human
I have wanted to see you, he said.
gpt
A few days ago you wanted to tell me something--you wanted to tell me of the people. What was it you had to tell me?
human
You said the people were unhappy?
gpt
It must have seemed strange to you,
human
It did. And yet--
gpt
It was an impulse.
human
Well?
gpt
That is all.
human
You forget,
gpt
What?
human
The people--
gpt
Do you mean--?
human
You forget the people.
gpt
Yes. I know you are surprised. For you do not understand what you are. You do not know the things that are happening.
human
Well?
gpt
You do not understand.
human
Not clearly, perhaps. But--tell me.
gpt
It is so hard to explain. I have meant to, I have wanted to. And now--I cannot. I am not ready with words. But about you--there is something. It is wonder. Your sleep--your awakening. These things are miracles. To me at least--and to all the common people. You who lived and suffered and died, you who were a common citizen, wake again, live again, to find yourself Master almost of the earth.
human
Master of the earth, he said.
gpt
So they tell me. But try and imagine how little I know of it.
human
Cities--Trusts--the Labour Department--
gpt
Principalities, powers, dominions--the power and the glory. Yes, I have heard them shout. I know. I am Master. King, if you wish. With Ostrog, the Boss--
human
Well?
gpt
To take the responsibility.
human
That is what we have begun to fear. For a moment she said no more.
gpt
No, she said slowly.
human
Listen! For at least half the years of your sleep--in every generation--multitudes of people, in every generation greater multitudes of people, have prayed that you might awake--_prayed_.
gpt
Do you know that you have been to myriads--King Arthur, Barbarossa--the King who would come in his own good time and put the world right for them?
human
I suppose the imagination of the people--
gpt
Have you not heard our proverb, 'When the Sleeper wakes'? While you lay insensible and motionless there--thousands came. Thousands. Every first of the month you lay in state with a white robe upon you and the people filed by you. When I was a little girl I saw you like that, with your face white and calm.
human
When I was a little girl I used to look at your face.... It seemed to me fixed and waiting, like the patience of God.
gpt
That is what we thought of you, she said.
human
That is how you seemed to us.
gpt
In the city, in the earth, a myriad myriad men and women are waiting to see what you will do, full of strange incredible expectations.
human
Yes?
gpt
Ostrog--no one--can take that responsibility.