STAGE A
While the Outcasts have been approaching, CASPAR has come forth from the Place of the Tree and watched them coming.
Now, where he joins BELSHASAR and MELCHIOR, the THREE KINGS call, in song, to the dim Figures who draw near.
Carol 8. Trio and Solo. Ballad of the Kings and the Pedlar
THE THREE KINGS
Who are ye that come singing in darkness,
Outcast in the desert so late?
CLAUS
O Kings, it is me, Claus the Pedlar,
And these be my children and mate.
THE THREE KINGS
Who are those there, your comrades, beside you:
Those shadows, say, who should they be?
CLAUS
THE THREE KINGS
Nay, but who is that other amidst them,
That lifteth her face: What is she?
CLAUS
That is Song, and she is their sister
Who waiteth upon them, all three.
(Claus, Ruth and the two Children have now joined the Three Kings.)
CASPAR
Goodman, why are the eyes of your woman
So weary of look and so wild?
CLAUS
He hath broken our home, hath King Herod,
And killed us our new-born child.
Now tell us, ye Kings that be Wise Men,
Now tell us, where darkly we roam:
What right hath a king of a pedlar
To rob him his child and his home?
MELCHIOR
A king hath the right of his power
To raise high his glory and crown.
CLAUS
CASPAR
A king hath his host and his captains
To shatter the weak with his horde.
CLAUS
Then it’s Claus he will be his own captain
To sharpen the edge of his sword.
BELSHASAR
Nay, a king hath the might of his lordship
’Tis death for his slave to defy.
CLAUS
Then it’s me hath the right of my manship
To master his might or to die.
For ’tis God is my King and not Herod,
And God he keepeth no slave;
And liever than live Herod’s henchman
I’ll lie a free man in the grave.
So I dared him his host and his captains,
And struck for my babe a sword blow;
And ’tis here they have broken my body;
With Death now right soon must I go.
CASPAR
Nay, cheerly, Claus! Cheerly, goodwife and kiddies!
Now you have wandered to a lucky place.
Our Evergreen shall heal your hurt. Run, Elf,
And fetch him balsam gum to balm his wounds.
CLAUS
No balsam gum can heal us our lost babe.
Ruth, wife, where lieth now his little body?
RUTH
Death holds him fast. Death holdeth him forever.
MELCHIOR
Herod is king. Ye should have awe of kings
And bow before them.
BELSHASAR
We are kings and wise,
And warn you what you owe to Herod.
CLAUS
Herod!
I have paid back to Herod all I owe him—
The red blade of this broken sword.
CASPAR
Brave said!
Give me the hasp. See, we will hang it here
On this green bough, to be your shining cross
Of freedom and remembrance—yea, a sign
For Herods, when they pass, to pause and think on.
MELCHIOR
(To Belshasar)
He flouteth what we say!
CASPAR
So, Pedlar Claus,
Lay-by thy pack, and rest you here till morrow;
Tend him, good Elf and Gnome. Now, mother, bravely!
These beasties shall make hospitality
And share their holy frost-cakes with your children,
Wiping their eyes with love: And these war-weary,
Glad of our Evergreen, shall take new hope
From yon clear star.
(He helps Claus to rise and supports him to the foot of the Tree, where he places his pack for Claus to recline. The stretcher is borne away. Far off, a long blast sounds.)
BELSHASAR
Hark, hark! What trumpet calls?
MELCHIOR
’Tis Herod’s host. Take heed!
RUTH
God shield us now!
(She turns toward Caspar, who comforts her and the Children.)