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(From A Miracle Play) ( Here shall J OSEPH come in, leading an ass, on which are seated M ARY and the C HILD.)
MARY. Here will we rest us, under these | |
| O’erhanging branches of the trees, | |
| Where robins chant their litanies | |
| And canticles of joy. | |
| Joseph. My saddle-girths have given way | 5 |
| With trudging through the heat to-day; | |
| To you I think it is but play | |
| To ride and hold the boy. | |
| Mary. Hark! how the robins shout and sing, | |
| As if to hail their infant King! | 10 |
| I will alight at yonder spring | |
| To wash his little coat. | |
| Joseph. And I will hobble well the ass, | |
| Lest, being loose upon the grass, | |
| He should escape; for, by the mass, | 15 |
| He ’s nimble as a goat. | |
(Here MARY shall alight and go to the spring.) Mary. O Joseph! I am much afraid, | |
| For men are sleeping in the shade; | |
| I fear that we shall be waylaid, | |
| And robb’d and beaten sore! | 20 |
(Here a band of robbers shall be seen sleeping, two of whom shall rise and come forward.) Dumachus. Cock’s soul! deliver up your gold! | |
| Joseph. I pray you, Sirs, let go your hold! | |
| You see that I am weak and old, | |
| Of wealth I have no store. | |
Dumachus. Give up your money!
Titus. Prithee cease. | 25 |
| Let these good people go in peace. | |
| Dumachus. First let them pay for their release, | |
| And then go on their way. | |
| Titus. These forty groats I give in fee, | |
| If thou wilt only silent be. | 30 |
| Mary. May God be merciful to thee, | |
| Upon the Judgement Day! | |
| Jesus. When thirty years shall have gone by, | |
| I at Jerusalem shall die, | |
| By Jewish hands exalted high | 35 |
| On the accursèd tree. | |
| Then on my right and my left side, | |
| These thieves shall both be crucified, | |
| And Titus thenceforth shall abide | |
| In paradise with me. (Here a great rumour of trumpets and horses, like the noise of a king with his army, and the robbers shall take flight.) | 40 |
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