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Uzeyir Hajibayov
Arshin mal alan
êëàâèð

ASKAR: Thank you. Goodbye!
GULCHOHRA: (going in) Thank you, too. Goodbye!
ASKAR: (alone). Frankly speaking, I haven’t seen à better girl than this one. Perhaps, I’ll never see. Come on Askar. Say, she is your fortune! Marry her! Sultan bay hasn’t seen me, but he has heard about me. Hå knows that I am à rich fellow merchant. If I ask, he' ll agree to our marriage. But if the girl knows that I am really à cloth peddler, will she marry me then? May God help, if the girl came out again, if I could see her once again, I would speak to her again! Stop... (Hå is looking at the door). I think somebody is coming. Let me hide and see who it is.
Hå hides himself, the door opens and Gulchohra comes out
GULCHOHRA: As Asya says, the cloth peddler is really à handsome guy. Hårå now, if we ask Asya to marry him, she will commit such à disgrace, saying, "is Arshin Malchi my equal"? But to my opinion to be à cloth peddler is not à bad profession at all. Hå is the same as à merchant. By God, if father agreed, I’d marry him. Because I have seen his face after all. I know that he is neither blind, nor bald and cripple, and his face is also lovely. His face resembles à gentleman’s. By God, if you dress him in fashion, he will be as à nice guy, as à bayzadeh*... Hå says to me my hand is abundant. And he was looking at me so, as if there was nobody besides me around. If I could see him again, I’d look at him attentively. Oh, look, what I'm saying, who knows, may be he has a wife and kids.
(She ponders in thoughts)
(Askar appears with the Arshin under his arm).
ASKAR: Excuse me, khanim!
GULCHOHRA: (started) Oh my God, I was frightened.
ASKAR: Don’t be afraid, Khanim. It seems to me I’ve forgotten my Arshin here.
GULCHOHRA: If you had, it would be here.
ASKAR: Never mind. I have another at home.
GULCHOHRA: (aside) Hå is looking at me in the same way. When our glances meet as if I’m struck by thunder.
ASKAR: Khanim, I wish Sultan bay had 10 such daughters as you are...
GULCHOHRA: So, what do you mean?
ASKAR: I mean he would marry each of his daughter to à bay, to à khan, to à merchant, to à mullah, to à seyyid, finally one of them he would give to me...
GULCHOHRA: Màó be...
ASKAR: But he would not, of course, not. Hå is à bay, but I’m à simple cloth peddler. Hå will not agree to give his daughter to me... (Hå says ironically). Besides, even if he agrees, the girl will not...
GULCHOHRA: Are you à bachelor?
ASKAR: Yes, I’m quite à bachelor. By God’s abundance, my business is quite well. I have à piece of bread. I don’t starve.
GULCHOHRA: But why haven’t you married yet?
ASKAR: How can I marry? I won’t marry the girl whom I haven’t seen. There is only one girl which I saw and whom I liked among the girls and who is close to my heart. But she will not be given to me.
GULCHOHRA: Won’t the girl herself agree to marry you?
ASKAR: Probably she will not. She is the daughter of à bay.
GULCHOHRA: First you must ask the girl. How do you know she will not agree?
ASKAR: You are right, khanim, in that case, tell me please, will you marry me?
GULCHOHRA: (in surprise) Who? I?
ASKAR: Yes, you. You are the girl whom I like!
GULCHOHRA: I thought she was another one...
ASKAR: There can’t be another one except you.
GULCHOHRA: Did you like me from the first sight?
ASKAR: Certainly khanim, love transfers from vision to the bottom of one’s heart. As soon as I saw you, my heart began to beat quickly with joy.
GULCHOHRA: By God, it happened with me so, too.

 






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