Page:Bohemian legends and other poems.djvu/193

 Much as I have loved my pupil,
 * Can I save him from death’s sting?”

Oh, Rabbiner,” said the woman,
 * You are learned and very wise,

And Jehovah loves, your master,
 * He will listen to your sighs.”

Woman! for the good of Israel
 * Will you sacrifice your son?”

But the woman started backward,
 * Clasping to her heart her son.

’Twas revealed me in a vision,”
 * The learned Rabbi sadly said,

For the crying sins of Israel,
 * See our little ones are dead.

’Twas revealed me in a vision,
 * All our dearest ones must die,

Till some woman gives her darling,
 * Gives him up without a sigh.

To the graveyard they must lead him,
 * Leave him there amidst the graves;

He will see strange sights and visions,
 * Hiding where the tall grass waves;

He will see the children dancing,
 * Dancing in their shrouds of lawn;

In and out amidst the stone heaps,
 * They will dance their dance forlorn.

He must creep, and creep still onward,
 * Till he nears the dancing band;

Then with fearless heart unshaking,
 * Seize a shroud with skillful hand,

Seize a shroud and bring it to me,
 * Then the pestilence will cease.

Woman, is thy heart so holy
 * Thou canst give thy son in peace?”

Weeping from the Rabbi’s presence,
 * Went that mother stricken sore.

Oh, JohovahJehovah [sic], spare my children;
 * Spare the little son I bore!”

When the evening shadows lengthened,
 * Lo, a girl died in her arms,

And the morrow found her weeping,
 * Her dead baby’s little charms.