STAGE A
Staying his Followers, the CAPTAIN OF THE HOST approaches the THREE KINGS by the Tree.
In his hand he bears the Staff of Herod.
CAPTAIN
Halt here!—Behold them. They are found.
Stand forth, ye Kings of East! What make ye
So far from Herod’s throne?
MELCHIOR
We journey home.
CAPTAIN
Know ye not Herod’s wrath, what ’tis!—
Why brought ye not your tidings back
To him? Where is the Manger-Child?
MELCHIOR
We know him not.
BELSHASAR
CASPAR
Nay, shineth yonder!
CAPTAIN
(Staring)
Where shineth?
BELSHASAR
He is old and daft.
MELCHIOR
Hail, Captain of our lord his host!
Welcome you are in Herod’s name.—
CLAUS
(Rising painfully)
Nay, curst is he in Herod’s name.—
Give back my babe!
CAPTAIN
(Strikes him with his staff.)
Take hence thy life!
(Claus falls back motionless.
Death draws near and bends over him.)
DEATH
Come, Claus: Awake! Thy babe is here.
CLAUS
DEATH
Here I hold
Thy little babe.
CLAUS
(Taking the muffled child)
O little babe,
Now are we both in Death his arms
Safe held from Herod’s wrath. Be glad
Thy father was not Herod’s slave.
(In his great cloak Death leads him away.
Ruth stares after them.)
RUTH
Claus! Claus!—Now Death hath taken him.
CASPAR
Poor woman, do not weep for Claus.
Friend Death is kind.
RUTH
Now are we left
Alone, and none to shield us.
CASPAR
Yea,
A king shall shield ye.
CAPTAIN
CASPAR
One
That’s old and merry and cracked, and wears
This crown of Caspar, king of babes
Made fatherless.
MELCHIOR
(To the Captain, shrewdly)
You hear?
BELSHASAR
He’s mad!
CAPTAIN
Nay, give me sign what manner wise men
And kings you are. Make sign, ye three,
Now to this staff; for, by its power!
All lesser kings who bow them not
To Herod’s staff shall lose their crowns.
Bow! Bow ye low to Herod, lord of the world!
MELCHIOR
(Bows low to the staff.)
Herod, most High!
CAPTAIN
Thy crown keep safe.
BELSHASAR
(Bows low to the staff.)
CAPTAIN
Keep thy crown.
CASPAR
(Remains standing, and smiles.)
Herod, the Poor!
CAPTAIN
What now! How name ye
Herod—the poor?
CASPAR
Is he not poor
To lose him both my brothers’ crowns,
And needs ask alms of me, old Caspar?—
Ho, take him this my crown, poor Herod!
And this, my sceptre, yea, and this
My cloak also, and bid him keep
His staff for kings of sadder heart
To bow them to. Mine is too merry.—
Now, kiddies, come: where be your cakes
And frosting?
(Having put off his King’s robe, sceptre and crown, Caspar now appears in his under-jerkin of red, with long boots, like a Peasant.)
MELCHIOR
(To Belshasar)
CAPTAIN
(Tossing aside the robe, sceptre and crown, speaks to his
Followers.)
Lay-by
These tokens, men! Your spears! Your spears!
This wise man shall learn wisdom now
In Herod’s name.
BELSHASAR
(Interposing)
Forbear! He raves.
(He and Melchior draw the Captain momentarily aside.)
RUTH
(To Caspar)
Alas! How can you help us now
And have no kingdom?
CASPAR
Ha, my dears!
A joyful heart finds many a job
Can earn a kingdom.
(Taking the little Boy and Girl, one on each knee, he speaks
to them and their Mother.)
Cheerly, woman!
Thy goodman plied a goodly trade.—
Poor Claus he was a pedlar: Ho!
A pedlar now will Caspar be,
And take thy goodman’s pack and name,
And ply his trade of children’s toys
With jingling bells in winter air;
And hearth to hearth the mirth shall spread
Around the fire, and yule logs blaze,
And apples toast, and stockings spill
With candy dolls and popping tricks;
And tiptoe boys and girls shall peep
To spy the pedlar with his sack,
And pay his wage in wonder coin
Left on the hearthstone; and through all
The evergreen and evergreen,
Around the tree of light shall run—
With fairy twinklings of His star—
The laughter of a Manger Child.
(Rising, he lifts the Children in his arms.)
Up, kiddies, now, with Pedlar Claus
To find His kingdom!
CAPTAIN
(To Belshasar, brushing him and Melchior aside)
Nay, no more!
He bowed not down, and shall pay dear
For Herod’s anger.
CASPAR
(Swinging the Pedlar’s pack upon his back)
Ho, good hearts!
Now, Sorrow, come! and Poverty!
And you, dear Song, that serve on them!
You, Elf and Gnome, and desert beasts!
Ye children all, both old and young,
Come, gather by this holy Tree
CAPTAIN
(Mocking)
Ho, Claus, the Pedlar-King! Hail Claus!
THE HOST OF HEROD
Hail, Claus, the Pedlar-King! King Claus!
(They crowd toward him; his cap is struck off.)
CAPTAIN
(Raising the cap on a spear)
Lo, Claus, his crown! Behold the crown!
THE HOST
Hail to the crown! The Pedlar’s crown!
CAPTAIN
Ye Spears of Herod, spill him wine!
Yea, with his blood anoint him!
(Pointing their spears, the Host turn to rush upon Caspar, when suddenly a Blaze of Light checks and astounds them: silverly a Blast of Trumpets sounds; the Evergreen branches burst into bloom of stars, while TREE, as Angel, comes forth, holding sheathed a shining Sword, its hasp in a Crown of Holly.)
TREE
Stay!
Bow, Host of Herod! Bow ye down
And hail our Saint of Evergreen:
Hail Santa Claus!
(Tree places the Holly Crown on Caspar’s head. A Burst of Sleigh-Bells sounds, filling the air with their circlings of silver music.)
THE CHILDREN, FAIRIES AND BEASTS
(Shout with wild joy)
Hail, Santa Claus!
THE CAPTAIN AND THE HOST
(Falling back, murmur in awe)
Hail, Santa Claus!
(Overwhelmed, they bow down. Choirs of shrilly gladness break forth in Chorus, as the jingling sleigh-bells change to Pealing Chimes.)
Eleventh Chorus: A,8 and B,5. Chorus of the Christmas Tree
Part I. (Chorus A) The Pedlar-King
CHORUS
Hail—Santa Claus!
Saint of our Evergreen!
Hail, dear Pedlar of starry joys!
On your own shoulders
Now you have lifted
All the world’s weariness—
Pack of old burdens,
Sack of our sorrows:
Lifted it, stored anew,
Crammed with enchantment,
Bursting with merry
And magical laughter,
Wonder of children—
Hail, dear Pedlar—
King of our Evergreen:
Santa! Santa!
Holly-crown’d saint of us!
Hail, eternal
Wise man and child!
(During this Chorus and while it continues, Santa—with beaming face—opens his great pack and distributes forth gifts to the Children, the Outcasts, and the Host of Herod, who now rise joyfully and press round him. Chorus now answers Chorus across the assembled People, the deep voices of the Men’s Chorus (B) now singing in Antiphony.)
Part II. (Choruses A and B) The Tree
CHORUS A
Who wakened her heart with song for the coming of light?
Who harked for the morning stars their singing together?
Antiphonal
CHORUS B
The Tree! The Tree!
The Evergreen Tree!
The light of her heart hath blossomed—
Hath bloomed with stars
In the places of desert.
CHORUS A
Who nourished a dream in the lone wilderness,
Where wild beasts kill one another and weary of killing?
Antiphonal
CHORUS B
The Tree! The Tree!
The Evergreen Tree!
The power of her dream hath blossomed
With blinding stars
In the hearts of the terrible.
CHORUS A
Herod, lord of the world! Who hath defeated his power?
Antiphonal
CHORUS B
A star! A star doth confound him!
CHORUS A
Herod, sword of the world! Who hath surmounted his cunning?
Antiphonal
CHORUS B
A child! A child hath disarmed him!
CHORUS A
Herod, wrath of the world! What hath o’erthrown his dominion?
Antiphonal
CHORUS B
A dream! A dream hath survived him!
Part III. (Choruses A and B) The Child
CHORUS A
(Appearing in their over-garments of White, look toward the place of Herod while they sing.)
Where are ye that through the blindness of the slaughter,
Through the terror and the tempest of the night,—
Where are ye that bowed you down to a helmet and a crown?
Have you seen the Child His stars?
Have you heard the morning stars—
His stars that sing around the Tree of light?
Will you hasten? Will you heed?
Will you bind His wounds that bleed?
Will you build his works of joy and charity?
Are you risen? Do you hark?
Are you coming through the dark—
Are you coming, are you coming to the Tree?
CHORUS B
(In their over-garments of Red, rise from the place of their singing, and move forward in procession toward the Chorus in White.)
Here are we that knew the blindness of the slaughter,
Knew the terror and the tempest of the night:
Here are we that bowed us down to a helmet and a crown,
But we’ve seen the Child His stars,
We have heard the morning stars—
We will hasten! We will heed!
We will bind His wounds that bleed;
We will build His works of joy and charity.
We are risen, and we hark!
We are coming through the dark—
We are coming, we are coming to the Tree!
(As they approach the Tree, the Singers of Chorus B lay off their Red over-garments and join the Chorus in White. The two Choruses now form one.
Joined, in their singing, by the Host of Herod, the Outcasts, and by All the Assembled People, they raise their Voices together.)
ALL
Child of God, forgive the blindness and the slaughter!
Child of Pity, calm the terror of the night!
Yea, and all that bow them down to a helmet and a crown—
Let them see, like us, Thy stars!
Let them join the morning stars—
Thy stars that sing around the Tree of light!
Child of Heaven, now we heed!
We will bind Thy wounds that bleed;
We will build Thy works of joy and charity.
We are risen in Thy right:
We are singing through the night—
We are singing, we are singing to the Tree!
Alleluia!
Amen!
The Pedlar-King
Bow, Host of Herod! Bow ye down
And hail our Saint of Evergreen:
Hail Santa Claus!
The Morning Stars
CHORUS
Child of Heaven, now we heed!
We will bind Thy wounds that bleed,
We will build Thy works of joy and charity:
We are risen in Thy right,
We are singing through the night—
We are singing, we are singing to the Tree!