Consider, David, whom you are calling. _Darkly._ Do not deceive me, David. DAVID I have never deceived any one, Nullius. _Resolutely and majestically._ You spoke and I was silent, and I listened; now be silent and listen to me: I have given my soul not to man but to God, and His power is over me. And I command you: Call my wife Sarah over here, and my children Naum and Rosa, and all the people in my household, whoever they may be. ANATHEMA. _Obediently._ I shall call them. DAVID. And call the poor who are waiting for me in the yard. And when you go out on the street, see whether there are any poor people waiting for me, and if you see them, call them also. For my lips are burning with their thirst, their hunger torments my body with insatiable hunger, and I am hastening to announce to the people my last, unchangeable will. Go! ANATHEMA. _Obediently._ Your will is upon me. _Anathema goes to the door. Silence._ DAVID. The spirit of God has come over me. Adenoi. Adenoi.... Who was the terrible one that spoke through the voice of old Nullius, when he spoke about my little children who died? Only an arrow out of the bow of the Omniscient strikes the very heart with such good aim. My little birds.... Verily, You have saved me upon the edge of the abyss, and You have torn my spirit away from the clutches of the Devil. He who looks straight at the sun may grow blind, but with the lapse of time the light may come back to the revived eyes; but he who looks into darkness grows blind forever. My little birds.... _Suddenly he laughs softly and joyously, and he whispers._ I myself shall bring them bread and milk, I shall hide myself behind the bed-curtain that they should not see me--children are so tender and easily frightened and they are afraid of unfamiliar people; and I have such a terrible beard. (_Laughs._) I shall hide myself behind the bed-curtain and will watch how the children are eating. They need so little; they eat a little crust of bread and they have enough; they drink a cup of milk and they know no thirst any longer. Then they sing--But how strange! does not the night pass away when the sun comes? do not the waves, at the end of the storm, lie down calmly and quietly like lambs resting in the pasture? Whence came the alarm, the slight confusion, and the fear? Shades of unknown woes are passing over my soul and soaring noiselessly over my thoughts. Ah, if I remained poor, if I remained unknown, under the shade of the fence where the refuse is cast away! You have lifted me to the peak of the mountain and You show my old, sorrowful face to the world. But such is Your will. You will command--and the lamb will become a lion; You will command--and the furious lion will stretch out her powerful breasts to her little ones; You will command--and David Leizer, who has grown white in shade, will fearlessly rise to the sun. Adenoi! Adenoi!