUCHADNEZZAR (delighted). Now I’m on top again.

KURRUBI. Who you are I do not know …. At one moment you are a king--at the next a footstool.

NEBUCHADNEZZAR. You have seen the basis of my power: my son. …. An idiot is to inherit my empire. …. I will hear the people’s petition.

UTNAPISHTIM. The end of the dynasty.

1ST WORKING MAN. Down with this King!

2ND WORKING MAN. To the lamp-post with him.

(The FORMAL ONE rushes in ….)

*************UNQUOTE*******************

[UTUSN]

1. Farewell kick. It was *hard work*!!!1 n/t

[peekaloo]

2. Our King Nimrod (!) is a stool, that's for sure.

:kick: