Requiem for the Rat King
Requiem for the Rat King, by Indigo Chong
i take it
In my blighted paw i
Grasp it.
i, i, i, i, i, i,
i take it in my blighted paw i grasp it.
i, i, i, i, i, i,
itakeitinmyblightedpawigraspit.
i, i, i, takeitinmyblightedpaw
igraspit
i, i, i, i, i, in my blighted paw, grasped, gripped, i hold it
i take it i take it i take i-
In my blighted paw
Grasping, i hold my blighted paw, i take it.
i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
i take it in my blighted paw i grasp it.
It vanishes into the depths of my paw, my paw, it vanishes into the depths and there is darkness oh heavenly darkness nary an eye could see but an i can see it all as i grasp it grasp it and with every grasp it vanishes for an instant into my paw my blighted paw so i gnaw at it but my teeth find only air so i gulp for air as i gnaw, gnaw, gnaw at it and yet and yet it persists the damn thing so i claw at it and i scratch the wood underneath it and yet it persists and i move my belly, my wretched belly over it and now it rests on my back so i scratch at my back until my fur comes off in bloody chunks and scraps and yet it persists it persists despite my grasping gnawing scratching it persists yet in an instant in a flash it is gone, it is gone, it has vanished beyond my control not of my doing it has vanished and thus now that the lights are out the play may begin.
i take it in my blighted paw i grasp it.
i take it in my blighted paw i grasp it.
i take it in my blighted paw i grasp it.
i take it in my blighted paw i grasp it.
i take it in my blighted paw i grasp it.
i take it in my blighted paw i grasp it.
i take it in my blighted paw i grasp it.
i take it in my blighted paw i grasp it.
i take it in my blighted paw i grasp it.
i take it in my blighted paw i grasp it.
i take it in my blighted paw i grasp it.
i take it in my blighted paw i grasp it.
i take it in my blighted paw i grasp it.
i take it in my blighted paw i grasp it.
i take it in my blighted paw i grasp it.
i take it in my blighted paw i grasp it.
i take it in my blighted paw i grasp it.
i take it in my blighted paw i grasp it.
i take it in my blighted paw i grasp it.
i take it in my blighted paw i grasp it.
i take it in my blighted paw i grasp it.
i take it in my blighted paw i grasp it.
i take it in my blighted paw i grasp it.
i take it in my blighted paw i grasp it.
i take it in my blighted paw i grasp it.
i take it in my blighted paw i grasp it.
i take it in my blighted paw i grasp it.
i take it in my blighted paw i grasp it.
i take it in my blighted paw i grasp it.
i take it in my blighted paw i grasp it. i take it in my blighted paw i grasp it.
i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i,i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i,i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i,i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i, i,
The lights go out.
The play begins.
The world is born from the bellies of the rat-king in the form of the fish, Leviathan. It is a large fish, stretching to the edge of infinity, with crooked eyes and sharpened teeth. It splashes into the pool of the Void and makes its home there, swimming in lazy circles. The rat-king stalks at the edge of the pool, occasionally sticking its head into the Void, snapping at the fish. The whole of history takes place, on the back of Leviathan. As this occurs, the rat-king will often stick one of its paws into the Void, attempting to grab the fish. With each attempt, it speaks.
We
Take
It
In
Our
Blighted
Paw
We
Grasp
It.
Grasp it
Grasp it
Grasp it
Our
Paw
Blighted
Are
We
Grasping
Gasping
We
Take
It
Before
Void
Before
Fish
Fish
Fish
In
Our
Paw
Gasping
Grasping
AND THE RAT-KING BIRTHED THE VOID AND THE VOID TOOK THE SHAPE OF NO-SHAPE AND IN IT SWAM THE WORLD, LEVIATHAN LEVIATHAN LEVIATHAN. WE TAKE IT IN OUR BLIGHTED PAW WE GRASP IT BUT WE GRASP THE VOID SO IT ELUDES OUR GRASP AND THIS IS THE STORY OF THE WORLD. ONCE THERE WAS A BUNDLE OF LITTLE RATS WHOSE TAILS GOT CROSSED AND THE RAT-KING WAS BORN AND THIS IS THE STORY OF THE END OF THE WORLD. AND IN THE SPACE BETWEEN THE RAT-KING AND THE VOID WAS SOMETHING UNSPEAKABLE, UNNAMEABLE AND THUS UNTHINKABLE FOR THOSE WHO NAME. BUT THE RAT-KING DOES NOT NAME, THAT IS THE MACHINATION OF HISTORY, WHICH PLAYS OUT ON THE BACK OF LEVIATHAN, LEVIATHAN, LEVIATHAN. THE RAT-KING SIMPLY GRASPS WITH A HUNGER MATCHED BY NONE BECAUSE IT HAS A MULTIPLICITY OF BELLIES TO FILL. ITS PAWS, BLIGHTED AND TWISTED, REACH FOR THAT WHICH IT CANNOT HAVE BECAUSE IT IS A RAT OR SEVERAL RATS AND NOT A FISH OR SEVERAL FISHES. THERE IS NO FISH-KING ONLY LEVIATHAN, LEVIATHAN, LEVIATHAN AND THE WHOLE OF HISTORY TAKES PLACE ON ITS BACK AS IT SWIMS CIRCLES IN THE VOID INTO WHICH IT WAS BIRTHED FROM THE STOMACH OF THE RAT-KING. WE TAKE IT IN OUR BLIGHTED PAW WE GRASP IT AND THIS IS THE STORY OF THE RAT-KING.
A court. The King sits on a throne, mannequin-like, frozen in laughter. The rat-king is in the corner, in the shadows, in the dust and the memories.
There is no gutter low enough for my screams
No king base enough for my company.
The Jester enters, and performs a routine. He slips on the floor. He farts. He juggles. The King screams in agony and claps. The Jester gives the King a poisoned sword. The King stabs the Jester, spittle and foam flying from his mouth as he chants in wordless delight. They freeze.
There is no gutter low enough for my screams
No king base enough for my company.
A Doctor enters, moaning and sobbing. He is followed by a train of his dead Patients, all of whom have rat tails. They circle the King and the Jester. After circling them three to four times, the Doctor and his patients collapse in a pile. A white flag is raised from within the pile, and is waved plaintively. It freezes.
There is no gutter low enough for my screams
No king base enough for my company.
An Accountant enters, growling and barking into a corded telephone. He walks in a zig-zag pattern, eventually tripping on the cord and falling. His growls turn to yaks and yips as he rolls on the floor, getting more and more tangled in the cord. He freezes.
There is no gutter low enough for my screams
No king base enough for my company.
A mother enters, accompanied by two Children who cough and sneeze at abandon. The Mother occasionally shushes them, but they return to coughing and sneezing a moment later. As she leads the Children around the room, they coo at the various frozen moments, approaching each to touch, to lick, to devour. The Mother swats them away, again and again. One of the Children goes to bite the Jester. The Mother pulls them back, and raises her hand as if to strike the Child. The other Child begins to wail. They freeze.
There is no gutter low enough for my screams
No king base enough for my company.
The frozen moments become rats and scatter into the darkness.
i take it in my blighted paw i grasp it.
The rats hang from nooses made of their tails. They twitch, they jerk, they groan. The rat-king enters. It sits in the center of the hanging rats. The rats begin to chatter their teeth in unison as the rat-king stands and dances. Its dance is at one moment fluid and graceful, at another jerky and unstable. The rat-king sits. The chattering ceases and the twitching, jerking, and groaning resumes.
i we I we grasp
A blighted paw, i we I take it
We we
i
Take it we are blighted
Blighted i we I take
We grasp
A paw a paw a paw
I n our blighted heart.
The rat-king sits in the void, eating the fish, Leviathan. The pool of the Void slowly drains as the rat-king devours all of History. The king and the jester burst through the bellies of the rat-king. They sit in the draining pool of the Void, watching the rat-king. The process is repeated for the Doctor and his Patients, the Accountant, the Mother and her Children. They gather in the pool of the Void as it empties. The rat-king speaks, with its mouths full.
And if there was
A king,
So base
So wretched
For my company.
Blighted.
He would be a Jester.
There would be a Jester and a King so base so wretched so blighted for my crown that he would slay the fish, Leviathan, Leviathan. And he would end the machine of history that infects its scales and return it to the pool of the void which i will drink and will nourish me, rat-king. I take him in my blighted paw i grasp him and this is the story of the king become jester become doctor become accountant become mother become child become saint become nothing become become become become light that i must grasp in my paw my wretched paw. And now that the lights are on the play must stop.
The lights turn on.
The play is over.
Indigo Chong (they/she) is a scholar and playwright currently based out of Chicago. Her work focuses on postdramatic theatre, as well as French feminist philosophy. She can be found on Twitter at @maamletmachine.
