The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Volume Vi Part 56

Alas!

KING (_standing on the steps, quietly_).

That game is worth a nearer look.

What's more, 'twill soon be time for you to go; You should not miss the favorable hour.

But you, old man, must come. For not alone, Nor un.o.bserved would I approach your children.

[_Goes into the house._]

ISAAC. Was that the King? Oh, woe!

GARCERAN. Proceed within.

ISAAC. If he should draw his sword, we all are doomed!

GARCERAN. Go in. And as for being afraid, 'tis not For you nor for your daughter that I fear.

[_He pushes the hesitating_ ISAAC _into the garden house and follows him._]

_Room in the pavilion. In the background to the left a door; in the foreground to the right, another door. _RACHEL,_ with a plumed crown on her head and gold embroidered mantle about her shoulders, is trying to drag an armchair from the neighboring room, on the right._ ESTHER _has come in through the princ.i.p.al entrance._

RACHEL. The armchair should stand here, here in the middle.

ESTHER. For Heaven's sake, O Rachel, pray look out; Your madness else will bring us all to grief.

RACHEL. The King has given this vacant house to us; As long as we inhabit it, it's ours.

[_They have dragged the chair to the centre._]

RACHEL (_looking at herself_).

Now don't you think my train becomes me well?

And when I nod, these feathers also nod.

I need just one thing more--I'll get it--wait!

[_Goes back through the side door._]

ESTHER. Oh, were we only far from here, at home!

My father, too, comes not, whom she drove off.

RACHEL (_comes back with an unframed picture_).

The royal image taken from its frame I'll bear it with me.

ESTHER. Art thou mad again?

How often I have warned thee!

RACHEL. Did I heed?

ESTHER. By Heaven, no!

RACHEL. Nor will I heed you now.

The picture pleases me. Just see how fine!

I'll hang it in my room, close by my bed.

At morn and eventide I'll gaze at it, And think such thoughts as one may think when one Has shaken off the burden of one's clothes And feels quite free from every onerous weight.

But lest they think that I have stolen it-- I who am rich--what need have I to steal?-- My portrait which you wear about your neck We'll hang up where the other used to be.

Thus he may look at mine, as I at his, And think of me, if he perchance forgot.

The footstool bring me hither; I am Queen, And I shall fasten to the chair this King.

They say that witches who compel to love Stick needles, thus, in images of wax, And every p.r.i.c.k goes to a human heart To hinder or to quicken life that's real.

[_She fastens the picture by the four corners to the back of the chair._]

Oh, would that blood could flow with every p.r.i.c.k, That I could drink it with my thirsty lips, And take my pleasure in the ill I'd done!

It hangs there, no less beautiful than dumb.

But I will speak to it as were I Queen, With crown and mantle which become me well.

[_She has seated herself on the footstool before the picture._]

Oh, hypocrite, pretending piety, Full well I know your each and every wile!

The Jewess struck your fancy--don't deny!

And, by my mighty word, she's beautiful, And only with myself to be compared.

[_The_ KING, _followed by _GARCERAN _and_ ISAAC, _has entered and placed himself behind the chair, and leans upon the back of the chair, watching her._]

(RACHEL, _continues_)

But I, your Queen, I will not suffer it, For know that I am jealous as a cat.

Your silence only makes your guilt seem more.

Confess! You liked her? Answer, Yes!

KING. Well, Yes!

[RACHEL, _starts, looks at the picture, then up, recognizes the_ KING,_ and remains transfixed on the footstool._]

KING (_stepping forward_).

Art frightened? Thou hast willed it, and I say 't.

Compose thyself, thou art in friendly hands!

[_He stretches his hand toward her, she leaps from the stool and flees to the door at the right where she stands panting and with bowed head._]

KING. Is she so shy?

ESTHER. Not always, gracious Sire!

Not shy, but timid.

KING. Do I seem so grim?