Ein Engel kommt nach Babylon

An Angel Comes to Babylon (1953)

Friedrich Dürrenmatt

Symbolic comedy.

An angel sends Kurrubi, a virtuous young girl, to earth so that she may bestow selfless love upon Akki, a Babylonian beggar and the world's lowliest man. On the same day, however, Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, embarrassed at having his welfare state blemished by the beggar's presence, has disguised himself in rags and challenges Akki to a begging contest with the understanding that if Akki loses, he must abandon his profession. In winning the contest, Akki makes Nebuchadnezzar the new titleholder among the lowly of the earth.

When Kurrubi arrives, she mistakes the disguised King for the object of her mission and falls in love with him. Through certain technicalities of the begging contest, Nebuchadnezzar wins Kurrubi, while Akki wins Nimrod, a dethroned king. Before he realises that he loves her, Nebuchadnezzar trades Kurrubi for Nimrod. Enchanted by the girl, the Babylonians insist that she marry their King, but Kurrubi explains that as she was sent from heaven to love a beggar, she will be the King's wife only if he will resume his beggar's identity. Nebuchadnezzar is too proud to accept this, and Kurrubi refuses to renounce her divine origin to become his queen.

Bitter and enraged at having to give up the girl for the sake of political power, Nebuchadnezzar vows to lead his nation into captivity and to build a tower (the tower of Babel) so high that his curses will reach his enemy in heaven. Akki flees with Kurrubi to the desert.