EIGHTH ACTION (“Which, O Lord, is Wisest?”)

Carol 5. Solo and Trio. The Bell, the Sword and the Laughter CASPAR Lord of life! how pleasant ways Are thy paths of danger, Leading down from Herod’s place By an ox’s manger: Lo, there lay a little child Rosy ’neath the rafter.— Ahaha! how glad he smiled! Lord, how blithe his laughter! MELCHIOR Laughter! Nay, I heard none laugh. Whom thou heardest—say now! CASPAR Him, the child, where mid the chaff He lay on the hay-mow. Sure, Belshasar, thou didst bend Nigh him and thou heardest. BELSHASAR Caspar, nay: I comprehend Not one thing thou wordest. CASPAR Ohoho! Still, Lord, I hear Music of that laughter. MELCHIOR Daft thou ever wert: I fear Still thou growest dafter. Nothing heard I, by my soul But a sword its clanging. BELSHASAR Nay, a bell, I heard it toll: On a cross ’twas hanging. MELCHIOR Now, am I not Melchior? By my crown its keeping! ’Twas a sword that dangled o’er Where the babe lay sleeping. BELSHASAR Nay, a bell—a passing-bell: Lonely was its ringing. CASPAR Ahaha! I heard full well ‘Merry Christmas!’ singing. CASPAR, BELSHASAR AND MELCHIOR (Sing together) Lord, how may we wise men tell How to clothe our starkness? Song and sword and passing-bell Lure us through the darkness. Send us sign of hidden things— Thou who naught despisest! Lo, of us three crownèd kings, Which, O Lord, is wisest? VOICES OF ELF AND GNOME (Echo in song, within) “Which, O Lord, is wisest?” (In songful laughter) Óhoho! Aháha! CASPAR Lord, Lord, Thy sign! Harken, wise men, my brothers: Laughter, laughter He sends us for a sign! BELSHASAR Nay, voices of the desert places! MELCHIOR Mockings of midnight! ELF AND GNOME (Enter, laughing lyricly) Óhoho! Aháha! CASPAR Heigh! What is here? Elf!—Gnome! BELSHASAR Keep back! They are imps of evil. MELCHIOR Stay! Do not speak with them. Hush! (Caspar pays no heed, but greets the Fairies, who return his greeting with blithe bows.) CASPAR Now, neighbors, God rest you merry! ELF Welcome, Wise Man! GNOME Welcome, Sir King! MELCHIOR (To Belshasar) He speaks with them. BELSHASAR (To Melchior) Come. He is lost! (They draw away.) GNOME Where are you from—ye Kings? CASPAR From the East, returning home from Herod’s land. ELF What went you there for to do? CASPAR To worship a new-born Child. GNOME How did you find your way? CASPAR We followed a star. ELF AND GNOME (Nodding to each other) A star! CASPAR Yea, but our path now has lost it.— Why do ye laugh there so merry? ELF AND GNOME (Pointing) Look up! CASPAR The star! The star! Ho, Melchior, Belshasar, look up! His star—the star we have lost—is found: Behold, it shines on the tree! MELCHIOR I see no star. BELSHASAR ’Tis darkness all. CASPAR What! Can you see nothing shining yonder? MELCHIOR Nothing. Your eyes are bleary with night. BELSHASAR Nay, he’s grown old and merry and cracked. CASPAR Deaf to His laughter, blind to His star! God save you, Wise Men! Let me grow old And merry and cracked, And talk with His wild, silly creatures. (Enter Wolf, Bear and Lion.) BELSHASAR (To Melchior) Come farther!—Wild beasts they draw near. (They move aside into shadow.) CASPAR Halloa, goodman Bear! Good even! BEAR (Forlornly) Ooff! Ooff! My honey hive’s empty. LION Look you! My bone is picked bare. WOLF I’ve never a bone left to pick, And I’m losing the fur on my tail. CASPAR Heigh, Master Wolf, Sir Lion! How come ye so down at heart? LION The Light-Child is gone on his way. WOLF When a fellow can’t sing, he feels hungry. CASPAR Nay, neighbors, the Light-Child is with us; He smiles from His twinkling star Yonder, yea laughs in His light And bids us make merry together For joy of His shining.—Hoho! Bring hither my music, good fellows! Bring hither my fiddles and cakes To make Him a feast night. (From among Caspar’s Followers, cakes and instruments are brought before him. To Wolf, Bear and Lion he gives each a cake; to Elf and Gnome a stringed instrument.) Here, neighbors, Have each of you now a sweet frosting: Here’s moon-cake and sun-cake and star-cake, To mind us His birth-time. And you— Here’s tune-strings to play, while we sing To praise this good tree of His star. (Tree enters, winged, all in white.) ELF Look, look! Tree now is his angel. TREE Welcome, dear passers in darkness! The Light-Child is gone on His way, But He leaves you His star, to make glad Your path in the wilderness.—Welcome Under His star! CASPAR Thank you, Tree. His star hath made merry our hearts To dance in His light—aye, to sing As we enter your place of His dreams. Come, neighbors, now blithe be our carol! (With his sceptre for baton, Caspar leads in dance and song Wolf, Bear, Lion, Elf and Gnome, the Beasts holding their cakes, the Fairies playing their instruments. Joining in their blithe dance of devotion, the old King clutches the great flap of his crown, to keep it from joggling off.) Carol 6. Dance-Carol of the Evergreen. ALL (Sing, to the strongly stressed dance-rhythm) O Evergreen, our Evergreen! Thy boughs are brave and bright o’ sheen, Thy bark and wood are live and strong And bonny with the berry. So we will sing our even-song And dance for thee, like king and queen.— O Evergreen, dear Evergreen!— To make thy heart be merry. O Even-song, our Even-song, Thy notes this holy night belong To Him who came to heal our teen With love and starry leaven. His childhood keepeth ever green All hearts of creatures here that long— O Even-song, dear Even-song— To make our earth His heaven. (Following Tree, they dance joyously within. Outside, Melchior, Belshasar and their Followers wait in the dimness.) BELSHASAR A bell! I hear a bell tolling. MELCHIOR A sword! The clang of a sword!