Zerubbabel stopped upon the threshold of the meeting-house and surveyed the great assembly. And when he saw the men with tear-stained eyes and with their hands upon their heads, his eyes flashed and his lips turned white with scorn and ire. He was surrounded by the crowd, the old men pressing close to him and the young men in the rear. “What have you brought us, Zerubbabel?” the old men asked. “Open your lips and tell us what news of Esther and what do you know of her?” The questions were to his anger like oil upon flames, and he opened his mouth to speak harsh words. “Why do you ask me of Esther? What do you wish, you greybeards, of that woman? And what shall I tell you of her?—Am I, then, her sweetheart, and shall I tell you of her beauty,—the sweetness of her body and the charm of her love?” The assembly gaped at him in stupefaction, and the elders spoke again to him: “What has come over you, Zerubbabel, and what have you on your heart? You are wroth and speak harsh words to us. Or can it be that you do not know what has happened? That a great disaster impends over the Jews,—complete annihilation? And who can help us if not Queen Esther? Or do you know another aid? Speak, and we will hear.” Zerubbabel rose to his full height; his eyes lighted up, and his voice was as hard as steel and iron. “Yes, I know another aid, and I have come to tell it to you. It lies _within you_,—in your courage and in your arms!” His hearers received his words, mouths agape with surprise and astonishment; Zerubbabel spoke further and his voice throbbed with warmth. “Why do you eye me so? Or can you have misunderstood me? Your salvation lies in you alone,—in your courage and in your arms. Why have you so yielded to despair? And why have you covered yourselves with ashes; wherefore your fasting? Are you weakening your bodies so as to make the work of your enemies all the more easy? I tell you, rather arm yourselves. Gird your loins and strengthen your muscles. Instead of wringing your hands over your heads and despairing, learn how to brandish a sword; instead of blinding your eyes with tears, teach them to aim an arrow. Be not like sheep who are easily led to the slaughter, but like lions that stand forth against their pursuers. It is only a game for one to seize a sheep and kill it, but the heart of the lion-hunter trembles, and only one out of a thousand can hunt lions. You sit and weep and fast and torture yourselves, and our enemies will mock and laugh. ‘We need not whet our swords,’ they will say. ‘With our dog-whips we’ll be able to strike dead the starved and terrified Jews.’ And they will praise Haman for the permission he secured from the king and must even now be rejoicing beforehand over the Jewish property that will so easily be surrendered to them. But if they learn that you propose to make a bold, heroic stand against them,—that your hands are skilled in wielding the sword and your eyes trained to direct the dart, they