Boys. Come hither! and all reverence pay

Unto our monarch, crowned to-day! 
Then go rejoicing on your way,
  In all prosperity!

  Traveller. Hail to the King of Bethlehem,

Who weareth in his diadem
The yellow crocus for the gem
  Of his authority!

(He passes by; and others come in, bearing on a litter
a sick child.)

  Boys. Set down the litter and draw near! 

The King of Bethlehem is here! 
What ails the child, who seems to fear
  That we shall do him harm?

  The Bearers. He climbed up to the robin’s nest,

And out there darted, from his rest, A serpent with a crimson crest,
  And stung him in the arm.

  Jesus. Bring him to me, and let me feel
The wounded place; my touch can heal
The sting of serpents, and can steal
  The poison from the bite!

(He touches the wound, and the boy begins to cry.)

Cease to lament!  I can foresee
That thou hereafter known shalt be,
Among the men who follow me,
  As Simon the Canaanite!

* * * * *

EPILOGUE.

In the after part of the day
Will be represented another play,
Of the Passion of our Blessed Lord,
Beginning directly after Nones! 
At the close of which we shall accord,
By way of benison and reward,
The sight of a holy Martyr’s bones!

IV.  THE ROAD HIRSCHAU.

PRINCE HENRY and ELSIE, with their attendants, on horseback.

  Elsie. Onward and onward the highway runs
        to the distant city, impatiently bearing
Tidings of human joy and disaster, of love and of
        hate, of doing and daring!

  Prince Henry. This life of ours is a wild aeolian
        harp of many a joyous strain,
But under them all there runs a loud perpetual wail,
        as of souls in pain.

  Elsie. Faith alone can interpret life, and the heart
        that aches and bleeds with the stigma
Of pain, alone bears the likeness of Christ, and can
        comprehend its dark enigma.

  Prince Henry. Man is selfish, and seeketh pleasure
        with little care of what may betide;
Else why am I travelling here beside thee, a demon
        that rides by an angel’s side?

  Elsie. All the hedges are white with dust, and
        the great dog under the creaking wain
Hangs his head in the lazy heat, while onward the
        horses toil and strain

  Prince Henry. Now they stop at the wayside inn,
        and the wagoner laughs with the landlord’s daughter,
While out of the dripping trough the horses distend
        their leathern sides with water.