# Scene 6

*A woodland meadow. In the background, high cliffs on which stands a castle. Summer evening. Country folk; Simon, the Jew; Thomas, the Master miner; the Monk. Countryfolk walking across the meadow, and stopping to talk.*

*First Countryman:*  
See yon vile Jew; he surely will not dare  
To take the same road that we take ourselves;  
For things might very well come to his ears  
On hearing which they'd burn for many a day.

*Second Countryman:*  
We must make clear to his effrontery,  
Aye, very clear indeed, that we no more  
Will tolerate his race in our good land  
Across whose bounds he hath contrived to slink.

*First Countrywoman:*  
He is protected by the noble knights.  
Who live in yonder castle; none of us  
May enter; but the Jew is welcome there.  
For he doth do whate'er the knights desire.

*Third Countryman:*  
'Tis very hard to know who serves the Lord  
And who the devil. Thankful should we be  
To our good lords who give us food and work.  
What should we be if it were not for them?

*Second Countrywoman:*  
The Jew shall have my praise his remedies  
Have cured the evil sickness that I had.—  
Besides, he was so good and kind to me;  
And many more can tell the selfsame tale.

*Third Countrywoman:*  
Yet did a monk let slip the truth to me,—  
The Jew employs the devil's remedies  
Beware his drugs; transformed within the blood  
They grant an entrance to all kinds of sin.

*Fourth Countryman:*  
The men who wait upon the knights oppose  
Our ancient customs, saying that the Jew  
Hath stores of knowledge both to heal and bless  
Which will in days to come be rightly prized.

*Fifth Countryman:*  
New times and better are in store; I see  
Their coming in my spirit, when my soul  
Pictures to me what eyes cannot behold.  
The knights intend to bring all this about.

*Fourth Countrywoman:*  
We owe the Church obedience, for she guards  
Our souls from devil-visions, and from death,  
And from hell-fire. The monks bid us beware  
The knights, and their vile sorcerer, the Jew.

*Fifth Countrywoman:*  
Only a short time longer need we bear  
In patience the oppression of the knights.  
Soon will their citadel in ruins lie.  
Thus hath it been foretold me in a dream.

*Sixth Countrywoman:*  
I fear such tales betoken mortal sin—  
That noble knights do plot to bring us harm—  
Nought do I see but good come from their hands;  
I needs must count them Christians, as ourselves.

*Sixth Countryman:*  
What men shall think of them in days to come  
'Twere best to leave to be adjudged by those  
Who shall live after us. Mere tools are we,  
Used by the knights in their satanic arts  
To war against true Christianity.  
If they be driven out we shall be freed  
From their pernicious sway, and live our lives  
As we shall choose, in this our native land.  
Now let us go to vespers, there to find  
That which our souls require, and that which is  
In harmony with our ancestral ways.  
These novel teachings suit us not at all.

*(Exeunt the countryfolk.)  
  
(Simon, the Jew, enters from the wood.)*

*Simon:*  
Where'er I go, I find awaiting me  
The ancient hatred and the bitter taunts.  
And yet I suffer not a whit the less  
Each time I find myself exposed to them.  
There seems to be no reasonable cause  
Why people should behave towards me thus.  
And yet one thought pursues me evermore  
Which Makes the truth apparent to my soul,—  
That nothing can befall us without cause.  
So too a reason there must be for this,  
That suffering is the lot of all my tribe.  
So with the lords of yonder citadel,  
I find their lot is near akin to mine.  
They have but chosen of their own free will  
That which by nature is imposed on me.  
They set themselves apart from all mankind,  
And strive in isolation to acquire  
The powers through which they may attain their goal.  
Thus can I feel the debt I owe to fate  
And find her blessing in my loneliness.  
Forced to rely on mine own soul alone  
I took the realms of science for my field,  
And recognized from what I learned therein  
That ripe for new attainments was our time.  
The laws of nature, hitherto unknown,  
Must now reveal themselves unto mankind  
And make him master of the world of sense  
Whence he will be allowed to liberate  
Powers he can put to use for his own ends.  
So have I tried, as far as in me lay,  
To make fresh progress in the healing art.  
This toil endeared me to the brotherhood;  
Its members made me free of their estates  
To seek to find the forces that reside  
In plants and 'neath the surface of the ground,  
That they may yield for us new benefits.  
My actions therefore march with their designs,  
And I confess that I have plucked with joy  
Much goodly fruit whilst going on my way.

*(Exit into the wood.)  
  
(Thomas, the Master miner, enters from the wood. Enter the Monk.)*

*Thomas:*  
Here will I sit and rest a little while.  
My soul hath need of rest to find itself  
After the shocks which I have had to bear.

*(The Monk comes up to him.)*

*Monk:*  
I greet thee heartily, most valiant son.  
Thou hast come here in search of solitude.  
Thy work well done, thou wouldst have peace and quiet  
In which to turn thy thoughts to spirit-worlds.  
To see my well-loved pupil thus employed  
Rejoiceth me. But why so sad-thine eyes?  
'Twould seem anxiety weighs down thy soul.

*Thomas:*  
Pain oft is neighbour unto highest bliss;  
That this is so mine own life proves to-day.

*Monk:*  
Hast thou then met with bliss and pain at once?

*Thomas:*  
I told thee, reverend father, that I loved  
The overseer's daughter, and confessed  
That she was also greatly drawn to me.  
She is to marry me and share my life.

*Monk:*  
She will be true to thee, come weal, come woe;  
She is a faithful daughter of the Church.

*Thomas:*  
Such an one only would I take to wife;  
Since, honoured master, I have learned from thee  
The meaning of obedience to God's will.

*Monk:*  
And art thou also certain of thy soul,  
That it will walk still further in the way  
Of righteousness, which I have pointed out?

*Thomas:*  
So sure as in this body beats a heart  
So sure will I, thy son, be true for aye  
To those exalted teachings which of old  
From thine own lips I was allowed to learn.

*Monk:*  
And now that thou hast told me of thy bliss  
Let me,hear also from thee of thy woe.

*Thomas:*  
Oft have I told thee what my life hath been.  
Scarce had I left my childhood's days behind  
Than I began to travel and to roam.  
I never worked for long in any place.  
Ever I cherished in my heart the wish  
To meet my father, whom I loved, although  
I had not heard a good report of him.  
He left my dear good mother all alone  
Because he wished to start his life anew  
Unhampered by a wife and children twain.  
The impulse for adventure dwelt in him.  
I was a child still, when he went from us;  
My sister was a tiny new-born babe;  
My mother died of grief in no long time.  
My sister was adopted by good folk  
Who later moved away from my old home,  
And of her fate I never more heard tell.  
Some relatives assisted me to learn  
A miner's work, in which I grew expert,  
So that I found employment where I wished.  
The hope that some day I should once more find  
My father, never vanished from my heart.  
And now at last my hope is realized  
But also is for ever torn from me.  
Matters of business led me yesterday  
To seek for speech with my superior.  
Thou knowest how lightly I esteem the knight  
Who issueth directions for my work,  
Since I have learned he is thine enemy.  
From that time forward I made up my mind  
Not to remain in service under him.  
For reasons which remain unknown to me  
The knight alluded in our interview  
To matters which allowed him to declare  
Himself to be—the father whom I sought.  
What followed ... I would gladly leave untold.  
It would not have been hard to overlook  
My mother's sufferings at his hands, and mine,  
When he and I once more stood face to face,  
And when he spoke, grief-burdened, of old days.  
But in his form, stood facing me, thy foe.  
And one thing then was manifest to me:—  
How deep a gulf must ever separate  
Myself from him, whom I so fain would love,  
And whom I sought so long and ardently.  
Now have I lost him for the second time,—  
Such is the lot that hath befallen me.

*Monk:*  
I would not e'er estrange thee from those ties  
Imposed on thee by blood-relationship.  
But what I can bestow upon thy soul  
Shall ever be to thee a gift of love.

*Curtain*