The Last Moon

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYVJ67QW

 

The last moon

 

Act Unique in six scenes in Sardinian Language

By Ignazio Salvatore Basile

Translaction in to English by the same author

General index

 

the last moon

drama in one act and six scenes

pages 1-20

 

Structure and Framework

page 21

Description of the Protagonists

page 22

 

The presentation of the author: where does the idea come from?

page 24

 

Director's Notes

Page 26

 

Acknowledgments and Contributions

page 27

Characters

 

Itzocar                                  Tribe’s Chief of Nure

 

Irìsa                                        His  Wife

 

Damasu                                  Son to Itzocar and  Irìsa

 

Gula                               Daughter to  Itzocar and  Irìsa

 

Alàshia                                   Sister to  Gonario

 

Aristea                            Daughter  to  king Gonario’s 

 

Nakigia                                   Gonario ‘s Widow

Rumisu                   Nakigia’s Son –Throne’s pretender

 

Bithia                Nakigia’s Sister - Priestess of  Nure

 

Iolao                                       Bithia’s Son

 

Anù                                        High Priest at Nure     

                                     

Elki                               Anù’s Son  and  Soldier’s Chief

 

Soldiers and People

 

King  Gonario                        His Phantom

THE PLOT

 

On the  tribe of  Nure reigns Itzocar, who rose in command twenty years before,  when  his brother Gonario, suddenly died.

In so doing Itzocar has however willfully ignored the rules regarding the succession imposed by ancient tradition , who foresaw the Regency of Gonario’s widow,  Nakigia, at least until the grown age of his son Rumisu, still a child at the time of death of the king Gonario.

Trying to legitimize and strengthen the usurped power Itzocar and authoritative Anù, Member of the Council of elders of Nure, combine a double marriage: Damasu, designed by his father Itzocar to succeed him on the throne, will marry Aristea (who is daughter to deceased King's sister, Alàshia), while Elki, son of Anù  will marry  Gula (daughter of Itzocar).

 

But Nakigia, widow to Gonario,  who is contrary to weddings, invited to depose the gifts on behalf of Anù, invites the nobles, priests and the people waiting for the awakening of Bithia Priestess ( mother of Iolaus), who has been doing the rite of incubation, waiting for a forseen dream,  to refuse the wedding at least until Bithia’s reveil.

Rumisu, son to deceased King Gonario and to Nakigia , aims to remove Uncle Itzocar in the command , feeling empowered.

While Nakigia exposes his call to wait, Bithia awakens and describes his dream of doom: a Sun swallowed by the Moon(Song of Bitia).

 Immediately after bursts on the scene Rumisu accusing Uncle Itzocar to have usurped the command (song of  Rumisu).

At the end of  Rumisu’s song, Damasu enters in defense of his father Itzocar.

The two men fight hand-to-hand.

The winner will be Rumisu. The loser Damasu abandons the village.

Rumisu, ripped the stick and the mantle from his uncle Itzocar, that will follow with his wife Irìsa the defeated son, sits on the throne and invites Aristea to join him at his side.

 But Iolaus and Aristea announce their love. And while the people and the guards, let the two lovers pass by, sadly Rumisu will leave the scene defeated by his own lust for power.

The ghost of King Gonario appears to underline the right rules with the song  of Akinta Kamar.

When Gonario goes out of scene, all the people will dance, celebrating the Last Moon, before the sun takes over the power for ever.

 

FIRST SCENE

 (the scene opens to the central square of the nuragic village of Nure. In the background,   a sacred well of nuragic period and in the distance the towers of the village; the half moon   shines in the blue sky; a mixed group  are dancing  a nuragic appropriate dance of good luck wishing at the double promise of marriage between Damasu and Aristea and between Elki and Gula.

 The choir will be singing the following air)

 

Come on, come on, lights from the sky

Come on, bright and pregnant

Come to the aiming water

Come on, come on, lights from the sky

 

 

Itzocar (standing up and beating the sheep’s stick for thrice, calling for silence)

-        People of  Shardana! Listen to me! I, Itzocar, King of Nure, today  I promise by the present announcement the wedding of my son  Damasu with the nice princess  Aristea ((Aristea,  will cover her face with the veil;  later on this sign, soon interpreted as shyness,  will be revealed  a gesture of refusing !)

 And when the Moon is sank  in the sacred well, nobody will be able to deny this promise  I’m doing in front of you; I call everybody as witnesses  as I confirm the promise with the gifts that my wife  Irìsa will pose hereafter in the well;

 

Irìsa (she stands solemnly up and goes to put the presents by the sacred well; then one ancill will give her a veil whom with she will tie one the couples)

-         You will be tied together for all your life, in luckiness and sadness! For ever and ever!

 

Anù (leaving the priest’s assembly will repeat the same Itzocar’s words, inviting Nakigia, being him a widower, to deal the bribes)

-         And I, Anù, Mayor between the Mayors of  Nure, announcing and  pronouncing  the weddings of my son  Elki with the beloved king’s Itzocar daughter , the nice Gula(he will stare at  Gula  who according to tradition will hide her own face with the veil) and because I’m a widower it’s up to the first Priestess Nakigia to present the gifts in front of the people!

 

Nakigia ( she will solemnly occupy the center stage, which will be promptly released,   but without taking any the gifts of  Anù and leaving drop off the veil brought to her for tieing the other couple ).

         - Is not that the way we used to present our weddings in the sacred well of Garlo in this country! Not even for the ancient habits  and not really while our priestess  Bithia   is still consulting our Gods! (everybody will turn towards the sacred tub of prediction where Bithia is staying, while the heads and the priests shall lift buzz of discontent and protests; but the protest stops while leaping from  the sacred cavern from which Bithia, cataplexy, comes, sustained  by the vestals to occupy the center stage  and  begins to sing)

to be continued...

Magic Sardinia - 3

 

When I was younger I thought that our land deserved a better fate and that we colud join together to fight against the injusticies and abuses of the history (and perpetrad by the historians). 

I have never believed in violence, so my decision to fight pushed me to join a politician party that in the heighties was granted by more than a victory in the polls.

 But this party, which had been funded by the  great, honest politician and writer of  the past Emilio Lussu, showed to be corrupted and not able to make any change, as emerged in the ninties by numerous cases of politic corruption in the nationalist party of Sardinia called "The four dark brown" from the flag of the very region of Sardinia). Its top men, turned out to be more attached to power than the italic politician they declared to fight against for the indipendence of our people. Furthermore the sardinian people itself turned out to be individualistic, incapable to find a unity, fragmented into a thousand streams of different ideas!

In my old age I realize with sadness that sardinian people was a romantic idea, borned in my mind, present in my soul, but non-existent in reality.

Of course the vestiges remain of our great past when may be we colud be called a fierce people.

But there is also the disappointment of noting the envy and invidualism of a people without any guide.

3. to be continued

The Last Moon

The drama, originally written in Sardinian language, now is bilingual, being translated into English by the same author.
It has its roots in the megalithic culture of the Mediterranean sea, halfway between the history and miths of the island of Sardinia That' s the plot: Over the tribe of Nure reigns Itzocar, who rose in command twenty years before, when his brother Gonario, suddenly died.
In so doing Itzocar has however willfully ignored the rules regarding the succession imposed by ancient tradition , who foresaw the Regency of Gonario’s widow, Nakigia, at least until the grown age of his son Rumisu, still a child at the time of death of the king Gonario.
Trying to legitimize and strengthen the usurped power Itzocar and authoritative Anù, Member of the Council of elders of Nure, combine a double marriage: Damasu, designed by his father Itzocar to succeed him on the throne, will marry Aristea (who is daughter to deceased King's sister, Alàshia), while Elki, son of Anù will marry Gula (daughter of Itzocar).
But Nakigia, widow to Gonario, who is contrary to weddings, invited to depose the gifts on behalf of Anù, invites the nobles, priests and the people waiting for the awakening of Bithia Priestess ( mother of Iolaus), who has been doing the rite of incubation, waiting for a forseen dream, to refuse the wedding at least until Bithia’s reveil.
Rumisu, son to deceased King Gonario and to Nakigia , aims to remove Uncle Itzocar in the command , feeling empowered.
While Nakigia exposes his call to wait, Bithia awakens and describes his dream of doom: a Sun swallowed by the Moon(Song of Bitia).
Immediately after bursts on the scene Rumisu accusing Uncle Itzocar to have usurped the command (song of Rumisu).
At the end of Rumisu’s song, Damasu enters in defense of his father Itzocar.
The two men fight hand-to-hand.
The winner will be Rumisu. The loser Damasu abandons the village.
Rumisu, ripped the stick and the mantle from his uncle Itzocar, that will follow with his wife Irìsa the defeated son, sits on the throne and invites Aristea to join him at his side.
But Iolaus and Aristea announce their love. And while the people and the guards, let the two lovers pass by, sadly Rumisu will leave the scene defeated by his own lust for power.
The ghost of King Gonario appears to underline the right rules with the song of Akinta Kamar.
When Gonario goes out of scene, all the people will dance, celebrating the Last Moon, before the sun takes over the power for ever. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZY8XCS6

Somewhere, Sometimes - V

    

FITH SCENE

 (The King Gonario, as a ghost,  appears on stage and solemnly recite   the song of Akinta Qamar. It encloses the very meaning of the drama and will continue until the closing of the curtain).

  AKINTA QAMAR’S Song

Do not forget my sons

 Those ancient laws

That came long time ago from the sea

And of your mothers

Who rest under the grass!

Go, go, go

Go and love each others

Sons of the Earth

Where women

Are free to love anyone

And men

Do not want to master them!

The waters of the sources

Of the Earth

Have done a long march

Through the subterranean veins:

the water itself it’s only

the visible part.

The same thing happens with the men

 When they are born:

they are only the visible part

which we can see

of our ancestors!

 Do not forget my sons

 Those ancient laws

That came long time ago from the sea

And of your mothers

Who rest under the grass!

Sixth Scene

All the People celebrate the victory of love over the hate with the dance of the Last Moon!

The End

Somewhere, Sometimes - IV

Fourth  SCENE

(Rumisu is alone on the Throne. The Nakigia’s soldiers  come to take him away)

First soldier of  Nakigia

-         Rumisu! The sun is sinking down!

Second Soldier of Nakigia

-         And your mother Nakigia is waiting for you!!!

Exeunt

4. to be continued...

Somewhere, Sometimes - III

Third scene

RUMISU’s Song

In the Gonare’s throne

Dead twenty years ago

Took seat Itzocare

Instead of my mother

But now the truth

Has to come up

For I’m grow up

And there is now whom is

going to advice me!

People of Nure

I’m going to claim

The scepter belonged

To my father Gonario

And who doesn’t agree

Must know that even up there

As we have heard just now from Bithia

The Moon is not waiting anymore.

 (The two cousins will fight for a few minutes, according to pre-established movements of fighting "Istrumpas (a sort of closer, harder wrestling)". Each phase of the fight will be accompanied by the cries of those present   forming  two factions: one for Damasu, the other in favour of Rumisu. The  struggle ends with Rumisu who sits on the Damasu’s body . As a sign of victory Rumisu shall lift the hands up while still sits on the opponent defeated. The people and all those present, except for close allies of Itzoccar and Anù, will applaud the new King Rumisu!)

Voices  from the crowd

-         Long life for Rumisu!

Voices  from the soldiers

-         Our Gods save  Gonario’s Son!!!

-         

Other  voices

-         Long life for the king of  Nure!

Rumisu (will silence all with a nod of autocracy and hand will lie to her uncle Itzoccar, ripping his stick of command and his mantle; will wear the cloak and then by challenging the stick between new cheers. Rumisu will quiet  all as above )

-         Might the peace be back at Nure for ever. Our command will be based on the ancient laws of our fathers!

Aristea (occupying the centre of the scene)

-         No, Rumisu! Just for those ancient laws I’m in love with Iolao! (Iolao joins Aristea ). I’m not in love with you, nor I love Damasu. Women are not presents to be gained by means of wars like mantels or scepters. Women are  preys of  love.!!!!!!

3. to be continued...

Somewhere, sometimes - II

SECOND SCENE

 The foresaid and Bithia. This scene is characterized by the singing of Bithia, with means of a solemn rituals in her movements altogether with the four vestals.

Song of  BITHIA

Our great fathers

Appearing  on my dreams

Fore say troubles

For the unpalatable people

And there is Gonario

Who is still regretting

His beloved wife

Left alone on the Earth

But now the moon

For the last time

Is going to obscure the sun

For its own reasons!

No weddings, no sons

Don’t try to obtain

Until when the stars

Will oppose to you

Our great fathers

Appearing  on my dreams

Fore say troubles

For the unpalatable people

(While Bithia, always in trance, will start to the exit of the scene, by the people come forth voices of protest)

Nakigia

         - Has anybody heard? The stars make opposition to any kind of weddings!!!

Damasu (parting  from the Group of noble and then showing his weapons will seek to harangue the people against Nakigia and Bithia’s prophecies)

         - Our King and our Majors are more important than the stars. Men of  Nure,   are we or are the women on charge here???

Elki (running close to Damasu)

         - The King’s son is right!  The Moon’s Gods are very far, behind the sea! In  Nure has come the time for the men to take on the command!

Anù

         - Long life for the king Itzocar and for the men of Nure!

(from the crowd  someone joins the cries of Anù. But Rumisu, with a cry of rage,   occupies the center of the stage, shutting everyone up ).

Rumisu

         - People of  Nure! Listen to me!!! If are the men on charge, and the king himself, then I’ll tell you that I’m the true king!!!!

Itzocar

         - You???

Rumisu

         - Certainly! Just me, the  Gonario’s son!!!

Damasu

         - And then, leave off the ground. This is a matter for men!

(Everybody will leave the center stage in two contenders! Rumisu will sing his song  and immediately after the two cousins will fight  together)

2. to be continued...

Somewhere, sometimes

Somewhere, sometimes

Act Unique in six scenes in Sardinian Language

By Ignazio Salvatore Basile

Translaction in to English by the same author

Characters

Itzocar                                    Tribe’s Chief of Nure- Brother to dead king Gonario

Irìsa                                        His  Wife

Damasu                                  Son to Itzocar and  Irìsa

Gula                                        Daughter to  Itzocar and  Irìsa

Alàshia                                   Sister to  Gonario

Aristea                                    Daughter  to  king Gonario’s  sister , Alàshia

Nakigia                                   Gonario ‘s Widow and sister –in-law to Itzocar

Rumisu                                   Nakigia’s Son –Throne’s pretender

Bithia                                               Nakigia’s Sister - Priestess of  Nure

Iolao                                       Bithia’s Son

Anù                                        High Priest at Nure     

                                     

Elki                                         Anù’s Son  and  Soldier’s Chief

Soldiers and People

King  Gonario                        His Phantom

THE PLOT

On the  tribe of  Nure reigns Itzocar, who rose in command twenty years before,  when  his brother Gonario, suddenly died.

In so doing Itzocar has however willfully ignored the rules regarding the succession imposed by ancient tradition , who foresaw the Regency of Gonario’s widow,  Nakigia, at least until the grown age of his son Rumisu, still a child at the time of death of the king Gonario.

Trying to legitimize and strengthen the usurped power Itzocar and authoritative Anù, Member of the Council of elders of Nure, combine a double marriage: Damasu, designed by his father Itzocar to succeed him on the throne, will marry Aristea (who is daughter to deceased King's sister, Alàshia), while Elki, son of Anù  will marry  Gula (daughter of Itzocar).

But Nakigia, widow to Gonario,  who is contrary to weddings, invited to depose the gifts on behalf of Anù, invites the nobles, priests and the people waiting for the awakening of Bithia Priestess ( mother of Iolaus), who has been doing the rite of incubation, waiting for a forseen dream,  to refuse the wedding at least until Bithia’s reveil.

Rumisu, son to deceased King Gonario and to Nakigia , aims to remove Uncle Itzocar in the command , feeling empowered.

While Nakigia exposes his call to wait, Bithia awakens and describes his dream of doom: a Sun swallowed by the Moon(Song of Bitia).

 Immediately after bursts on the scene Rumisu accusing Uncle Itzocar to have usurped the command (song of  Rumisu).

At the end of  Rumisu’s song, Damasu enters in defense of his father Itzocar.

The two men fight hand-to-hand.

The winner will be Rumisu. The loser Damasu abandons the village.

Rumisu, ripped the stick and the mantle from his uncle Itzocar, that will follow with his wife Irìsa the defeated son, sits on the throne and invites Aristea to join him at his side.

 But Iolaus and Aristea announce their love. And while the people and the guards, let the two lovers pass by, sadly Rumisu will leave the scene defeated by his own lust for power.

The ghost of King Gonario appears to underline the right rules with the song  of Akinta Kamar.

When Gonario goes out of scene, all the people will dance, celebrating the Last Moon, before the sun takes over the power for ever.

FIRST SCENE

 (the scene opens to the central square of the nuragic village of Nure. In the background,   a sacred well of nuragic period and in the distance the towers of the village; the half moon   shines in the blue sky; a mixed group  are dancing  a nuragic appropriate dance of good luck wishing at the double promise of marriage between Damasu and Aristea and between Elki and Gula.

 The choir will be singing the following air)

Come on, come on, lights from the sky

Come on, bright and pregnant

Come to the aiming water

Come on, come on, lights from the sky

Itzocar (standing up and beating the sheep’s stick for thrice, calling for silence)

-        People of  Shardana! Listen to me! I, Itzocar, King of Nure, today  I promise by the present announcement the wedding of my son  Damasu with the nice princess  Aristea ((Aristea,  will cover her face with the veil;  later on this sign, soon interpreted as shyness,  will be revealed  a gesture of refusing !)

 And when the Moon is sank  in the sacred well, nobody will be able to deny this promise  I’m doing in front of you; I call everybody as witnesses  as I confirm the promise with the gifts that my wife  Irìsa will pose hereafter in the well;

Irìsa (she stands solemnly up and goes to put the presents by the sacred well; then one ancill will give her a veil whom with she will tie one the couples)

-         You will be tied together for all your life, in luckiness and sadness! For ever and ever!

Anù (leaving the priest’s assembly will repeat the same Itzocar’s words, inviting Nakigia, being him a widower, to deal the bribes)

-         And I, Anù, Mayor between the Mayors of  Nure, announcing and  pronouncing  the weddings of my son  Elki with the beloved king’s Itzocar daughter , the nice Gula(he will stare at  Gula  who according to tradition will hide her own face with the veil) and because I’m a widower it’s up to the first Priestess Nakigia to present the gifts in front of the people!

Nakigia ( she will solemnly occupy the center stage, which will be promptly released,   but without taking any the gifts of  Anù and leaving drop off the veil brought to her for tieing the other couple ).

         - Is not that the way we used to present our weddings in the sacred well of Garlo in this country! Not even for the ancient habits  and not really while our priestess  Bithia   is still consulting our Gods! (everybody will turn towards the sacred tub of prediction where Bithia is staying, while the heads and the priests shall lift buzz of discontent and protests; but the protest stops while leaping from  the sacred cavern from which Bithia, cataplexy, comes, sustained  by the vestals to occupy the center stage  and  begins to sing)

1. to be continued...

The stonefire's island

It's a 2.000 village inhabitants in the east of Sardinia; its name "Perdasdefogu", which reminds on its roots the ancient spanish conquerors who called it "Pierdas de fuego", means "Stones of fire".

And Sardinia it's a land of stones: the megalitic culture has left a great print all over Sardinia which praisies the rest of 30.000 nuraghes (7.000 of them still erected); giant's coffins, fairytale houses, and on therir ruines, after millennia of civilisation, you can easily find the rest of Phenician's and Roman's domination, with imponent cities on the strategic coast skyline and even a roman amphetheatre of the II century in the centre of Cagliari, the capital of Sardinia. And after the Romans, fierce enemies of unbendable ancient nuragic people, the decline, mostly in the second millennium A.D. with the Spanish and the italian Savoia.

Thera also the singing stones (but that's another story which deserves another post).

And there are the living stones: the Melises (see the link below for detailed newyork's report).

The Melises are stronger than stones: they have deserved a place in the world's guiness of record. The Melises are a family of nin siblings who sum up 825 years all together: the oldest being 105 year old; the youngest being 79 year old.

The american papers underlines the lackness of work making a great contrast with the capacity of living so long.

Also this is another story. I can only say that sardinian people are too much fatalist.

And  if they  will find the way to remember that their ancestors were so strong to be able to built such imponent and majestic buildings as the nuraghes, they are easily sorting out of all economic and financial  crisis. It would enough to value their culture and to organize the international tourism after that (not only after the three months sea season).

But that a hard way to be found.

Read more on this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/18/world/europe/celebrating-the-elderly-with-a-nervous-eye-on-the-future.html?ref=world&_r=2&

And the four crows will fly away - 4th Part

Fourth part

The burst of the second world war caught me surprised on this walk of studies and searches. Bitterly I was forced to consider that human beings pursued their premature end, rather than search for the truth. But at that time I hadn't understand yet that every human action, even the most iniquitous and bestial, has however its own reason to be done and for me, that war, would have been another fundamental step on the way of comprehension. When Germany, violating the accords formerly taken, moved war to England, attaching London, I realized that the right moment had come for me to show that the Parnells loved to fight for freedom, under any flag and against whoever oppressed its exercise. I threw to England and enlisted in the Royal Air Force, despite I have to confess you that, after the betrayal of my father, I felt more Irish than English, also considering that in those days, as it is today, Ireland was divided in two parts, with a part still under the British dominion. After a brief but intense training I was assigned, as I had required myself, having the pre-requisite for it, to pilot’s hunting squads. Between-whiles of my missions I had the opportunity to deeply analyze the causes of those disastrous events. I had been, it is true, in the years immediately preceding the war completely devoted to my studies, in a way that I could call, purely scientific of the phenomenon which stand at the base of the human life, but it was not certainly in the fore coming years of war that we had to seek the reasons and the causes of it. The roots of hate and evil sank their extreme appendixes in the most tangled and lavish meanders of human mind. These deleterious feelings, so inherent to human mind, were to be conceived like the principal causes of that huge bath of blood. From this premise I puzzled out that the basic beliefs of the national socialist philosophy were correct: the humanity, in order to be saved, needed a superior race to be raised over the others for leading them to salvation. But German race could not certainly be the chosen one. Not even any other among the existing could be it, because it had to be a race who didn't know, in their hearts but goodness and love. With a greater fury than before, I addressed all my energies against the hateful enemy: I challenged death ten, hundred, thousands of times, always defeating the adversary. Plainly, the truth was clear to me: the contours of my destiny assumed more and more its clean and precise outline. It appeared more and more evident the role that was reserved to me in the history of the world.” I resolutely threw myself heart and soul into brain’s study. I felt that I had to create a super brain in order to be reproduced and form a race of super-men able to drive on the right direction this dregs of humanity that inhabits the world. After some rough attempts of surgical engineering, that occupied me for different years, whose initial success and following disappointed bitterness, almost led me to abandon the whole project, it was the fate to intervene and to point out the right way to me. Which kind of test would I have still waited for? The same celestial stars directly showed me the way! A beautiful day, in fact, while I was observing under the microscope a cat’s brain, ulterior, fortunate guinea-pig, subtracted to the deprivations of its life for the glory of the Science, an amazing account happened to me. I had set the small feline’s organ in a cylindrical open neck test-tube and I was continuously thinking about it, looking as usual for a sprout of understanding on its complex and mysterious composition. At a certain point, needing something to eat, I went upstairs. I left unwillingly open the microscope’s focus. I was going to have a cup of tea, with my daily survival meal, when I heard some beats on the door. The circumstance was quite unusual. Nobody ever came to find me and Soledad, the Mexican housemaid who was in charge for homework, as an invisible angel, entered in the house using her own key. As I opened the door a young man introduced himself as an emissary of an English legal study “Heirs and Heirs” . 

 From the original ignazio s. basile's  italian novel.  English version by the same author
...to be continued...