Page:Five Russian plays and one Ukrainian.pdf/188

166 the wall, and with laughter answered the guards. “Is that ruin called in any wise, has that desert still a name?” I went away to the market where they sell captives into slavery. There a rich merchant was choosing the most lovely captives.


 * Misery, misery, misery!

rich man, and laughed aloud, “but I do not sell my sons, and thine, thou seest, I buy.” Who, what will touch such hearts? Once only with my songs I got a tear from a stranger; the king himself wept at the end of Saul and Jonathan’s death.
 * I said, “Think, lord, these girls have fathers and brothers. Were thy sister or daughter taken captive, would the foe sell her?” He answered, “’Tis the fate of captives.” I went farther and saw a small, weak slave, and a tall, strong Babylonian loaded him with wares, as a mule, and drove him with a stick. I cried, “Stay! To torment such a small boy!” “For this he is a slave,” he answered, arrogant. “And were thy son sold,” said I, “he too would be a slave?” “Surely; not otherwise,” said the


 * Long live the merciful king! In him only is our hope.