_Jesus._ What Aleph means I fain would know, Before I any farther go! _Rabbi._ O, by Saint Peter! wouldst thou so? Come hither, boy, to me. And surely as the letter Jod Once cried aloud, and spake to God, So surely shalt thou feel this rod, And punished shalt thou be! (_Here_ RABBI BEN ISRAEL _shall lift up his rod to strike_ JESUS, _and his right arm shall be paralyzed._) IX. CROWNED WITH FLOWERS. JESUS _sitting among his playmates, crowned with flowers as their King._ _Boys._ We spread our garments on the ground' With fragrant flowers thy head is crowned, While like a guard we stand around, And hail thee as our King! Thou art the new King of the Jews! Nor let the passers-by refuse To bring that homage which men use To majesty to bring. (_Here a traveller shall go by, and the boys shall lay hold of his garments and say:_) _Boys._ Come hither! and all reverence pay Unto our monarch, crowned to-day! Then go rejoicing on your way, In all prosperity! _Traveller._ Hail to the King of Bethlehem, Who weareth in his diadem The yellow crocus for the gem Of his authority! (_He passes by; and others come in, bearing on a litter a sick child._) _Boys._ Set down the litter and draw near! The King of Bethlehem is here! What ails the child, who seems to fear That we shall do him harm? _The Bearers._ He climbed up to the robin's nest, And out there darted, from his rest, A serpent with a crimson crest, And stung him in the arm. _Jesus._ Bring him to me, and let me feel The wounded place; my touch can heal The sting of serpents, and can steal The poison from the bite! (_He touches the wound, and the boy begins to cry._) Cease to lament! I can foresee That thou hereafter known shalt be, Among the men who follow me, As Simon the Canaanite! * * * * * EPILOGUE. In the after part of the day Will be represented another play, Of the Passion of our Blessed Lord, Beginning directly after Nones! At the close of which we shall accord, By way of benison and reward, The sight of a holy Martyr's bones! IV. THE ROAD HIRSCHAU. PRINCE HENRY _and_ ELSIE, _with their attendants, on horseback._ _Elsie._ Onward and onward the highway runs to the distant city, impatiently bearing Tidings of human joy and disaster, of love and of hate, of doing and daring! _Prince Henry._ This life of ours is a wild aeolian harp of many a joyous strain, But under them all there runs a loud perpetual wail, as of souls in pain. _Elsie._ Faith alone can interpret life, and the heart that aches and bleeds with the stigma Of pain, alone bears the likeness of Christ, and can comprehend its dark enigma.