The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Volume Iii Part 106

Where should we look for happiness on earth, If not in this dear land of innocence-- Here, where old truth hath its familiar home?

Where fraud and guile are strangers, envy ne'er Shall dim the sparkling fountain of our bliss, And ever bright the hours shall o'er us glide.

There do I see thee, in true manly worth, The foremost of the free and of thy peers, Revered with homage pure and unconstrain'd, Wielding a power that kings might envy thee.

RUDENZ.

And thee I see, thy s.e.x's crowning gem, With thy sweet woman's grace and wakeful love, Building a heaven for me within my home, And, as the spring-time scatters forth her flowers, Adorning with thy charms my path of life, And spreading joy and sunshine all around.

BERTHA.

And this it was, dear friend, that caused my grief, To see thee blast this life's supremest bliss With thine own hand. Ah! what had been my fate, Had I been forced to follow some proud lord, Some ruthless despot, to his gloomy keep!

Here are no keeps, here are no bastion'd walls To part me from a people I can bless.

RUDENZ.

Yet, how to free myself; to loose the coils Which I have madly twined around my head?

BERTHA.

Tear them asunder with a man's resolve.

Whate'er ensue, firm by thy people stand!

It is thy post by birth.

[_Hunting horns are heard in the distance_.]

But hark! The chase!

Farewell--'tis needful we should part--away!

Fight for thy land; thou fightest for thy love.

One foe fills all our souls with dread; the blow That makes one free, emanc.i.p.ates us all.

[_Exeunt severally_.]

SCENE III

_A meadow near Altdorf. Trees in the foreground. At the back of the stage a cap upon a pole. The prospect is bounded by the Bannberg, which is surmounted by a snow-capped mountain._

FRIESSHARDT _and_ LEUTHOLD _on guard_

FRIESS.

We keep our watch in vain. Zounds! not a soul Will pa.s.s and do obeisance to the cap.

But yesterday the place swarm'd like a fair; Now the old green looks like a desert, quite, Since yonder scarecrow hung upon the pole.

LEUTH.

Only the vilest rabble show themselves, And wave their tattered caps in mockery at us.

All honest citizens would sooner make A weary circuit over half the town, Than bend their backs before our master's cap.

FRIESS.

They were obliged to pa.s.s this way at noon, As they were coming from the Council House.

I counted then upon a famous catch, For no one thought of bowing to the cap, But Rosselmann, the priest, was even with me: Coming just then from some sick man, he takes His stand before the pole--lifts up the Host-- The Sacrist, too, must tinkle with his bell-- When down they dropp'd on knee--myself and all-- In reverence to the Host, but not the cap.

LEUTH.

Hark ye, companion, I've a shrewd suspicion, Our post's no better than the pillory.

It is a burning shame, a trooper should Stand sentinel before an empty cap, And every honest fellow must despise us.

To do obeisance to a cap, too! Faith, I never heard an order so absurd!

FRIESS.

Why not, an't please you, to an empty cap?

You've duck'd, I'm sure, to many an empty sconce.

[HILDEGARD, MECHTHILD, _and_ ELSBETH _enter with their children, and station themselves around the pole_.]

LEUTH.

And you are a time-serving sneak that takes Delight in bringing honest folks to harm.

For my part, he that likes may pa.s.s the cap:-- I'll shut my eyes and take no note of him.

MECH.

There hangs the Viceroy! Your obeisance, children!

ELSBETH.

I would to G.o.d he'd go, and leave his cap!

The country would be none the worse for it.

FRIESSHARDT (_driving them away_).

Out of the way! Confounded pack of gossips!

Who sent for you? Go, send your husbands here, If they have courage to defy the order.

[TELL _enters with his cross-bow, leading his son_ WALTER _by the hand. They pa.s.s the hat without noticing it, and advance to the front of the stage_.]

WALTER (_pointing to the Bannberg_).

Father, is't true, that on the mountain there The trees, if wounded with a hatchet, bleed?

TELL.

Who says so, boy?

WALTER.

The master herdsman, father!