# Scene 9

*The woodland meadow, as in Scene 6. Joseph Keane, Dame Keane, their daughter Bertha; afterwards, Countryfolk, later the Monk; finally Keane's foster-daughter Cecilia and Thomas.*

*Bertha:*  
Dear mother, I so long to hear the tale  
Cecilia often spake of years ago.  
Thou dost know all those fairy-tales to tell  
Which father brings back with him from the knights  
When he comes home, and which with greatest joy  
So many friends are always glad to hear.

*Keane:*  
The soul can find real treasure in those tales.  
The gifts which on the spirit they confer  
Decay not with the body in the grave,  
But bear their fruits in later lives on earth.  
Darkly, as through a glass, we glimpse their truth;  
And from such darkened sight, our souls can win  
Knowledge to serve our needs in daily life.  
If only folk could realize the store  
Of precious gifts our knights have to bestow  
Cecilia and Thomas have, alas,  
Deaf ears at present for such things as these;  
Since they draw wisdom from another source.

*Bertha:*  
To-day I fain would listen to that tale  
Which tells about the Evil and the Good.

*Dame Keane:*  
Right gladly will I tell it thee; attend.  
Once on a time there lived a man who spent  
Much time in puzzling over cosmic truths.  
That which tormented his poor brain the most  
Was, how to learn of Evil's origin;  
And to that question he could not reply.  
The world was made by God, so he would say,  
And God can only have in him the Good.  
How then doth Evil spring from out the Good?  
Time and again he puzzled over this,  
But could not find the answer that he sought.  
Now it befell that on a certain day  
This seeker on his travels passed a tree  
That was engaged in converse with an axe.  
Unto the tree the axe did speak these words:  
‘That which thou canst not do I can achieve,  
I can fell thee; but thou canst not fell me.’  
Unto the vain axe thus the tree replied:  
‘'Twas but a year ago a man did cleave  
The very wood of which thine haft is made  
Out of my body with another axe.’  
And when the man had listened to these words  
A thought was straightway born within his soul  
Which he could not set clearly down in words,  
But which completely answered his demand:  
How Evil could originate from Good.

*Keane:*  
Think on this story, daughter, and thou'lt see,  
How contemplating nature's mysteries  
May form fresh knowledge in a human head.  
I know how many things I can make clear  
Unto myself by spinning out in thought  
The tales by which the knights enlighten us.

*Bertha:*  
I know I am a simple little thing,  
Without ability to understand  
The learned words which clever people use  
In setting forth the science they profess.  
I have no taste for matters of that kind.  
Whenever Thomas tells us of his work  
I nearly fall asleep. But I could spend  
Unnumbered hours in listening to the tales  
Which father brings back home on his return  
From visiting the castle, and wherewith  
He often weaves a story of his own  
As he recounts them to us hour on hour.

*(Exeunt.)  
  
(After an interval, the Country folk come across the meadow.)*

*First Countryman:*  
My uncle yesterday came home again.  
He dwelt a long time in Bohemia,  
And earned an honest living in the mines.  
Full many a bit of news he hath to tell  
Picked up by him upon his journeyings;  
Excitement and unrest are everywhere;  
Attacks are made upon the Spirit-Knights.  
Our local brotherhood cannot escape;  
Already preparations have been made  
And ere long will this castle be besieged.

*Second Countryman:*  
I hope 'twill not be long 'ere they attack.  
Many amongst us will most certainly  
Gladly enlist among the fighting-men;  
I mean to be among the first myself.

*First Countrywoman:*  
Thou wilt but hurry headlong to thy doom!  
How can a man be such a witless fool!  
Hast thou forgot how strongly fortified  
The castle is? The battle will be grim.

*Second Countrywoman:*  
It is no business of the countryfolk  
To mix with things they do not understand.  
Yet there are many hereabouts to-day  
Who do naught else but go from place to place  
And fan the embers of revolt and strife.  
Things have already come to such a pass  
That sick folk have to cry in vain for aid.  
The good man who in former days was wont  
To help so many in sore need, can now  
No more pass out beyond the castle gates,  
So cruelly have folk belaboured him.

*Third Countrywoman:*  
Of course! For many people were enraged  
On hearing from what source the sickness came  
That broke out, all at once, among our cows.  
The Jew brought this upon them by his spells.  
He only seems to make sick people well  
In order, by the use of hellish arts,  
Better to serve the ends of evil powers.

*Third Countryman:*  
This empty prattle about heresy  
Little availed. Truth is, our countryfolk  
Had what they needed. Nought else came of it  
Save that with dark mysterious sayings they beguiled  
The idle hour; till, with cunning skill  
A clever judge of human frailty  
Devised this silly tale about the Jew,  
How he had laid a spell upon our stock—  
And then indeed the storm. began to rise.

*Fourth Countryman:*  
I think that every one of you might know  
What wars do mean, with all their misery.  
Have not our fathers told us all that they  
Must needs endure, when all the countryside  
Was overrun by bands of soldiery?

*Fourth Countrywoman:*  
I always said that it would come to pass:  
Their lordships' rule must shortly fade away.  
Already hath a dream revealed to me  
How we can be of service to the troops  
When they arrive to carry out the siege,  
And take good care of all their creature needs.

*Fifth Countryman:*  
If dreams to-day are still to be believed,  
That is a matter we need not discuss.  
The knights have tried to make us cleverer  
Than were our fathers. Now they have to learn  
How much our cleverness hath been increased.  
Our fathers let them in; in our turn we.  
Shall drive them out. I know the secret tracks  
That yield an entrance to the fortalice.  
I used to work within it until rage,  
Drove me away; now will I show the knights  
How we can make their science serve our ends.

*Fifth Countrywoman:*  
He surely hath no good thought in his heart;  
I trembled as I listened to his words.

*Sixth Countryman:*  
In spirit-vision I have lately seen  
A traitor leading hostile soldiery  
By secret ways into the castle's keep.

*Sixth Countrywoman:*  
Such visions are destructive, I should say.  
No one who thinks as Christians ought to think  
But is aware that honesty alone,  
Not treason, can from evil set us free.

*Sixth Countryman:*  
I let folk talk, and help as best I can.  
How often do we hear a thing called wrong  
By those who lack the courage in themselves  
To do that very thing. Let's go our ways;  
I see the father coming down the road;  
We will not interrupt his train of thought.  
I found no difficulty up till now  
In understanding everything he taught;  
But in the sermon which he preached to-day  
He said much that one could not understand.

*(The Countryfolk go away towards the forest.)  
  
(After an interval the Monk comes along the meadow path.)*

*Monk:*  
It must be that a soul is led astray  
In striving to pursue her natural course.  
The weakness of my heart alone allowed  
Such visions to appear before mine eyes  
As those which I beheld within those walls.  
That they must Show themselves to me in strife  
Is proof enough how little yet in me  
The psychic forces work in harmony.  
Therefore will I address myself anew  
To kindle in myself those potent words  
Which bring me light from out the Spirit-heights.  
That man alone prefers another road,  
Whom personal illusions have made blind.  
The soul can only triumph over lies  
By proving herself worthy of the grace  
Which Spirit-light, outpoured from founts of love,  
In words of wisdom doth reveal to her.  
I know that I shall find the greatest strength  
Which can throw light on what the Fathers taught,  
When from the gloom of self's imaginings  
With lowly heart submissive I can flee.

*(Exit.)  
  
(After an interval there appear on the meadow Cecilia and Thomas.)*

*Cecilia:*  
Dear brother, when in fervent ecstasy  
Of silent prayer my soul did bow herself  
Unto the Fountain of the World, and yearn  
Whole-heartedly to be made one therewith,  
A light before my spirit would appear—  
With gentle warmth and radiancy aglow;  
This then transformed itself into a man  
Who looked into my face with tender eyes,  
And spoke to me. These were the vision's words:  
‘Human delusion left thee once forlorn,  
And now thou art upborne by human love  
Wait therefore until longing finds a way  
To bring the seeker safely to thy side.’  
Thus spake this human figure oft to me  
Nor could I fathom what the words might mean;  
And yet a dim foreboding made me glad,  
That some time they should be fulfilled for me.  
And then, beloved brother, thou didst come,  
And when I first set eyes upon thy face,  
I felt my senses leave me; for thou vast  
That human figure's very counterpart.

*Thomas:*  
Dream and foreboding told thee but the truth,  
Indeed 'twas longing guided me to thee.

*Cecilia:*  
And when thou didst request me as thy wife  
I thought the Spirit had ordained it so.

*Thomas:*  
That in good truth the Spirit's purpose was  
To re-unite us, clearly may be seen,  
Although we read it not aright at first.  
As wife and helpmeet, sent me from above,  
So didst thou seem to me, when first we met.  
And then my long-lost sister did I find.

*Cecilia:*  
And henceforth nothing shall divide us twain.

*Thomas:*  
Yet many obstacles between us rise.  
Thy foster-parents by close ties are bound  
Unto the brotherhood which I must spurn.

*Cecilia:*  
They are incarnate love and kindness both;  
And loyal friendship will they give to thee.

*Thomas:*  
My creed will separate me from their love.

*Cecilia:*  
Through me you will find out the way to them.

*Thomas:*  
Keane is a kindly man, but he is stubborn;  
He never will see aught but darkness there  
Where I perceive the very fount of light.  
In riper years it was first granted me  
To turn my steps toward this light of truth,  
Since all I learned of it in childhood's days  
Upon my spirit made but little mark;  
Whilst later on, my every thought was bent  
On scientific knowledge as a means  
To gain a livelihood. When I came here  
At last I found the teacher and the guide  
Who had the power to liberate my soul.  
The teaching he path let me listen to  
Doth bear the very stamp of truth itself.  
Such is his speech that heart and head alike  
Must yield themselves as captives to his words,  
So full at once of gentleness and good.  
I took the greatest trouble heretofore  
To understand the other spirit type  
And found it could but unto error lead.  
Since it clings only to those spirit-powers  
Which may be faithful guides in earthly ways  
But cannot lift one up to higher worlds.  
Row shall I therefore ever find the way  
Into the hearts of people who believe  
That from this error all salvation springs?

*Cecilia:*  
I hear thy words, dear brother, and they seem  
The product of no peaceful frame of mind.  
Yet 'tis a peaceful scene of former days  
Which they have reawakened in my soul.  
'Twas one Good Friday, many years ago,  
I saw the scene of which I speak to thee.  
It happened that upon that day the man  
Who wore my brother's features, said to me:  
‘From source divine hath sprung the human soul  
It can in death dive down to nature's depths;  
In time it will set spirit free from death.’  
Not until afterwards was I aware  
That these words are the motto of our knights.

*Thomas:*  
Alas! my sister, that thy lips should speak  
Those evil words, which our opponents take  
As revelation of the highest truth.

*Cecilia:*  
I have at heart no sympathy at all  
With outward acts committed by the knights  
I truly serve the creed that nourished thee.  
But never could I make myself believe  
That men who guide the footsteps of the soul  
By such instruction toward so high a goal  
Walk not themselves the path that Christ hath trod.  
The Spirit's pupil am I, staunch and true,  
And I confess that it is my belief  
That on that day, my brother's spirit strove  
To speak of aims that lead the soul to peace.

*Thomas:*  
The powers of destiny have not ordained  
Peace for the soul, it seems, for thee and me;  
They take our father from us that same hour  
That sees him once again restored to us.

*Cecilia:*  
My faculties are clouded o'er with pain  
When of our father thus I hear thee speak.  
Thy heart would draw thee to his side in love,  
And yet thou tremblest at the very thought  
Of union with him whilst he is alive.  
Thou followest our leader in good faith,  
Yet canst not hear the messages of love  
Which his commands so tenderly convey.  
A dark enigma faceth me; I see  
The goodness of thy heart, and thy strong faith,  
And yet must shudder at the deep abyss  
That yawns so terribly between them.  
And did not hope live on to comfort me,  
And tell me love is never overcome,  
I should lack courage to endure this pain.

*Thomas:*  
Dear sister, thou hast yet to learn the power  
Of thought, once it hath gripped a human soul.  
This is no case of son opposing sire;  
But one thought from another turns away.  
Thought is the sovereign whom my soul obeys  
Did I refuse her homage I should be  
In very truth my spirit's murderer.

*Curtain; Thomas and Cecilia still standing in the meadow*

*(This closes the vision into the fourteenth century. The following is the sequel of the events described in the first five scenes.)*