FOURTH ACTION (The Light-Child)

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!

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!