So thou hast corrupted thy own flesh and blood. So thou wilt corrupt us all. HERODIAS [_Smiling, shrugs her shoulders._] MEROKLES She sways. She will fall! HERODIAS [_Goes out composedly._] MEROKLES The head is rolling on the floor! MARCELLUS Oh, horror! HERODIAS [_Comes back supporting Salome in her arms._] SALOME Mother, where is the dish? Where is the head? HERODIAS Make obeisance. Speak thy thanks. SALOME [_Before Herod._] Sire, I am a rose of Sharon. A flower of the valley ... Who would thank me should pluck me ... Oh, look at the head! HEROD Take the women away! HERODIAS [_Curtseys, and leads, smiling; the half-swooning Salome off to right._] SCENE X _The same_. [_Without Herodias and Salome._] _Gabalos_ [_has re-entered from left_]. HEROD Well, what is the matter? GABALOS Sire, the people will not be restrained. Men and women in holiday raiment fill the streets and crowd on the roofs. They carry palms in their hands, and sing and shout for joy. HEROD What are they singing? GABALOS Thou knowest, Sire, I am not servile, but I scarcely like to say. HEROD Speak! GABALOS Hosannah! to Him Who shall come. Hosannah to the King of the Jews! So they sing. HEROD [_Grinding his teeth._] I have had John beheaded. Who may this one be? GABALOS If thou wouldst see Him, Sire, they say He is coming this way. HEROD I will see Him. I will greet Him as I promised. Ha! ha! ha! Open! SCENE XI [_The curtains are drawn aside. One sees the roofs crowded with women waving palms. Others, with palms in their hands, climb the hilly street below. The shouting swells in volume and becomes an orderly, harmonious song._] VITELLIUS [_Who has continued sitting, turns round indignantly._] What is going on there again? HEROD [_Has grasped a goblet, and springs on the topmost step._] Greeting to thee, my King ---- of the ---- [_He looks, stops short ... the goblet slips from his hand, he turns away and hides his face in his mantle._] THE OTHERS [_Also stand, looking down in silent amazement. The Hosannahs rise from the street._] [_The Curtain falls._] FINIS End of Project Gutenberg's John the Baptist: A Play, by Hermann Sudermann