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The evergreen tree

Chapter 5: FOURTH ACTION (The Light-Child)
By Percy MacKaye
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About This Book

A community masque in twelve actions frames a Christmas ritual around an evergreen as a symbol of light, childhood, and renewal. Folk and biblical figures—elves and gnomes, shepherds, a mute Mary and Joseph, a persecuting host, outcasts, and the Three Kings—interact with choruses, carols, and staged tableaux to dramatize contrasts between innocence, authority, exile, and consolation. Music, choral participation, and scenic design are integral, with carols and choruses set for communal singing and acting. The piece envisions a democratic, devotional festival that blends pagan merriment with Christian passion to express communal hope and sorrow amid social trial.

FOURTH ACTION
(The Light-Child)

APPROACHING-SPACE and STEPS A; Then, STAGE A

Approaching along the path, JOSEPH and his Group pause, confronted by the BEASTS.

JOSEPH
God save you, Sir Lion!
LION
Save yourself, Sir Man—if you can.
WOLF
Look sharp: there’s more there behind.
BEAR
They carry a trough there. What’s in it?
SHEPHERD
Keep off!—Aim your blows, fellows: strike!
(The Shepherds, with their crooks, drive back the Beasts. Joseph intervenes.)
JOSEPH
Stay, good Shepherds! Put away your crooks.
Fear nothing, Mary.
These wild folk crave our leave to behold the Child
And do Him homage.
LION
Man-child!—Yarrr!
JOSEPH
(Pausing before the Evergreen Tree)
Pray you set down the manger. Now, Sir Beasts,
And you, Elf Folk, will it please you draw near and look in?

(On either side the Shepherds draw back, revealing at centre the Manger, out from which a wonderful glow shines upward, touching the faces of the Shepherds and hushing the Beasts with awe.)

TREE
The light! The light!
Second Chorus: A,2. Light of the World
CHORUS
Where sleepeth till dawn-break the light of the new morrow?
Alleluia!
Lo, as a babe, it sleepeth in a little manger:
Light of the World! Alleluia!
The dark is his cradle;
The beasts come about him;
The stars in their watches
Are covered with cloud.
Home hath he none;
The desert receives him—
The place of outcasts
And lonely things.
No sound is heard there
Save shepherds singing;
The lords of earth
Avert their faces;
Dark—dark is his cradle.
Yet surely will dawn break with light of his new morrow:
Alleluia!
Yea, for the babe that sleepeth in a little manger
Is Light of the World: Alleluia!

(The Fairies and Beasts peer in the Manger with awed delight. Murmuring aloud, they speak to Joseph.)

ELF
May we not dance for him?
GNOME
And make gambols?
LION
May I give him my bone? ’Twill make him a rare toy!
BEAR
Ooff!—If he lie in my lap, my fur will warm him.
WOLF
Look-ee! If I wag my tail for him, he will laugh.
JOSEPH
Hush! He is asleep. Please do not wake Him.

(The Beasts draw back. Kneeling down with Elf and Gnome, all Five sing together.)

Carol 3. Luck Song
THE BEASTS AND FAIRIES
While this Light-Child sleeping lies,
Word or murmur never wake him!
But when he shall open his eyes,
Mirth and antics we will make him.
Amen!
JOSEPH
Thank you, friends, for your courtesies;
But now the night grows old, and we are weary of wandering.
Out of the land of Herod we are fled, and go into Egypt.
Mary and Joseph are we, and Jesus, the little Child,
Whom these good Shepherds bear with us in his birth-cradle.
Now we must needs find shelter for the babe to rest.
TREE
Now welcome, Mary and Joseph, and Jesus, the little Child!
Rest you, I pray, with these Shepherds, under my boughs.
JOSEPH
Gentle Tree, you say kindly.
SHEPHERD
(To Mary, with gladness)
Here Herod can never harm Him, Lady dear.
TREE
Who is Herod, that he would harm a little child?
JOSEPH
Herod is lord of the world—there, in the land we have fled from.
Mighty is he, yet afraid: for out of the east
Three Wise Men followed a star to this poor manger,
Telling Herod a little child should inherit his kingdom.
Mighty is Herod, yet trembles now on his throne,
And wishes this Little One death.
SHEPHERD
But shall never find Him!
JOSEPH
Nay, for none in Herod’s kingdom knows
Where Child and Mother and Manger and guiding Star
Are vanished away. Only you, dear folk of the desert,
Share now our secret.
TREE
And shall ward it full well.
So enter into my shelter, with your good Shepherds,
Joseph and Mary and Manger-Child—and rest.

(Tree and Mary pass behind within shadow. As the Shepherds with the Manger follow, a sweet, lulling VOICE sings from within.)

Carol 4. The Tree-Child’s Lullaby
THE VOICE
Babe of my love,
Lull thee to rest!
Bird of my heart,
Night is thy nest.
Evergreen bough,
Shadow my babe!
Shelter my bird,
Evergreen bough!
Star of my dreams,
Soon thou wilt shine:
Dream of the stars,
Splendor be thine!
Evergreen bough,
Shine with my Star!
Shelter his dreams,
Evergreen bough!
(Joseph, pausing a moment before he follows, speaks to his lantern.)
JOSEPH
Now lantern, that dost hide His holy light,
Show forth on high thy little Master’s star!
(He blows out the lantern.

Instantly a shining Star appears on the top of the Tree. Staring upward with gestures of surprise, the Creatures murmur aloud.)

BEASTS, ELF AND GNOME
The star! The star!
(In wonder, while the Chorus sings, they follow after the others.)
Third Chorus: A,3. The Star
CHORUS
Where shineth in whiteness the star of the new Master?
Alleluia!
Lo, from the tree that sheltereth a child’s dreaming
Shineth His star: Alleluia!

The Light-Child

CHORUS
Where sleepeth till dawn-break the light of the new morrow?
Alleluia!
Lo, as a babe it sleepeth in a little manger:
Light of the World! Alleluia!