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Here JOSEPH shall come in, leading an ass, on which are seated MARY and the CHILD.
MARY. HERE will we rest us, under these | |
| O’erhanging branches of the trees, | |
| Where robins chant their Litanies | |
| And canticles of joy. | |
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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. | |
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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. | |
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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. | |
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MARY. O Joseph! I am much afraid, | |
| For men are sleeping in the shade; | |
| I fear that we shall be waylaid, | |
| And robbed and beaten sore! Here a band of robbers shall be seen sleeping, two of whom shall rise and come forward. | 20 |
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DUMACHUS. Cock’s soul! deliver up your gold! | |
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JOSEPH. I pray you, Sirs, let go your hold! | |
| You see that I am weak and old, | |
| Of wealth I have no store. | |
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DUMACHUS. Give up your money!
TITUS. Prithee cease. | 25 |
| Let these people go in peace. | |
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DUMACHUS. First let them pay for their release, | |
| And then go on their way. | |
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TITUS. These forty groats I give in fee, | |
| If thou wilt only silent be. | 30 |
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MARY. May God be merciful to thee | |
| Upon the Judgment Day! | |
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JESUS. When thirty years shall have gone by, | |
| I at Jerusalem shall die, | |
| By Jewish hands exalted high | 35 |
| On the accursed 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 rumor of trumpets and horses, like the noise of a king with his army, and the robbers shall take flight. | 40 |
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