Adelma Monologue from Turandot: The Chinese Sphinx

From Turandot: The Chinese Sphinx by Friedrich Schiller

female · dramatic · 1:10 min

My jealousy I scarcely can dissemble. (PANTALOON receives the Doomsday Book, first prostrating Himself before it; then reads in a loud voice:)--"By command of his Celestial Majesty, the Son of the Moon, cousin to the planets, and near relative to the firmament in general,--oyes! oyes! oyes!" ((Rings crier's bell.)) ((Aside.).) If I said what I liked, I should say, oh no! oh no! oh no! ((Aloud.).) "Any person of royal descent may sue for the hand of our daughter, Empress Turandot, on the following conditions:--The Princess shall propound three riddles to any suitor proposing himself as her husband; should he be unable to unravel them, his head shall be struck off with an axe, and exposed on the city-gate of Peking; should he unravel them, the Empress Turandot shall become his lawful bride, and together they shall inherit the throne of the celestial empire. We swear it by our ancestor, the sun."

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