It is King Herod's only son That ye have cleft in twain!
HEROD.
Ah, luckless day! What words of fear Are these that smite upon my ear With such a doleful sound!
What torments rack my heart and head!
Would I were dead! would I were dead, And buried in the ground!
He falls down and writhes as though eaten by worms.Hell opens, and SATAN and ASTAROTH come forth and drag him down.
VII.JESUS AT PLAY WITH HIS SCHOOLMATES
JESUS.
The shower is over.Let us play, And make some sparrows out of clay, Down by the river's side.
JUDAS.
See, how the stream has overflowed Its banks, and o'er the meadow road Is spreading far and wide!
They draw water out of the river by channels and form little pools.JESUS makes twelve sparrows of clay, and the other boys do the same.
JESUS.
Look! look how prettily I make These little sparrows by the lake Bend down their necks and drink!
Now will I make them sing and soar So far, they shall return no more Unto this river's brink.
JUDAS.
That canst thou not! They are but clay, They cannot sing, nor fly away Above the meadow lands!
JESUS.
Fly, fly! ye sparrows! you are free!
And while you live, remember me, Who made you with my hands.
Here JESUS shall clap his hands, and the sparrows shall fly away, chirruping.
JUDAS.
Thou art a sorcerer, I know;
Oft has my mother told me so, I will not play with thee!
He strikes JESUS in the right side.
JESUS.
Ah, Judas! thou hast smote my side, And when I shall be crucified, There shall I pierced be!
Here JOSEPH shall come in and say:
JOSEPH.
Ye wicked boys! why do ye play, And break the holy Sabbath day?
What, think ye, will your mothers say To see you in such plight!
In such a sweat and such a heat, With all that mud upon your feet!
There's not a beggar in the street Makes such a sorry sight!
VIII.THE VILLAGE SCHOOL
The RABBI BEN ISRAEL, sitting on a high stool, with a long beard, and a rod in his hand.
RABBI.
I am the Rabbi Ben Israel, Throughout this village known full well, And, as my scholars all will tell, Learned in things divine;The Cabala and Talmud hoar Than all the prophets prize I more, For water is all Bible lore, But Mishna is strong wine.
My fame extends from West to East, And always, at the Purim feast, I am as drunk as any beast That wallows in his sty;The wine it so elateth me, That I no difference can see Between "Accursed Haman be!"And "Blessed be Mordecai!"
Come hither, Judas Iscariot;
Say, if thy lesson thou hast got From the Rabbinical Book or not.
Why howl the dogs at night?
JUDAS.
In the Rabbinical Book, it saith The dogs howl, when with icy breath Great Sammael, the Angel of Death, Takes through the town his flight!
RABBI.
Well, boy! now say, if thou art wise, When the Angel of Death, who is full of eyes, Comes where a sick man dying lies, What doth he to the wight?
JUDAS.
He stands beside him, dark and tall, Holding a sword, from which doth fall Into his mouth a drop of gall, And so he turneth white.
RABBI.
And now, my Judas, say to me What the great Voices Four may be, That quite across the world do flee, And are not heard by men?
JUDAS.
The Voice of the Sun in heaven's dome, The Voice of the Murmuring of Rome, The Voice of a Soul that goeth home, And the Angel of the Rain!
RABBI.
Right are thine answers every one!
Now, little Jesus, the carpenter's son, Let us see how thy task is done;Canst thou thy letters say?
JESUS.
Aleph.
RABBI.
What next? Do not stop yet!
Go on with all the alphabet.
Come, Aleph, Beth; dost thou forget?
Cock's soul! thou'dst rather play!
JESUS.
What Aleph means I fain would know Before I any farther go!
RABBI.
Oh, by Saint Peter! wouldst thou so?
Come hither, boy, to me.
As surely as the letter Jod Once cried aloud, and spake to God, So surely shalt thou feel this rod, And punished shalt thou be!
Here RABBI BEN ISRAEL shall lift up his rod to strike Jesus, and his right arm shall be paralyzed.
IX.CROWNED WITH FLOWERS
JESUS sitting among his playmates, crowned with flowers as their King.
BOYS.
We spread our garments on the ground!
With fragrant flowers thy head is crowned While like a guard we stand around, And hail thee as our King!
Thou art the new King of the Jews!
Nor let the passers-by refuse To bring that homage which men use To majesty to bring.
Here a traveller shall go by, and the boys shall lay hold of his garments and say:
BOYS.
Come hither I and all reverence pay Unto our monarch, crowned to-day!
Then go rejoicing on your way, In all prosperity!
TRAVELLER.
Hail to the King of Bethlehem, Who weareth in his diadem The yellow crocus for the gem Of his authority!
He passes by; and others come in, bearing on a litter a sick child.
BOYS.
Set down the litter and draw near!
The King of Bethlehem is here!
What ails the child, who seems to fear That we shall do him harm?
THE BEARERS.
He climbed up to the robin's nest, And out there darted, from his rest, A serpent with a crimson crest, And stung him in the arm.
JESUS.
Bring him to me, and let me feel The wounded place; my touch can heal The sting of serpents, and can steal The poison from the bite!
He touches the wound, and the boy begins to cry.
Cease to lament! I can foresee That thou hereafter known shalt be, Among the men who follow me, As Simon the Canaanite!
EPILOGUE
In the after part of the day Will be represented another play, Of the Passion of our Blessed Lord, Beginning directly after Nones!
At the close of which we shall accord, By way of benison and reward, The sight of a holy Martyr's bones!
IV
THE ROAD TO HIRSCHAU
PRINCE HENRY and ELSIE, with their attendants on horseback.
ELSIE.
Onward and onward the highway runs to the distant city, impatiently bearing Tidings of human joy and disaster, of love and of hate, of doing and daring!
PRINCE HENRY.
This life of ours is a wild aeolian harp of many a joyous strain, But under them all there runs a loud perpetual wail, as of souls in pain.
ELSIE.
Faith alone can interpret life, and the heart that aches and bleeds with the stigma Of pain, alone bears the likeness of Christ, and can comprehend its dark enigma.
PRINCE HENRY.