M 
 
 An Historical Tragedy in 
 Fivt Acts 
 
 GOiTHARD DEUTSCH 
 
GiassTS3so-T 
 
 CORfRIGHT DEPOSrft 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 An Historical Tragedy 
 In Five Acts 
 
 GOTTHARD DEUTSCH 
 
 BOSTON 
 RICHARD G. BADGER 
 
 1908 
 
Copyright, 1908, by Gotthard Deutsch 
 
 All Rights Reserved ^^ CL "-^ 5 \m 
 
 UJBBARY of 0@NGRESS 
 ) wo OoDies Receivdei 
 
 AUG 29j1^0S 
 c;oFY a. 
 
 77ie Gotham Press, Boiion 
 
CAST OF CHARACTERS 
 
 Werner von Perinstein, burgomaster of 
 Bruenn. 
 
 First Councillor. 
 
 Second Councillor. 
 
 Pethahiah, an elder of the Jews. 
 
 Raphael, an elder of the Jews. 
 
 Rabbi Israel Bruna. 
 
 Fraidlin, the rabbi's wife. 
 
 Jekel, the rabbi's servant. 
 
 Shifrah, maid in the rabbi's house. 
 
 Meinhard von Perinstein, son of the Burgo- 
 master, a knight. 
 
 Jekuthiel, son of Pethahiah, called Konrad, 
 a convert to Christianity. 
 
 John Capistrano, a Franciscan Friar. 
 
 ScHOLASTiCA, a nun, a former Jewess. 
 
 An executioner, councillors, judges, priests, 
 Jews, and people. 
 
 The place is Bruenn. Time 1454. 
 
ACT I 
 
 Scene I. City Hall. 
 
 Burgomaster Werner von Pertnstein, several 
 councillors, two guards standing at the door; later 
 Pet ha hi ah. 
 
 Burgomaster. — Men of the Council, I have 
 called you together at this early hour on very im- 
 portant business. This morning a message was 
 received from the King by special courier. His 
 Majesty wishes us to give a hearty reception to 
 brother Capistrano, who, the King says, has been 
 gifted with miraculous powers, and who, the King 
 says, is an instrument in the hands of Providence, 
 to stamp out this heresy which has already disgraced 
 his Majesty's dominions too long. 
 
 First Councillor. — We certainly ought to do 
 our gracious Lord's wishes, all the more so because 
 we will be honoring a great Saint whose presence 
 will be a blessing to our city. 
 
 Second Councillor. — A blessing which will 
 result in a bloody civil war. 
 
 First Coun. — Not if we stand united and have 
 the support of the Saint's prayers. 
 
 Second Coun. — His prayer has not kept the 
 Hussites from burning the city hall of Neustadt, 
 when the council refused to expel that Italian 
 trouble maker. 
 
 (Shouts.) — Bar the gates against the Welcher! 
 
6- ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 Burg. — Peace, gentlemen! He comes with the 
 King's safe conduct, and we cannot refuse him ad- 
 mittance without incurring the ill-will of his 
 Majesty, who has once before expressed his dislike 
 of the city's attitude in an internal complication. 
 
 Second Coun. — His Majesty is in the hands of 
 fanatics who din malicious lies into his ears. 
 
 First Coun. — This means that they report truly 
 when they say that in the council of this city men 
 are sitting who still nourish in their hearts a venera- 
 tion for that arch-heretic, John Huss, whom the 
 holy Council, with the approval of King Sigismund, 
 of blessed memory, ordered to be burned at the 
 stake as an enemy of our holy religion and as a 
 rebel against the sacred person of our King. 
 
 Second Coun. — John Huss was a saintly man. 
 I was in Constance as a page to my Lord of Rokit- 
 zan, and I saw Huss smile as he was led out to the 
 stake, and I saw him kneel down in prayer, praying 
 that the Lord Would forgive those who had sen- 
 tenced him to die. I would like to see how that 
 Italian fiend would act, were he placed at the 
 stake, for that is where he ought to go. 
 
 (Shouts.) — Burn him! Stone him! Huss was a 
 Saint! 
 
 (Shouts from the other side). — He was a rebel 
 and an infidel. Through him we have been living 
 in a state of war for forty years. 
 
 (Shouts from the first side). — Because you have 
 been persecuting God's chosen ones. 
 
 Burgomaster. — Peace, gentlemen! It will not 
 do for us to quarrel on a question which the masters 
 of holy lore have not been able to settle. The 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 7 
 
 question which confronts us is what we shall do 
 with regard to the King's letter. 
 
 Second Coun. — Give that monk three days to 
 stay here, and in the mean time the city guards shall 
 watch him, lest he do mischief. 
 
 First Coun. — Let the Burgomaster, the Council, 
 the heads of the guilds, and the clergy with the 
 school children meet him at the city boundary line. 
 Let the bells be tolled from the time he enters the 
 gates until he reaches the cathedral where a 
 " Te Deum " shall be chanted in praise of the Lord 
 for sending this Saint to our gates. 
 
 (Shouts.)— Cathedral ? To the whipping post 
 with the murderer and incendiary! 
 
 (Shouts from the other side). — To the whipping 
 post with you rebels and heretics ! 
 
 Burg. — Peace, gentlemen, do not forget where 
 you are. How do you expect to control a riotous 
 mob when you, the guardians of the city's peace, 
 are rioting yourselves. The Italian comes with a 
 safe-conduct under the King's seal and handwriting. 
 Any stranger who shows such letters is under the 
 protection of the city, and if we allow harm to befall 
 him we are rebels against his Majesty. 
 
 Second Coun. — And if he make himself un- 
 worthy of our hospitable kindness by inciting riots 
 in our midst ? 
 
 Burg. — That is just the point. He comes with 
 the King's safe conduct, and is our guest, but when 
 he sets the citizens, one against the other, he has 
 forfeited our good will and we shall send him 
 beyond the city limits under the protection of the 
 city guards. But it is our duty to protect him 
 against malefactors while he is in our midst. 
 
8 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 Second Coun. — Let him keep the peace and he 
 shall not be molested. 
 
 First Coun. — It is his mission to lead the lost 
 sheep to the fold from which they have strayed. 
 
 Burg. — When a strange physician comes to our 
 city he is allowed to do his business. If, however, 
 I find that he is selling poisonous pills I shall 
 order him to be thrown into prison though he have 
 a safe-conduct from the Roman Emperor and a 
 diploma from the Pope himself. Yes, I would 
 do it, as sure as my name is Werner von Perinstein. 
 First Coun. — But it is against the poisoners of 
 the soul that he is waging war. 
 
 Second Coun. — We need no Welcher to take care 
 of our souls. He has plenty of profligates and 
 assassins at home to care for. 
 
 (Shouts.) — Send him back to Welcherland! 
 Send him back to Italy! 
 
 Burg. — Indeed, for the care of our souls we 
 have our own priest. We, Burgomaster and Coun- 
 cil, are the guardians of the city's peace and every- 
 body shall enjoy this peace as long as he allows 
 others to do so. What does it concern the city 
 if one march behind a flag with a chalice painted 
 on it ? No more than when the piper's guild 
 marches behind St. Cecelia's banner, which does not 
 always inspire as decent conduct as is found 
 among those who follow the chalice. 
 
 First Coun. — And — so Turks and pagans and 
 even Jew^s shall have their freedom just as we have 
 it.? 
 
 Burg. — Most certainly; and I am glad you 
 mentioned it. We have no Turks or pagans in our 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 9 
 
 midst, but the Jews, whom your Saint particularly 
 delights in assailing, shall be protected, for they are 
 in the King's peace, and the city is responsible for 
 them; and woe unto the man, whether he wear 
 robe or cassock, who shall dare to trouble them. 
 
 First Coun. — There may be others who wear 
 neither a robe nor a cassock, but a knight's armor, 
 and who are, moreover, highly connected, who 
 may wish brother John success in his arraignment 
 of the Jews and their usury. It might be an easy 
 way for them to settle their debts. 
 
 Burg, (rising angrily in his chair). — Will you 
 explain yourself more clearly ? 
 
 First Coun.— Your Worship need not get 
 excited. An inquiry amongst your nearest of kin 
 might reveal the fact that there may be some who 
 wish that Brother John should have success in 
 making the Jews disgorge some of their ill-gotten 
 gain. 
 
 Burg, (angrjly striking the table). — If you wish 
 to say that I shall allow pillaging in order that my 
 boy may get rid of his debts to the Jews, I want you to 
 say it here, in unmistakably clear words, and if you 
 do so I shall pronounce you in this council chamber 
 a malicious slanderer, unless you can prove your 
 statement; outside of this room, the sword of a 
 gentleman shall vindicate my honor. 
 
 (Shouts.) — Backbiter! Hypocrite! Pharisee!! 
 
 First Coun. — I most sincerely apologize to 
 your Worship, and if you consider my words coolly, 
 you will find that I have not said what you imply. 
 I merely said that there may be some, and if you 
 wish, your own son amongst them, who will not 
 
10 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 mind seeing the Jewish chests disgorge. Such 
 things have happened before, and if you ask Master 
 Dietrich, our city clerk, he will show you that they 
 happened in this very city one hundred years ago. 
 
 Burg, {sitting down calmly). — And just because 
 it has happened before it shall not happen again. 
 I know the story well enough. It was during the 
 terrible visitation of the black death, when the 
 rabble was unrestrained, and very likely some 
 questionable saints and unscrupulous demagogues 
 {murmur of applause) were their leaders. The 
 result was that the rabble celebrated its orgies and 
 grewa terrorto the respectable community, while the 
 demagogues enriched themselves with the plunder, 
 and the city was heavily mulcted by the King. 
 When the Jews came back they charged higher 
 interest than ever before. 
 
 First Coun. {looking out of the window). — Your 
 Worship will have an opportunity to show your good 
 will to these innocent victims of demagogues, for 
 I see that old vampire, Pethahiah, the Jew-Bishop, 
 entering the city hall. 
 
 A Coun. — This would be a fine opportunity to 
 squeeze some of his shekels out of him by screwing 
 his thumbs just a little bit. {Laughter.) 
 
 Second Coun. — You come one hundred years 
 too late, brother. 
 
 Burg. — I repeat that order shall be preserved 
 as long as I wield the mace of this city. 
 
 Scene II 
 
 {Enter Pethahiah, bowing to all sides.) 
 Pethahiah. — Your Worship, most exalted head 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA ii 
 
 of this noble city, and you, Councillors, whose wis- 
 dom and self-sacrificing care have preserved lavv^ 
 and order under the most trying conditions. Let 
 one who is unworthy to kiss the dust of your shoes 
 be bold enough 
 
 Burg. — Be less courteous, Jew, and keep to the 
 point. 
 
 Second Coun. — You keep one half of your 
 speech and let us Christians keep one half of the 
 interest which you charge us. 
 
 First Coun. — That speech is too good. I want 
 all of it. I would rather have it than all his money. 
 Try me, Uncle Pethahiah. Just make an offer. 
 
 Peth. — The noble gentlemen are so good to a 
 poor Jew. 
 
 First Coun. — Poor Jew! Who ever heard of 
 such a combination. 
 
 Peth. — Most worshipful and honorable gentle- 
 men of the Council. If you would condescend to 
 Hsten to what a man has to say, to whom the honor, 
 the welfare, and the glory of this beautiful city, ruled 
 over by a statesman, the like of whom 
 
 Burg. — Quick, Jew, do not waste our time. 
 
 Peth. — Far be it from me to be guilty of such an 
 offense against the interests not only of this city, but 
 also of the whole land, not only at this time, but 
 also in the future. I have heard that you will 
 have a noble and great guest within your gates, a 
 man who, amongst you, is a Saint. 
 
 Second Coun. — Don't be such a hypocrite, 
 Pethahiah; say that you hate him as much as you 
 hate the sight of a cross. 
 
 Peth. — Far be it from me to hate one whom 
 
12 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 my glorious rulers honor and revere. I have al- 
 ways been obedient to the King and to his servants, 
 for that is the law of my religion, and I would never 
 countenance any movement which is directed 
 against the sacred authority of his glorious Majesty, 
 our most gracious King Ladislaus, may his glory 
 increase forever. 
 
 Second Coun. — Confess it, Pethahiah, did 
 you not lend money to George of Podiebrad, who 
 seeks to place himself on our King's throne ? 
 
 Peth. — Who said so ? If this be so, may the 
 earth swallow me up, as it swallowed Korah, 
 Dathan, and Abiram ! May the leprosy of Naaman 
 and Gehazi befall me. May my arms be lame as 
 the arms of Jeroboam, when he desired to seize the 
 prophet. May fire from heaven fall down upon me, 
 such as Elijah called down upon the captain and his 
 band of fifty. May my own flesh and blood serve 
 idols 
 
 Second Coun. — This time you speak the truth, 
 because your son, who has become a Christian, is 
 certainly an idol-worshiper in your eyes. 
 
 Burg. — Gentlemen, we shall never get through 
 if we open the sluices of his loquacity. Pethahiah, 
 state at once what you wish, or you shall be sent out 
 of this hall. 
 
 Peth. — I shall say it at once. {To Burgomas- 
 ter, who gives beadle a sign.) No, no, your 
 Worship, may it please you to tarry a moment, 
 I am saying it already. I wish to give the city the 
 sum of one hundred Schock Groschen, as a tribute 
 of respect for the guest, whom the King has 
 honored so greatly in order that the city shall be 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 13 
 
 able to do him that honor which he so richly de- 
 serves, and he shall see that, while I am only a Jew, 
 and not a rich one 
 
 First Coun. — Do you wish to'go to the poor- 
 house ? If you turn a Christian^you shall have the 
 best room in the place to-morrow. 
 
 Peth. — Honorable gentlemen, you laugh, but 
 the times are very hard. Were it not that I know 
 that the monk is so honored by the King 
 
 Burg. — You want to buy his favor ? If you are 
 afraid that he will set the mob against you, be quiet, 
 and tell your people that I, Werner von Perinstein, 
 will not allow any violence against anybody. 
 
 Peth. — Your Worship is wise as King Solomon, 
 and good as Obadiah, the steward of King Ahab, 
 but I shall send the one hundred shock to the holy 
 man myself to show him that Pethahiah 
 
 Second Coun. — Podiebrad will have to pay 
 more interest next time for this loss. 
 
 Peth. — A rebel! I lend money to a rebel ? not 
 for five hundred per cent. You will see when you 
 become a rebel, and you try. 
 
 First Coun. — You are a shrewd old fellow. 
 
 Peth. — My business is always with good honest 
 people and faithful servants of the King. At 
 your service, most worshipful gentlemen. May 
 you live and prosper. As the sages say, " Misse 
 Meshunah."* 
 
 * A Hebrew oath. 
 
ACT II 
 
 Scene I. The Rabbi's study. Pethahiah, 
 Rabbi. 
 
 Pethahiah. — I repeat it to you, the thing will 
 have a bad ending. Our young men were seen in 
 the procession with the Hussites, the rebels against 
 the King's majesty. Such stories are apt to be 
 exaggerated. I have heard rumors already that 
 our enemies had informed the King that we had 
 assisted the rebels with money. This would mean 
 disaster. 
 
 Rabbi (smiling). — Hardly to the young people 
 who love to see a gay pageant and to hear music, for 
 no one would accuse them of having money to lend. 
 
 Peth. — It is always the respectable and the 
 loyal who have to make atonement for the levity of 
 the penniless rabble. 
 
 Rabbi. — If you are free from guilt you can take 
 an oath. Our laws, confirmed by kings and em- 
 perors for centuries, give us the right to prove our 
 innocence of any charge by swearing on the Torah. 
 
 Peth. {uneasily). — Swear by the Torah ? I — 
 would rather lose a fortune. 
 
 Rabbi. — But if you have to, in order to save 
 your life ? To assist the King's enemies with money 
 is high treason. 
 
 Peth. — This is what I said when the young peo- 
 ple went to witness the procession. The King will 
 be provoked to anger, and these boys forget the 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 15 
 
 warning of Solomon: " Fear God, my son, and the 
 King." 
 
 Rabbi. — There is another word of wisdom. 
 It reads: "Woe unto the land whose King is a lad." 
 If we try to please the King too much, we shall 
 provoke his uncle. Emperor Frederick, who 
 strongly disapproves of the persecution of people 
 for religious motives, and he is our friend, as he has 
 proven repeatedly, and finally, neither he nor the 
 King are really the rulers. The man who is the 
 king in truth, although he is not on the throne, is 
 George Podiebrad, the leader of the Hussites. 
 
 Peth. — He is an arch-rebel. Curse to those who 
 aid him. We Jews must be loyal. Fear the Lord 
 and the King. 
 
 Rabbi. — Don't get so excited in protesting your 
 loyalty. You waste it in the wrong place, and if 
 they want your money, they won't ask many ques- 
 tions about your politics. 
 
 Peth. — But those boys, with their temerity, 
 conjure up the fate. " Don't open the mouth of the 
 evil one." They ought to be excommunicated. 
 
 Rabbi. — We have no more right to punish the 
 innocent than to let the wicked go unpunished. 
 And what power is there in our discipline ? You 
 ought to know best .? Did you not obtain from 
 the emperor a privilege that no rabbi should have 
 the right to pronounce a ban against you .? 
 
 Peth. — Because Rabbi Shalom of Neustadt, 
 your own teacher, persecuted me. 
 
 Rabbi. — My teacher, of blessed memory, was a 
 man who feared God and no man. You know 
 what our sages predict for him who slanders the 
 righteous in their graves. 
 
i6 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 Peth. (frightened). — I did not, God forbid! 
 May he pray for me in the world of truth! But he 
 allowed himself to be deceived by my rivals in 
 business, to pronounce that excommunication, and 
 I had no other resource except imploring the aid 
 of the Emperor. 
 
 Rabbi. — You see how little such a ban means. 
 Why should I destroy its force by pronouncing it 
 upon young people for innocent curiosity. 
 
 Peth. — But you might preach to them, and 
 threaten them with excommunication if they per- 
 sist in showing sympathy with the rebels. 
 
 Rabbi. — Can I reproach them for exhibiting a 
 noble trait of character ? The Hussites are fighting 
 for Hberty of conscience. We cannot fight for it, 
 but we must hope for victory. 
 
 Peth. — Liberty of conscience! A bad word! 
 It covers all sorts of license and it is responsible 
 for the fact that our young people are looking with 
 gluttonous eyes upon the tournaments, and are be- 
 ginning to despise the customs of the fathers. 
 Indeed, young Shealtiel was caught practising 
 fencing at Juergen Trautenberger's house. 
 
 Rabbi. — And what of it ? 
 
 Peth. — And what of it, you say ? Should we 
 wait until he eats and drinks at their feasts and 
 worships their God ? . . . 
 
 Rabbi. — Before you condemn him.? Most cer- 
 tainly yes. I saw God-fearing and learned young 
 men in Italy practice fencing, and I saw good 
 mothers in Israel play the guitar. 
 
 Peth. — I feared these pernicious doctrines, and 
 warned the men of our community when they called 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 17 
 
 you here. But they said that Rabbi Shalom would 
 not have married his daughter to one who was of 
 doubtful piety. 
 
 Rabbi. — It was good that you held him in such 
 high esteem, or else you might have been accused 
 of bearing him a grudge for having excommunicated 
 you; and some go even so far as to say that you 
 approached the governor to have him veto my 
 appointment. 
 
 Peth. — They are my enemies because I have 
 won the confidence of the nobles through upright 
 dealing and have succeeded in laying by a small 
 amount for an evil day, and more so, because I insist 
 that the young shall not leave the ways of the 
 fathers; therefore I beseech you again. Rabbi, let 
 their sins not go unpunished. Don't spare the rod! 
 
 Rabbi. — I do not wish to wound you, Pethahiah, 
 but you know from experience with your own flesh 
 that it is not always good to use the rod. Leave it 
 to me. I must answer before God and men. 
 
 Scene II 
 Enter Fraidlin {excited). 
 
 Fraidlin. — Woe! Woe unto us! 
 
 Rabbi. — What troubles thee, my beloved ? 
 
 Fraid. — I tremble. I fear an evil day. 
 
 Rabbi. — Calm thyself, dear. We are in God's 
 hands. 
 
 Peth. — Did they break into any house ? 
 
 Rabbi. — Your loyalty does not seem to inspire 
 you with confidence. {To Fraid.) But tell us. 
 
 Fraid. — Many strange folks have come into the 
 
1 8 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 town, all heavily armed and fierce looking. The 
 streets are swarming with peasants, from miles 
 around, all wish to hear their great Saint, who, they 
 say, is working many miracles. They are telHng 
 stories that an image of the mother of their God, in 
 the convent outside of the gates, has been shedding 
 tears, and one knight, who always has his beaver 
 lowered, is haranguing the multitude, telling them 
 that King Ladislaus' life is in danger from plots 
 made by his uncle, the Emperor, who has been 
 bought by the Jews; and from the Hussites, who 
 wish to make all Christians Jews. 
 
 Peth. (trembling). — Did I not foresee it ? 
 
 Rabbi. — Calm yourself. Is this news to you ? 
 Don't we hear it every spring ? Don*t we pray 
 every night, " Lord, how many are my enemies r " 
 
 Peth. — But this time it is serious. Rabbi, 
 Rabbi, rebuke the young rebels. Denounce them 
 to the King's castellan. 
 
 (Rabbi shakes his head.) 
 
 Fraid. — To me it looks like those troublous days 
 at home, when I was yet a child. You remember 
 when they burned thirty-four in the market square. 
 
 Rabbi. — " Even though I walk through the Val- 
 ley of the Shadow of Death, I fear no evil." 
 
 Scene III 
 (Jekel enters hastily.) 
 
 Jekel. — Rabbi, it is high time that the Messiah 
 should come; indeed, I believe he is on his way. 
 
 Rabbi. — If you will foretell it without condi- 
 tions, I shall fain beHeve it. 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 19 
 
 Peth.— Why ? 
 
 Rabbi. — Because after the destruction of the 
 holy temple, the Talmud teaches, the gift of pro- 
 phecy was taken from the wise and given to the 
 simple ? 
 
 Jekel. — When the new temple shall be built, 
 do you think they will make me a prophet ? 
 
 Peth. — What do you want such an uncertain 
 job for ? I shall make you my housekeeper and 
 give you two rooms and one florin in gold every 
 month. 
 
 Jekel. — One florin in gold ? Do you mean it r 
 
 Peth. — Indeed I do. I shall make a written 
 contract. Call Daniel, the scribe. 
 
 Rabbi. — Do not mock at the poor fellow, Petha- 
 hiah. {To Jekel.) Tell us why thou believest 
 that the Messiah is on his way. 
 
 Jekel. — Because the gentiles must have seen 
 him. A lot of boys just asked me if I had seen him, 
 and when I said no, they jostled me and one of them 
 struck me across the face with his whip, saying I 
 must have surely seen the Messiah's donkey, and 
 that if the Messiah should not be in town to-night, 
 we Jews, all of us, would have a bad time, and they 
 mentioned you, Pethahiah, particularly. 
 
 Peth. — What did they say ? 
 
 Jekel. — Hans, the harness maker, said he had 
 promised his sweetheart a silk belt with a silver 
 buckle, and he knev/ he would find one at your 
 house just exactly to suit her. 
 
 Peth. — The harnessmaker, you say? I shall 
 have him arrested for his debt. But Rabbi, the 
 times are bad. 
 
20 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 Rabbi. — Indeed; may God protect us! 
 Peth. — Shall we not protect ourselves ? Let 
 Jekel call all the people to the synagogue early 
 to-night so that everybody shall be in his house by 
 nightfall, and let all the doors be locked and 
 bolted. 
 
 Rabbi. — This is the night which is guarded by 
 the Almighty. My door shall remain open so 
 that it shall not be a mere mockery when I say, 
 *' Let him who is hungry come and feast." What 
 dost thou think, my beloved ? 
 
 Fraid. — I shall do as thou sayest. But why 
 should I conceal it .? I am greatly disturbed. I 
 have lived through such an experience before in 
 my father's house when a horde of drunken fiends 
 burst into our room; and had it not been for a 
 priest, who covered us with his body, holding their 
 sacred image before him, I could not tell the story 
 now. 
 
 Rabbi. — Thou hast told me thy experience; I 
 shall tell you mine. I was hungry and shivering 
 when I arrived in Padua. The Adige was swollen 
 from the spring floods and I had to wait for three 
 days before a boatman would take me over, and so 
 I arrived in Padua on Passover eve. People had 
 left the synagogue and the streets were deserted. 
 I stood aghast, not knowing where to turn. I 
 could not speak Italian, and even my Hebrew they 
 would hardly understand. Then I beheld a house 
 next to the synagogue, the window^ up, a venerable- 
 looking man sitting at the head of the table, and as 
 the doors were wide open I entered, saying the 
 words of the Haggadah, " He who is hungry may 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 21 
 
 come and feast." I was received without a word 
 of questioning, and my God had brought me to the 
 house of Rabbi Malkiel, my sainted teacher, to 
 whom I owe so much. Wouldst thou turn away 
 a footsore w^anderer, were he to come to-night ? 
 
 Fraid. — I shall welcome him and praise God 
 for having granted me the joy of doing His will. 
 
 Rabbi. — God bless thee. God bless thee! I 
 knew it. And you, Pethahiah, cheer up, the Holy 
 Spirit does not rest upon a man who is of downcast 
 heart. Cheer up the poor by rich gifts, as you have 
 been blessed. 
 
 Jekel. — And don't forget your promise if the 
 Messiah should come to-night. He will come, 
 won't he. Rabbi ? 
 
 Rabbi. — If it is in God's time, he will. 
 
 Scene IV 
 
 Seder at the Rabbi's house. Rabbi, Rabbi's 
 wife, Jekel, Shifrah, and two students. 
 
 Rabbi {reading). — " This year servants, next 
 year free men." Oh, that our longings may be 
 realized! 
 
 Jekel. — When we shall be free men in the land 
 of our fathers, will I be permitted to pick berries 
 in the woods and to fish at the lake like the Chris- 
 tians ? 
 
 Rabbi. — Yes, and all other things which are the 
 privilege of people who are their own masters. 
 
 Jekel. — Well, it is about time. Yesterday, while 
 I was fishing and a nice trout was just ready to 
 bite, some boys kicked me into the water, saying that 
 
22 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 I should wash off the old Adam. I told them that I 
 had none, and for the holydays I would get a new 
 waistcoat. 
 
 Rabbi. — Poor fool, whose whole idea of freedom 
 is to pick berries like our forefathers, who would 
 submit to any oppression so long as they had 
 meat and fish. 
 
 Shifrah. — When the Messiah shall come, will 
 the Jews be allowed to marry just like the Chris- 
 tians without any permit from the governor ? 
 
 Rabbi. — This is thine idea of freedom ! Foolish 
 creature! The women of Israel in Egypt, for 
 whose sake our forefathers were delivered from 
 bondage, had no thought of advantages for them- 
 selves. They were content to suffer, as long as they 
 could inspire their children with the beHef in God's 
 promise that one day the whole nation would be 
 free, and not their nation alone, but all the world 
 would break the shackles of oppression. 
 
 {A knock is heard at the door. All are startled.) 
 
 Rabbi {calmly). — Is the door locked ? Have 
 you so little confidence in divine protection, which 
 is mightier than lock and bar ? 
 
 Shifrah. — Forgive, Rabbi. I bolted the door 
 because Golda, the servant in Pethahiah's house, 
 told me that everybody did so. 
 
 Rabbi. — Those who plot evil against us vrill not 
 be detained by a barred door. Go and open! 
 
 Shifrah. — I, Rabbi . . . I am a Woman. 
 
 Jekel. — Take thy torch with thee and nobody 
 will carry thee away. 
 
 Rabbi. — Why not go thyself, Jekel ? God 
 guards the simple. 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 23 
 
 Jekel. — It may be the city guards who want me 
 because I fished this morning. 
 
 Rabbi. — Who told thee ? May it not be the 
 prophet Elijah ? And he who gives him the first 
 welcome will receive the key to King Solomon's 
 treasure and take with him as much as he can carry. 
 (Jekel runs.) 
 
 Rabbi. — Israel, my people! They would not 
 raise an arm to fight for liberty, but they would 
 risk their lives for the sake of a piece of jewelry. 
 
 Jekel (returns trembling). — There are two 
 armed knights outside who ask your permission to 
 enter. 
 
 Rabbi. — If they ask permission when they can 
 command, let them enter. 
 
 Fraid. — They may be highwaymen. 
 
 Shifrah. — They are armed, O God! 
 
 Rabbi. — This is the night which is guarded 
 against evil, and have We not said, " Every one who 
 is in want, let him come and feast with us ? " I shall 
 make good my Word. (Starts for the door.) 
 
 Jekel (running). — Perhaps it is Elijah in dis- 
 guise and he carries Solomon's key. I will go. 
 
 Scene V 
 Meinhard and Jekuthiel enter. 
 
 " Blessed are they who are gathered to do the 
 willof our God." 
 
 Rabbi. — Your God ? 
 
 Jekuthiel. — Our God and the God of our 
 fathers. We implore your kindness for this night, 
 when we crave to take part in the sacred feast 
 which has been so long denied to us. 
 
24 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 Rabbi. — Fraidlin, my beloved, thy wish has now 
 been fulfilled. The wanderers to whom thou hast 
 promised to open the door have come. 
 
 Fraid. {agitated). — Will the strangers not 
 begin the Hagadah* again ? We shall wait until 
 they can join us. 
 
 Jek. — We shall join you at once. I am not very 
 learned and my friend is still less acquainted with 
 Jewish law and practice. Both of us are of Ma- 
 ranno descent. My friend is from the north of 
 Spain, and I from Toledo. In that large city I had 
 better opportunities than he had to acquire some 
 knowledge of Judaism, although both my father and 
 mother had been raised as Christians. From 
 my childhood on it was my desire to profess openly 
 the God of Israel, and my wish was near fulfillment 
 when I came to Padua, where the great rabbi, 
 
 Malkiel 
 
 Rabbi. — Malkiel, my sainted teacher! 
 Jekuth. — You knew him ? Then, the bless- 
 ing of that saint, who in parting told me 
 that the Lord would guide my steps, has become 
 true. He said it to me when in despair I had 
 almost resolved to take my own life. I had lost 
 faith in my destiny, for the Jews of Padua, those 
 who ought to have assisted me in returning to the 
 faith of my fathers, informed against me, to the 
 Inquisition. Oh, when I remember the terrible 
 
 moment 
 
 Fraid. — Take a cup of wine and speak the 
 benediction. 
 
 Rabbi. — Let him finish his story; it will give him 
 relief, and to us it will be an inspiring lesson. 
 * Ritual for Passover Eve. 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 25 
 
 Jekel. — The Christian hoys never kicked you 
 into the water when you went fishing in the mill- 
 pond, Sir Knight. 
 
 Jekuth. — They would not dare now. (Em- 
 barrassed.) What a peculiar question! There 
 was indeed a mill pond. . . . How do you come 
 to ask me this question ? 
 
 Rabbi (smiling). — Leave him alone. He is 
 harmless. Rather let us hear the end of your story. 
 
 Jekuth. — You may remember, since you were 
 in Venice yourself, that the repubhc was on bad 
 terms with the Pope ten years ago, and the Pope 
 would eagerly seek an opportunity to start trouble 
 with the Senate of Venice, on the convenient ground 
 that they allowed apostates from Christianity, as 
 they call us, to profess Judaism; and as my only 
 salvation I joined the imperial army. Once in the 
 army they could not so easily seize me, and as I had 
 learned to use my sword, and had won the prize 
 at a tournament under the Emperor's eyes, the 
 Emperor, who is a lover of Israel 
 
 Rabbi. — Praised be the Lord who has given him 
 of his power. 
 
 Jekuth. (continuing). — The Emperor took 
 personal interest in me. He told me jestingly that 
 I should beware that he might not find anything 
 Jewish in me. And, indeed, I had to conceal 
 my religion again, trusting in God that He would 
 lead me in the Emperor's service to Poland, where so 
 many of our oppressed brethren have found a haven 
 of refuge, and can profess the God of our fathers. 
 
 Rabbi (to Meinhard). — And you, my friend, are 
 you also of those who seek the Lord from hidden 
 places ? 
 
26 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 Meinhard. — Not speak much your language. 
 
 Rabbi. — Hable Vd. Espanol que ya le com- 
 prendo. 
 
 Jekuth. {quickly). — My friend is from the Basque 
 provinces in the North of Spain, as I told you, and 
 speaks little Spanish. 
 
 Fraid. — And how could you understand each 
 other. 
 
 Jekuth. — We in the imperial army speak all 
 languages a little, and so he confided to me that he 
 was a Jew, by repeating the v/ords which our fathers 
 teach us to use when we meet our brethren. Say 
 them! 
 
 Mein. — " I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, 
 the God of Heaven." 
 
 Rabbi. — You have come to us at a time fraught 
 with grave dangers. May He, who gathers in the 
 lost sheep protect the faltering. 
 
 (They continue the services.) " Praised be the 
 Almighty who has guarded his promise to Israel — 
 
 {Knocks are heard at the door.) 
 
 Voice {jrom without). — For God's sake, Fraid- 
 lin, open the door. Milkah desires you." 
 
 Fraid. — Rabbi, will you permit me to leave this 
 feast ? You know Milkah, the wife of Laemmlin, 
 the wayfaring man whom the soldiers killed for the 
 sake of the few pennies which he possessed, or 
 perhaps for mere sport and in order to satisfy their 
 brutal instincts. His wife, who came near faring 
 badly at their hands, was saved by the Captain and 
 handed to some of our people who passed by, re- 
 turning from the fair of Leipsic. She is about to 
 become a mother and desires my presence. 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA ^ 27 
 
 Rabbi. — The saving of a human life stands 
 higher in the sight of God than any reHgious duty. 
 If the poor creature feels relieved by your presence, 
 go; though I shall miss you sadly at this feast. 
 
 Jekuth. — May I accompany you, Wife of the 
 Rabbi ? The streets are unsafe at night and par- 
 ticularly at this season. 
 
 Fraid. — Thank yo.u, knight. The distance is 
 short and he who trusts in the Lord fears no evil. 
 
 Rabbi. — We are taught in the law that one who 
 does God's Work need fear no evil. 
 
 Jekuth. — It does not behoove us to argue on the 
 ways of God, but I saw my own father stabbed to 
 death on a night like this, when they surprised us 
 in the cellar of our house at the Seder service. I 
 saw my aged grandmother dragged from the cellar 
 to the street by her white hair, and then stoned to 
 death by an infuriated mob. 
 
 Shifrah. — Why should God, who is just, allow 
 such barbarity .? 
 
 Jekuth. — True, dear lass, but this is no ques- 
 tion for ignorant people such as we to answer. 
 God's ways are just, but they are hard to under- 
 stand. I saw the mutilated body of that poor 
 Laemmlin, who had the Tefillin on his head, while 
 his skull was crushed by blows with clubs. Un- 
 fortunately, I came too late to save him, but, thank 
 the Lord, I was able to save his wife from a fate 
 worse than death. 
 
 Rabbi. — The Lord has indeed chosen you to 
 bind up those that are of broken heart, and I am 
 glad that He brought such a worthy guest to the 
 threshold of my home. But to-night it is un- 
 necessary that you trouble yourself. Evildoers are 
 
28 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 not in our midst, and against those who come from 
 without, even your valiant arm would avail nothing. 
 
 Jekuth. — The Lord gave to David the power to 
 defeat Goliath, and to Samson the strength to slay a 
 thousand Philistines. But even were it unnecessary 
 let me follow her at a distance that I may have 
 a share in the work of charity. 
 
 Fraid. — You wished to participate in the feast, 
 Sir Knight, which has been denied you so long. 
 Why trouble yourself? The rabbi opened the 
 door to you in spite of our fear, because he felt that 
 the Almighty will protect us. Should he not in- 
 spire even his own household ? 
 
 Rabbi. — Let him have his will, my beloved. 
 Why should I not trust him, whom Rabbi Malkiel 
 thought worthy of his confidence ? Go in peace, 
 my friend, you will return soon. 
 
 Jekuth. — This would mean to betray my 
 caUing. If a woman braves the dangers of this 
 agitated city, I shall not be found wanting in my 
 duty. I shall guard the house which she enters, 
 until her work is done and she can return. 
 
 {He turns towards the door, following Fraidlin, 
 who impatiently hurries out.) 
 
 Rabbi. — You forget your bundle. 
 
 Jekuth. — It would burden me. My friend 
 will take care of it should we not return in time. 
 There would be no harm to me even if it were 
 forgotten. Our craft carries little that is valuable, 
 and that little is easily replaced when it is lost. 
 
 Rabbi. — Your going out and your coming in 
 be in peace. 
 
 {Seder service continues.) 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 29 
 
 " May the Lord grant us to celebrate other 
 feasts in joy and peace! " 
 
 {Wild noises outside. Service stops. All agi- 
 tated.) 
 
 Mein. {rising). — They me kill when me find. 
 
 Rabbi. — A knight and fear! 
 
 Mein. — Not fear when fight, but not fight when 
 not must. And bad people make you dead when 
 find me. 
 
 {Takes his bundle and hurries through the hack 
 door. Noise growing.) 
 
 Jekel. — Woe unto me! And I bought me a 
 new cap only yesterday! 
 
 Shifrah. — Thou fool, to think of thy cap, 
 when thy mistress may be in the hands of the fiends. 
 
 Rabbi. — Do not open thy mouth to evil. Let 
 us continue! 
 
 " To lead us from darkness and servitude unto 
 light and freedom — " 
 
 Scene VI 
 Enter Capistrano followed by a disorderly multitude 
 
 Capistrano. — Where is the child ? Where is 
 Andrew, the weaver's boy ? You must know, 
 for he was seen right in front of your house only 
 day before yesterday. It was the last time he was 
 seen alive. One of your accursed race gave him a 
 toy and lured him into this house. From the cellar 
 of this house his screams were heard distinctly, 
 about midnight, last night. Give him to me right 
 now, or it \Till be bad for you. Where is the child ? 
 
 Rabbi (calmly). — Seek it. My house is open. 
 
30 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 Capis. — You dare add insult to your crime ? 
 He whom you have crucified will find you out and 
 bring you to justice. 
 
 Rabbi. — I know only one God of justice who 
 may aflBict His servants, but will, in the end, let the 
 righteous triumph over his enemies. 
 
 Capis. — Do not triumph too soon! {To his 
 retinue.) Search the house from the cellar to the 
 garret. Look into every corner. See whether the 
 floor of the cellar does not show marks of recent 
 digging. Knock at the walls to see if they are not 
 hollow. We must find the little martyr. The 
 Holy Virgin showed him to me covered with 
 wounds, last night in a vision. Search diligently! 
 
 {The people search in all directions. Only one 
 monk and two armed guards remain. "Jekel and a 
 student make a move as if to mingle with the search- 
 ing party. Capistrano raises his hand menac- 
 ingly.) 
 
 Capis. — Nobody dare to move. We know your 
 ruses, you generation of vipers. We know how 
 you have rewarded the kindness of the Holy Father, 
 who, but a few years ago, moved by Christian com- 
 passion, recommended to the princes to treat you 
 more leniently. But you have badly rewarded his 
 clemency, you stiffnecked people, whose ancestors 
 have so severely tried God's longsuffering that He 
 cast you away from His countenance forever. Your 
 only God is the dirty Mammon. By your usury 
 you have driven the good Christian people, your 
 hosts and benefactors, to desperation. 
 
 {The searchers pass over the stage, stop occa- 
 sionally and murmur applause.) 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 31 
 
 With fiendish delight have you tortured the 
 blessed body of our Lord, bribing weak people to 
 sell you a consecrated host. Our God is not your 
 accursed demon of vengeance, but He will not allow 
 His holy name to be defiled. He has found you 
 out, proving your guilt by miracles. He has also 
 laid bare your murderous plots and deeds, when 
 you, sons of Belial, mocked at the sacrifice of our 
 Saviour by torturing innocent children. He will 
 bare your atrocious crime now. 
 
 (Two women return with frantic yells, holding the 
 body of a little boy in their hands. People return 
 from all sides and others come in from the streets 
 ■joining in the demonstration.) 
 
 Capis. {to Rabbi). — Now, you blind guide of a 
 blind generation, has your God of justice found you 
 out ? {To the people.) Did the Holy Virgin tell 
 me the truth ? She has shown her unworthy 
 servant too often tokens of her grace. Yes, 
 {pointing to the corpse) just so had she shown me 
 the poor martyr in the vision. Look here, how the 
 tiny feet and hands are pierced!! Look here how 
 his side has been stabbed! Look at these bleeding 
 marks on his forehead, caused by thorns! Thus 
 they mock at our Lord and Saviour, who died for 
 their sins, if they only had accepted him. Yes! 
 I can see the bright halo, adorned with the little 
 stars, around His glorious martyr's head. . . . 
 
 {Shouts from multitude.) — I can see it! Bright 
 as the sunlight! Five stars! How his eyes shine! 
 
 Capis. — I can feel that the numbness of my arm 
 has gone, which so troubled me during this terrible 
 winter in this cold climate — 
 
32 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 Multitude. — My eyesight is returning. The 
 gout is gone from my arm. My stiff finger is 
 whole again. My cough troubles me no more. 
 Glorious saint! {They kneel before the body and kiss 
 its feet.) Let us tear them to pieces. (Jekel 
 turns to flee, Shifrah faints.) Let us burn this 
 cave of Satan ! Into the fire with that sorcerer ! 
 
 Capis. — Calm yourselves, my friends. Your 
 Christian zeal is laudable and your indignation 
 just, but our holy mother, the Church, is lenient, and 
 above all, just, even to sinners. Calm yourselves, 
 or the accursed heretics in your midst will point to 
 your act as a justification of their own acts of high- 
 way robbery and sacrilege. 
 
 (Shouts.) — Shall these murderers escape punish- 
 ment ? They will bribe the King's judges. They 
 have brought the Emperor to their side by their 
 ill-gotten Mammon! 
 
 Capis. — Calm yourselves. No guilty person 
 shall escape. I shall report to His Holiness that a 
 new martyr has arisen, and you shall have a Saint 
 of your own blood to plead your cause in heaven. 
 
 (Shouts.) — A new Saint! Saint Andrew, pray 
 for us ! 
 
 Capis. (to guards). — Take this man in irons to 
 theFranciscanconvent, and the others to the King's 
 Justice, that he shall issue their warrants. Do not 
 take them to the city court. (Smiling.) There 
 they may not be properly treated. 
 
 (Shouts.) — Rebels and heretics, Jews and worse 
 they are, these Aldermen. We shall tear them to 
 pieces if they interfere with the course of justice. 
 
 Capis. — Go home, my children. We shall see 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 33 
 
 that ill-gotten Mammon shall not prosper, but no 
 one shall accuse us of taking even an enemy's 
 substance unjustly. {To guards.) Off with this 
 murderer. 
 
 Rabbi {who has remained calm during the whole 
 time). — I am ready, and my God alone knows 
 why He has sent this tribulation upon me. But if 
 thou hast the slightest feeling within thee, thou wilt 
 allow me to bid my wife farewell. She has gone 
 on an errand of charity. 
 
 Capis. — Off with him. We shall find her and 
 every one who is connected with this crime. 
 
 Rabbi. — I shall speak to her in your language, 
 in your presence. 
 
 Capis. — Off with him! Do not tarry! {pointing 
 to corpse). See the imploring look in the eyes of 
 the little saint. You shall have justice. Off with 
 that gang of murderers. 
 
ACT III 
 
 The Rabbi's Library. {Beth Hamidrash) 
 
 Scene I 
 
 Congregational meeting in progress. Seven 
 Councillors. Clerk writing. 
 
 Raphael. — No, and a thousand times no! We 
 must not stand idle by the blood of our neighbor! 
 This case is not the cause of a mere neighbor; it is 
 the cause of our beloved leader; it is our common 
 cause, for it is a plot against all Israel. 
 
 Peth. — It is useless to block the path of Provi- 
 dence. The trouble is a divine visitation. I 
 have warned Rabbi Israel but recently that this 
 levity of participating in the feasts of the Gentiles, 
 this fraternizing with those that are hateful to the 
 King, will bring upon us divine punishment. 
 Scripture and Talmud warn us against joining 
 rebels. You ask the Rabbi himself. The Talmud 
 says: *' God made Israel swear not to rebel against 
 their rulers and to submit to tyranny until He 
 shall deliver them, as He has promised." 
 
 Raphael. — And if they had laid the plot against 
 you, would you advise the same course ? 
 
 Peth. — I would take upon myself whatever 
 God has decreed. 
 
 Raphael. — And are you sure that this terrible 
 plot is not merely a prelude to an attack on our 
 whole community, to be followed by an expulsion 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 35 
 
 and spoliation, as has been done within our mem- 
 ory by the King's father in Austria. 
 
 Peth. — The monk is our enemy, but he would 
 not go to the extreme. He told me that the guilt}^ 
 ones shall suffer, but that no one else would be 
 molested. 
 
 Raphael. — Why not say it plainly, Pethahiah ? 
 You bribed the monk, and obtained his promise 
 that you will be protected. 
 
 Peth. — Who said so ? 
 
 Raphael. — You are witness against yourself. 
 Or what else were you doing at the monk's cell ? 
 Did you speak to him about the Rabbi and the 
 other prisoners ? Did you offer any ransom ? 
 
 Peth. — You need not teach me how to deal with 
 priests, nobles, and rulers. I have done business 
 with them for nearly forty years. 
 
 Raphael. — Then it is so much the more your 
 duty to give assistance in this case. 
 
 Peth. — It is easy for you to make appropria- 
 tions wh^ch others shall pay. How long ago is ^it, 
 that we had to pay a special tribute for war pur- 
 poses ? Then the city demanded one fourth of the 
 cost of the new fortifications. The Bishop bled us 
 for the cost of the restoration of the cathedral. 
 Who is always assessed for the greater part of these 
 sums ? Where is this to end ? To give large sums 
 now would merely make them believe that we 
 have immense treasures: it vv^ould be encouraging 
 them to rob us. The great Rabbi Meir, of Rothen- 
 burg, died in prison, and would not allow any ran- 
 som to be paid for him, because he foresaw that 
 such a payment Vvould merely encourage further 
 
36 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 exactions. If our rabbi is such a saint he will do 
 likewise. 
 
 Scene II 
 
 Fraidlin enters. 
 
 Fraid. — For mercy's sake, help. Help quickly, 
 for it will soon be too late. 
 
 Voices. — How do you come here .? 
 
 Fraid. — Do not ask. I shall tell you every- 
 thing later. Now is no time to tell stories. Help 
 quickly, or it will be too late. 
 
 Raphael. — We respect your grief, Wife of the 
 Rabbi, or else we would not allow a woman to come 
 into the council of men. 
 
 Fraid. — Nor would I have come were it not 
 that every hour of delay may mean death. But 
 now act before it is too late. 
 
 Raphael. — But your story might help us to 
 find means of rendering aid to the victims. 
 
 Fraid. — Be it so! I was called out of the 
 house during the Seder service to attend Milkah, 
 the wife of the wayfaring man, who was killed by 
 the soldiers. But it seems to have been a ruse 
 that I cannot fully understand. As I turned the 
 corner of the bath house, where the entrance to the 
 adjoining poorhouse is, I was stopped by two 
 armed guards, who held their halberds across the 
 walk. What they said I do not know; the fright 
 benumbed all my senses. Nor do I know what 
 followed, until at the door of the Ursuline convent, 
 a knight who had followed me from the door of my 
 house — 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 37 
 
 Peth. — A knight had followed you ? How 
 did he happen to be there ? 
 
 Fraid. — You had better not question me, 
 Pethahiah, but be sure that I have nothing to 
 conceal. 
 
 Raphael. — Do not mind him. He believes 
 that he has bought his own safety from the monk; 
 but I would rather be a poor man in these days, 
 in whose home nobody expects to find any plunder, 
 than to have coffers full of jewels and bonds. 
 
 Peth. — Who says that I possess any wealth ? 
 My jealous ill-wishers will not be able to change the 
 mind of our rulers who know my upright dealings. 
 Raphael. — Nobody has informed against you, 
 but you, trusting in your wealth, insult everybody. 
 Let Fraidlin continue. 
 
 Fraid. — At the gate of the monastery, when a 
 nun held a lantern before my face, I heard the 
 knight say the guards should leave me there and 
 that he would be responsible for this order. I 
 cannot describe my condition, although a young 
 and pretty nun spoke very kindly to me. I did not 
 sleep a minute all night and did not know what it 
 was all about until this morning a bailiff of the 
 King's court came, and announced to me that I 
 should be free if I would tell what I knew about the 
 plot to murder Andrew, the weaver's son. When 
 I told him that I had never seen the boy, and did 
 not even know of his existence, he told me of the 
 terrible things that had happened. The excite- 
 ment, added to the exhaustion, the sleepless night, 
 and the lack of food were too much for me. I fell 
 in a dead faint. How long it lasted I do not know; 
 
38 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 the nun wanted me to take a cup of milk, and when 
 I refused on account of the Passover law, w^hich 
 she seemed to know w^ell, she spoke to the bailiff, 
 who told me to go home but not to leave the house 
 so that I should always be ready for a hearing 
 before the judge, and that no one should see me, 
 except by permission of the captain, who is guarding 
 our quarter. 
 
 Raphael. — Your wonderful salvation may be a 
 help to our cause. Do you know that bailiff w ho 
 cross-examined you ? 
 
 Fraid. — I do not. 
 
 Raphael. — Do you remember the name of the 
 nun who was so kind to you ? 
 
 Fraid. — She told me her name. It was Sister 
 Scholastica and she said I should regard her as a 
 friend. 
 
 Raphael. — That might be some help. I know 
 the prioress of the monastery, as I sold there quills 
 and parchment. I have at home a spool of goldspun 
 which the nuns like for their sacred vestments. 
 If I should take it to the prioress, with the request 
 that she let me hand it to Sister Scholastica as a 
 tribute of gratitude, I might be able to talk to her. 
 
 Fraid. — Cease your usual backdoor methods. 
 The matter is urgent and the people are excited. 
 I trembled as I heard the threats when I walked 
 from the monastery to this place. We must have 
 great sums. Send messengers all over Germany 
 and Italy. Tell them that Rabbi Israel is in dan- 
 ger. Great sums! 
 
 Peth. — We must not encourage blackmail. 
 They would always demand more. I shall see the 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 39 
 
 prioress, who pawned her tiara with me, and if 
 she tells me who the bailiff is, I can speak to him, 
 I know them all. 
 
 Fraid. — But it vv^ill be too late. If you mean 
 well, offer security for a large sum, and in the mean- 
 time, messengers shall solicit contributions from 
 our brethren all over Europe. 
 
 Peth. — If it is a divine decree nobody will be 
 able to avert it. And I fear it is a divine decree. 
 God is just. I have warned the Rabbi against his 
 leniency to sinners. The Talmud says that a 
 leader is held responsible for the sins of his flock. 
 It was a divine warning that the Lord has denied 
 to him the blessing of children. 
 
 Raphael. — Shame and disgrace upon you, 
 Pethahiah, to wound a woman's feelings in the 
 bitterness of distress. 
 
 Fraid. — Thank you, Raphael, for your good 
 will, but if the Lord decreed it as a punishment for 
 my husband's sins, or mine, that we should be 
 denied the happiness of children, I shall thank 
 Him that He spared me the severer visitation of 
 profligate children. 
 
 {Voices.) — Right! He deserved it! 
 Fraid. — Far be it from me to requite injury by 
 injury. But you, Pethahiah, wished to know who 
 the knight was who followed me from my house 
 to the place where the guards arrested me. You 
 shall know. He had come to our house with 
 another knight, claiming that they were Marannos 
 and wished to celebrate the feast. My husband, in 
 the goodness of his heart, welcomed them at our 
 table in spite of my hints that he should be careful. 
 
40 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 It was this knight who brought the child's body to 
 our house. I suspected him all the time, and in 
 my sleepless night I collected my thoughts. I am 
 positive that I savv^ him, when I was a child, at my 
 father's house. He is Jekuthiel, your profligate son, 
 who has forsaken the God of his fathers. 
 
 {Voices.) — Woe unto us, for if it be he, he v/ill not 
 desist until he has ruined us. 
 
 Peth. {agitated and stammering). — You do not 
 know. You merely wish to Wound my heart, tear- 
 ing open old wounds. 
 
 Raphael. — It is probable enough. He is 
 known to have sworn revenge on you and on all 
 Israel when you drove him out of the house. 
 
 Fraid. — Whether God visits on you your sins 
 or not is not for me to decide, but you should take 
 heed, lest pride in your wealth deceive you. 
 
 Peth. — I have cursed him. Why should God 
 not have destroyed him ? He killed his mother and 
 made me dead to the world. He was my only child. 
 
 Fraid. — Must I, the woman, spur you to action. 
 Go, go at once. See what you can do to help. It 
 is the righteous who is suffering for you. If you 
 help him, it will be accounted righteousness in the 
 eyes of the Lord. 
 
 Peth. — We are lost. He will know no com- 
 passion. 
 
 {The council departs.) 
 
 Scene III 
 
 Fraidlin, in the study taking out an old jolio and 
 turning its pages. 
 
 Fraidlin {murmuring). — Father's book that he 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 41 
 
 gave Israel on our wedding day. {Wipes her eyes. 
 The sound of steps startles her. Jekuthiel stand- 
 ing before her.) 
 
 Fraid. — Do you come to enjoy the sight of the 
 sufferings you have brought upon those whom you de- 
 serted and whom you wish to make more miserable, 
 in order to advance your selfish and petty aims ? 
 
 Jekuthiel. — You misjudge me, good lady. I 
 harbor no ill feeling against you. 
 
 Fraid, — Do you beheve that I shall cringe before 
 my enemy ? Sir Knight, I am a woman. I never 
 lifted a sword. I could not hurt you if I would. 
 You can make me miserable, but you cannot make 
 me contemptible. 
 
 Jekuth. — You grieve me by your suspicion. I 
 shall not allow any one to do you evil, and, least of 
 all, would I act against the laws of my order by in- 
 sulting a woman, even a Jewess. 
 
 Fraid. — How kind of you to respect the women, 
 whose fathers, brothers, and husbands you hate 
 with such bitter passion. 
 
 Jekuth. — Again you do me wrong. I may hate 
 some of your people who deserve it, but I do not 
 hate your people. I may say I love them, although 
 my love does not make me blind to the fact that 
 their sufferings are deserved. A band of boys 
 cannot with impunity mock and so provoke an 
 armed troop. 
 
 Fraid. — And when there is no provocation, you 
 create it. Or do you, the son of Jewish people, 
 believe that Andrew was murdered in our house, 
 and thatwe perform such sacrifices annually ? Who 
 provoked in this case ? 
 
42 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 Jekuth. — You provoke by your very existence. 
 A small, scattered group too v/eak to defend itself 
 is a provocation by living a life apart from its 
 environment. 
 
 Fraid. — And so the only way for us to prevent 
 your irritation would be to commit suicide and thus 
 save you the inconvenience of killing us. This is, 
 I presume, what you call the law of love. 
 
 Jekuth. — I have not come to discuss law and 
 love, Judaism and Christianity. I have come to 
 offer you advice and assistance. 
 
 Fraid. — Assistance from you ? What new game 
 of deceit is this ? 
 
 Jekuth. — You are a vfoman, and a woman 
 whom I respect. You are in distress and your anger 
 is pardonable, but you must not, even in this con- 
 dition, attack my honor as a knight. 
 
 Fraid. — Were I free I would say that I shall 
 respect my duty towards one who is a guest in my 
 house. But is my remark more impugning your 
 honor, that the fact that you introduced yourself 
 as a Maranno longing for the companionship of a 
 Jewish feast ? 
 
 Jekuth. — I had to do it in order to be admitted. 
 And I am Maranno. Indeed, I cannot suppress an 
 occasional longing for the joys of my youth. 
 
 Fraid. — And this hospitality, so trustingly 
 bestowed on you, you used to ruin your hosts! Is 
 this a knight's honor .? Or did you not bring the 
 child's corpse into our house ? 
 
 Jekuth. — I did it for your benefit, you may 
 take it upon my word of honor. 
 
 Fraid. — How kind! 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 43 
 
 Jekuth. — Appearances are against me, but you 
 will at least see that what I tell you is so probable 
 that you will have to admit that it may be true. 
 You know that Capistrano came here v/ith the 
 desire of stirring up the wild passions of the mob 
 against the Jews. He needs this excitement in 
 order to arouse the fanaticism of the population 
 against the Hussites. He did it elsewhere. You 
 knew it, for you tried to protect yourselves. Do 
 me the favor to say that I am right. 
 
 Fraid. — If it soothes your pride, wounded by 
 my doubts, I shall say that it is so. 
 
 Jekuth. — Then you know also that if Capis- 
 trano had chosen to fire the mob against you here 
 as elsewhere, he would have attained his end. 
 
 Fraid. — Therefore you gave him the semblance 
 of a right, and to the mob a pretence of justice. 
 
 Jekuth. — I stayed the inevitable catastrophe by 
 giving the monk the opportunity of court procedure 
 instead of blind mob rule, and by carrying out part 
 of the plot myself I made sure that the plan vrould 
 not be disturbed by zeal or malignant passion. 
 
 Fraid. — If I understand you right, you meant to 
 protect me by placing the charge against my hus- 
 band. How did I deserve such kindness ? 
 
 Jekuth. — Leave the cause alone. You have 
 expressed doubt in the sincerity of my offer to 
 help you. Let me set myself right by explaining 
 the reason for my procedure. By carrying out one 
 part of the plot, which would have been done by 
 some one else in some other fashion, but with the 
 same effect, I gained for myself freedom from the 
 suspicion that I favor my people. I lured you 
 
44 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 away from your home and brought you to the con- 
 vent where you were safe from mob violence if the 
 precautions for the preservation of order should be 
 unavailing. I knew that my word would make you 
 free, and you can now do whatever is in your 
 power to save your husband, whose fate would have 
 been the same, if not worse, had I kept out of his 
 path. And now, whether I have convinced you or 
 not, I am ready to assist you. 
 
 Fraid. — Forgive me, Knight Conrad — so they 
 call you, if I heard aright — forgive, if I suspected 
 you, but my own liberation only confirmed me in 
 my suspicion. I do not know whether 
 
 Jekuth. — Speak out frankly. Wife of the Rabbi. 
 I shall not bear you any grudge for whatever you 
 may say. 
 
 Fraid. — I believe — I am convinced — that 
 you are Jekuthiel, the son of Pethahiah. 
 
 Jekuth. — And if I were ? 
 
 Fraid. — I would expect you last of all men to be 
 sincere in your protestation of friendship. 
 
 Jekuth. — And why ? 
 
 Fraid. — Because your father is the only one in 
 this city who bears ill will towards Rabbi Israel. 
 
 Jekuth. — And this, you think, should be a 
 reason for me to feel likewise ? 
 
 Fraid. — To be candid. No! Unless you should 
 believe to reconcile him by — 
 
 Jekuth. {laughing). — And you actually think 
 that my father would become reconciled to what 
 he calls my apostasy, if I brought misery upon a 
 man whom he dislikes ? 
 
 Fraid. — I do not. For whatever Pethahiah's 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 45 
 
 faults may be, he is sincere in his religion, and no 
 misery would be so severe that he would not 
 rejoice in seeing it inflicted upon you. 
 
 Jekuth. — That you think so little of my in- 
 telligence as to presume that I should so misjudge 
 his character, I can easily forgive, but that you 
 should consider my character so mean that I should 
 speculate on my father's filthy lucre by ruining an 
 innocent man who never harmed me, this grieves 
 me. It grieves me from you. Your face, your 
 eyes, the tone of your voice and the manner in which 
 you bore your misfortune would never have led 
 me to seek in you such unfairness, even towards a 
 deserter from your faith or towards a personal 
 enemy. 
 
 Fraid. — Forgive me. I did not mean to hurt 
 you, but you must admit that your offer of as- 
 sistance must appear strange to me. 
 
 Jekuth. — You shall not be left in the dark. 
 When I saw you on that evening I resolved to 
 redeem you. Your kindness in the midst of the 
 anxiety which the presence of strangers created; 
 your fearlessness when you were called to attend 
 that poor woman; that composure which you pre- 
 served when they arrested you; all this worked so 
 strongly on my memory that it recalled the happiest 
 moments of my life. I saw you again — 
 
 Fraid. — Did you ever see me before ^ 
 
 Jekuth. — It is many years ago. You were a 
 child with large brown eyes and such beautiful 
 black curls, the pet of the whole community, and 
 especially of the young men studying at the Yeshi- 
 bah. You were the only bright spot in that 
 
46 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 gloomy place. Had it not been for you I could not 
 have endured it one week, but finally, the storm 
 had to come. I could not stand the religious 
 discipline of your father, that constant bickering 
 about the most trivial affairs of life, vv^hich made 
 me always think of my father, who was so conscien- 
 tious in all these things, but did not mind, in the 
 least, ruining a hard-working farmer or decoying 
 an easy noble into his trap, nor even weaving his 
 webs to catch a brother in the faith who had 
 offended his vanity or had crossed his path in busi- 
 ness. '' Away from this rehgion," was my de- 
 termination. 
 
 Fraid. — But the sweet Passover festival made 
 you long for a Jewish home. Or v/as all this 
 feigned, too ? 
 
 Jekuth. — No, it was not. At least, not quite. 
 I told you that I like to recall occasionally the 
 memories of childhood. We study the practices 
 of peoples in foreign lands, but we would not like 
 to live among them. My desire to be at the house 
 of the rabbi was inspired by different motives. 
 In all these years when I was in Italy, first as 
 student, then as soldier under almost all the petty 
 tyrants, and finally joining Capistrano's crusaders, 
 it was your picture which remained the only 
 remembrance of my past, v hich I would not and 
 could not blot out from my memory. Do you 
 understand. Wife of the Rabbi ? 
 
 Fraid. — I understand that your new religion 
 made you forget the law adopted by it from its 
 mother, " Thou shalt not covet." 
 
 Jekuth. — Leave me alone with old and nev/ 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 47 
 
 religion. The only true religion is that dictate of 
 life, love, enjoy nature's gifts. This means serving 
 our Maker. 
 
 Fraid. — And you know of no sin ? Robbing 
 your neighbor, ruining his home, destroying the 
 sv^eetest memories of innocent children, all this 
 is no sin to you ? 
 
 Jekuth. (laughing aloud). — Sin, old bugbear of 
 vicious tyrants, allied with priestly schemers and 
 supported by a stupid rabble. From your father's 
 Yeshibah I was expelled because I was caught 
 practising fencing on the Sabbath. They would 
 have stoned me to death had they had the power; 
 they would have inflicted upon me such torture as 
 I V ould not allow to be inflicted on a vicious dog, 
 if the state would permit them to practice their 
 lav/. What is sin ? Your husband was busy in 
 the VN^eek preceding your feast, w as he not ? 
 
 Fraid. {embarrassed). — Why do you ask ? He 
 alw^ays is. 
 
 Jekuth. — What occupied him ? I suppose a 
 woman showed him a knife which stuck somewhat 
 loosely in the handle, and she wanted to know 
 whether she should put it into boihng water before 
 cementing it, or afterwards. Why ? Because to 
 use it in the wrong v/ay on the Passover would be a 
 mortal sin, and one who did it v/ould be punished 
 here and in the hereafter. This is what you call 
 sin! Sin! Sin! Using a fork or a knife with a 
 loose handle! 
 
 Fraid. {excited). — And your Christian religion, 
 with these saints who plot with our apostates to 
 rob and to murder } 
 
48 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 Jekuth. {laughing). — Do not get excited over 
 my Christianity, fair lady. You might be wasting 
 your theology on the wrong party. I am at present 
 engaged in butchering people who believe in taking 
 a sip of wine at religious exercises, while they ought 
 to leave it to the priests. You, fair lady, may not 
 know how wicked it is to desire a share in the 
 priest's wine at the mass. This is almost as bad as, 
 or perhaps still vv^orse, than using a knife on Pass- 
 over without v/aiting for the rabbi's advice on how 
 to cement its handle. 
 
 Fraid. — I pity you. You are as the blind and 
 as the deaf. You do not see God's work, and you 
 do not hear His voice. I pity you. My husband 
 takes life as a duty, to which he must give all his 
 forces. My father, whom you charged with in- 
 humanity, kept, at the risk of his life, wounded 
 Hussite warriors in his house and nursed them 
 until they were well. 
 
 Jekuth. — Believe me, Fraidlin, it was not my 
 intention to hurt your feelings. Your father was 
 indeed a good, a noble man. It was his religion 
 which stunted his humanity. 
 
 Fraid. — I do not bear you any grudge. Knight 
 Conrad, any more than I Would hate a blind man, 
 who, ignorant of his affliction, curses the sun be- 
 cause it does not shine. You were unfortunate in 
 your home. I was blessed in mine. I knew my 
 great-grandmother. She was more than four- 
 score and ten when I learned to talk, and one day 
 I noticed a bad scar on her wrinkled cheek. I 
 asked her how she had received it and she told me 
 the story. She was a little child when our people 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 49 
 
 were charged with having desecrated the host. 
 Her Christian nurse saved her from the burning 
 home, pretending that she was her own child. 
 She then saw her own grandfather and grand- 
 mother stand on the pyre and heard them sing 
 until the smoke choked their voices. She heard 
 them recite the benediction, giving thanks to God 
 Almighty, who had privileged them to die for the 
 glory of His holy name. I am a woman, and not 
 learned, and cannot argue with you about what 
 your heathens say, but I desire no more happiness 
 than this good woman had in life and death, and 
 I am ready like these ancestors of mine to thank 
 God who has privileged me to die for the glory of 
 His name. 
 
 Jakuth. — Leave me alone with this great- 
 grandmother talk, which might well be proof 
 that Hera Was offended because she had not been 
 given the beauty prize by Paris; it was the justifi- 
 cation of your remoter ancestors when they sac- 
 rificed innocent babes to their Moloch. What are 
 the dead great-grandmothers to us ? Our life's 
 instincts are the only divine commands. To your 
 husband only duty binds you. Stern, cold, Jewish 
 duty. You acquit yourself of this duty by pro- 
 curing for him that freedom which otherwise he 
 will never obtain. Answer honestly! No! Do 
 not answer! I can read your answer in the fine 
 lines of your face and in these deep, childlike eyes, 
 which proclaim the privilege of human nature to 
 follow its own behest! How could you ever love a 
 man who is a walking code .? A man who married 
 you because the law says he must take a wife ^ 
 
50 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 Who will divorce you in the no distant future because 
 the law says he must have children. 
 
 Fraid. — Knight Konrad! Is this the vaunted 
 etiquette of your order that allows you to touch the 
 most sensitive spot in a woman's heart ? 
 
 Jekuth. — How hard it is for a noble sentiment, 
 Warped by soulless bigotry, to understand true 
 sympathy ? What can a man be to you, whom you 
 married because the law says you shall obey, and 
 who married you because of the law. Law! 
 Nothing but that absurd, immoral Law! If you 
 would only listen to your best teacher! Your 
 prophet said: the only true law is that which is 
 written in your own heart. Follow its behest! 
 Fraidlin! I have longed, I have suffered, I have 
 brought what is the greatest sacrifice for a man of 
 honor — I have sinned for you. Does your heart 
 not respond to this appeal ? 
 
 Fraid. — You are a traitor to my — to your 
 people. 
 
 Jekuth. — What is your people to you? Be 
 yourself. Let your heart answer, and not your 
 mouldy law. 
 
 Fraid. — My heart has for the traitor of my 
 people only hatred softened by — 
 
 Jekuth. — Sympathy for the man. 
 
 Fraid. — Softened by contempt for the fortune 
 hunter. 
 
 Jekuth. — Wife of the Rabbi! you shall repent 
 of your words. My revenge shall be relentless, for 
 it will be the law^ of my heart. 
 
 Fraid. — Your threats have no terror for me. 
 I do not desire any lot different from that of my 
 people. 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 51 
 
 Jekuth. — Fraidlin! Your heart has not spoken. 
 Your heart is asleep. I hear steps. Consider for 
 three days before you decide! 
 
 Fraid. — I have decided. (Exit.) 
 
 Scene IV 
 Fraidlin as before. Scholastica enters. 
 
 ScHOLASTiCA. — Peace be unto this afflicted 
 home. 
 
 Fraid. — Peace is on your Kps and a double- 
 edged sword is in your heart. 
 
 ScHO. — Why so bitter ? I have come to offer 
 you hope and peace. 
 
 Fraid. — So did Knight Konrad. At least, he 
 called it so. 
 
 ScHO. — I do not know what brought him to you, 
 but I came, driven by the love of Him for whose 
 sake I left father and mother, for whose sake I 
 abandoned all happiness of Woman, and who has 
 given me His covenant of peace. 
 
 Fraid. — May I ask you how I deserved your 
 interest in my cause ? 
 
 ScHO. — We are called to attend the suffering, no 
 matter why they suffer. Our gates are open to the 
 wounded highway robber, who reached them just 
 in time to escape the grip of the sheriff. They 
 are open to the fallen woman, from whom men and 
 women turn with a shudder of disgust. We nurse 
 the victims of battle though they may have raised 
 their arms against Christ and His Church. 
 
 Fraid. — I am not guilty of such a crime nor did 
 I seek the protection of your convent; in fact, I was 
 brought there very much against my will. 
 
52 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 ScHO. — Indeed, you have not called me, but I 
 came. I came, drawn by the ties of kinship. 
 Like you, I have passed through the valley of 
 Vv^eeping, but I have found rest at the foot of the 
 Cross on which the Saviour shed His blood for all 
 mankind, and for His people above all. 
 
 Fraid. — Listen! What can your faith give me ? 
 It has taken my husband. He is all I have in this 
 world, for I have neither father, mother, nor child. 
 I may yet share the fate of my people, and still you 
 offer me as consolation the belief that the cause 
 that brought all this suffering upon so many inno- 
 cent people is the cause of truth and justice. 
 
 ScHO. — Hard as it may appear, so it is. 
 
 Fraid. — And you, in whose face I read the love 
 of truth and goodness, believe that a rabbi, who 
 teaches kindness to the dumb brute, would murder 
 an innocent child? Oh, if you knew him! 
 
 ScHO. — If I knew him! {correcting herself.) I 
 certainly do not think ill of him, but I do not know 
 all your practices; they differ in various lands. 
 And while I shall not say that these charges are 
 true, I must say that the God of justice has some 
 plans, even when He permits injustice. 
 
 Fraid. — It is a very convenient thing for the 
 wicked to say that God will turn their wrongdoing 
 to some good use. 
 
 ScHO. — Your affliction excuses your bitterness. 
 But do you not see that destructive floods will water 
 the soil, and that killing frosts will stay the dread 
 plague ? May it not be His plan, even by undeserved 
 suffering, to show you the way of truth and make 
 you look up to Him, whom you have pierced .? 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 53 
 
 Your husband is a man, learned in the law and 
 beloved by his people. Might he not have been 
 chosen to teach them the error of their v^ays ? Let 
 him study his own scriptures and he will see that 
 God sent His only begotten Son into the world, and 
 if he opens the eyes of his flock to this great truth, 
 then suffering will bring glorious fruit and your 
 lives will be saved. 
 
 Fraid. — You mean, sister, if I understand you 
 right, that I shall persuade my husband to accept 
 Christianity in order to save his life. 
 
 ScHO. — Not in order to save his life; nor shall he 
 profess the belief in the Son of God by word of 
 mouth, but by conviction, arrived at after prayer- 
 ful and earnest thinking. 
 
 Fraid. — If you knew our people you would 
 find it unreasonable to expect that the word of a wo- 
 man could change the views of the learned rabbi. 
 
 ScHO. — You may be the instrument chosen by 
 God. 
 
 Fraid. — And if I declined this call ? For I feel 
 that the only weapon left to us in this battle against 
 injustice is heroic suffering. I feel that your 
 boasted mercy is hypocrisy, that your so-called 
 battle for truth is but love of riches, craving for 
 power, and a fiendish delight in acts of brutality 
 hidden behind a pretence of humility ? 
 
 ScHO. — You cannot decline, for you are a wo- 
 man. You do not realize what your stubbornness 
 and your blind submission to the customs of your 
 people mean for your husband. He is on trial 
 under the charge of murder and of sacrilege. 
 Innocent or not, he will be severely questioned. 
 
54 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 Fraid. — He will answer by telling the truth, and 
 he has nothing to conceal. 
 
 ScHO. — Maybe! I hope it for his sake. I be- 
 lieve it for yours. But his judges cannot, dare not 
 take his word for it. 
 
 Fraid. — No witness, unless he is malicious, can 
 testify to his guilt. 
 
 ScHO. — You do not know what investigation in 
 court means. Your husband v,ill be put through 
 the first test. His hands will be tied behind his 
 back, they will lift him up from the ground by a 
 rope passing over a pulley and let him hang in this 
 way; and if he will not confess they will fasten 
 weights to his feet, increasing them every two 
 minutes until he confesses. 
 
 Fraid. {with a shudder). — He will not, for he 
 has nothing to confess. 
 
 ScHO. — If he does not confess he will faint from 
 exhaustion. 
 
 Fraid. — And then they will have to free him 
 unless they murder him outright. 
 
 ScHO. — You do not knov/ the world, sister, 
 although you live in the world, as they say. They 
 will put him through the second test. Do you 
 know what this is ? They will tie him to a ladder, 
 his head strapped tightly, so that he cannot move. 
 Strong ropes will be tied around his arms and legs, 
 and the executioner will tie the other end of the 
 rope to his body and throw his full weight upon it. 
 The rope will cut deep into his flesh, cut through 
 skin, flesh, and muscles, sometimes — I have seen 
 it for I have ministered to the poor wretches — 
 breaking the bone. Take here the thread which 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 55 
 
 you use for sewing, tie it around your finger and 
 pull the ends with your teeth as hard as you can, 
 then imagine yourself lying naked on a ladder with 
 sharp rungs penetrating your flesh, while you are 
 unable to turn even your head to seek relief, a 
 movement so natural to a sufferer, as you can see 
 when standing by a sick bed. Listen! can you, a 
 woman, think of your husband suffering such 
 agony without even attempting to rescue him ? 
 
 Fraid. — Oh, spare me, spare me, sister! What 
 can I do ? What have I done to deserve such 
 cruelty from you ? 
 
 ScHO. — I cannot spare you, for you must know 
 the truth, the full truth, in order to learn your duty. 
 I must tell you all. If your husband shall 
 survive this torture, there is something still worse 
 waiting for him. He will be put on the rack, head 
 dov/nward, and water from a wet rag will trickle 
 down his throat, drop by drop. Small as it may 
 seem in comparison with the physical suffering of 
 the second degree, the sensation of choking, the 
 sickness of the stomach, and the dizziness of the 
 head are far worse than any other pain that can be 
 inflicted on a human being. I have seen the most 
 hardened criminals, who have gone through it, 
 confess their crimes rather than go through this 
 torture again. Can you love your husband if 
 you refrain from attempting to do what alone can 
 save him ? 
 
 Fraid. — Sister, is this your religion of love ? 
 The most ferocious brute does not revel in such 
 devices to inflict misery upon its victim. 
 
 ScHO. — The world has its laws. Our Church 
 
56 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 does not shed blood or inflict pain, but she cannot 
 stay the secular arm in doing what is necessary to 
 punish evildoers and to prevent crime. 
 
 Fraid. — Is there nothing to save my husband 
 from this terrible fate ? 
 
 ScHO. — Nothing, except v^hat I have told you, and 
 you will do it. It is the advice of a sister, — of a 
 real sister. As Abigail Pineiro I was known in the 
 world. I am the daughter of an Italian banker. 
 We are not brought up as you are here. I read 
 Dante and Petrarch, played the guitar, and occa- 
 sionally made a sonnet. In Padua, where my 
 father had his business — 
 
 Fraid. — Padua! That is the place where 
 Rabbi Israel studied. 
 
 ScHO. — Indeed, there are students there from 
 all parts of the world. They came to our house to 
 exchange their drafts, and often — I am grieved to 
 confess it — tobororw money at high rates of interest. 
 My father allowed me to converse freely with them, 
 to read the poets, and to play music* When I had 
 completed my sixteenth year, my father decided to 
 marry me to a wealthy young man of our city. I 
 refused, for — 
 
 Fraid. — Your heart was set on one of your 
 Christian friends. Your education had taught 
 you to despise your people. 
 
 ScHO. — You are mistaken. I loved a young 
 man, a student at the house of the rabbi. I had 
 hardly spoken to him. He, perhaps, did not even 
 know me. I myself was not conscious of my love 
 for him at that time. All I know was, that I would 
 not be the wife of the man whom my father con- 
 sidered rich enough to make a settlement upon me 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 57 
 
 equal to my marriage portion. I detested the man 
 chosen for me, before I had ever spoken a word to 
 him. 
 
 Fraid. — And therefore you chose the convent ? 
 ScHO. — No, sister. My heart was still set on the 
 w^orld and its vain joys, and as my father was de- 
 termined to break my will, I determined to elude 
 him. I asked him to grant me a few days for 
 deliberation and with the aid of a German student 
 who often came to our house, I availed myself of the 
 opportunity offered by Yom Kippur,* when I was 
 alone in the house and fled to a village twenty miles 
 from Padua, where I found refuge in a farmer's 
 house. Money and jewelry I had taken along — 
 Fraid. — On Yom Kippur you took money, 
 which was your father's and drove in a wagon, 
 trusting your honor to a young man who is not of 
 our people .? 
 
 ScHO. — I had not turned away from the Jewish 
 faith yet. The young man who posed as my pro- 
 tector told me that he would take me to his home 
 in Germany, where I could live with my people, and 
 where I could earn a livelihood by teaching our 
 language and music. Soon, however, I discovered 
 that he desired me for himself as men do who look 
 upon woman as a toy to satisfy their fleeting passion. 
 Fearing the danger, lest, shunned by me, he might 
 betray my hiding-place to my father, and feeling 
 that by my action I had forfeited forever the love 
 of him whom I loved above all others, I went to the 
 convent where I found peace of soul and where 
 I buried my passion, though my love is still alive. 
 *Day of Atonement. 
 
58 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 Fraid. — And you never longed for father and 
 mother, or for the sweetness of domestic Hfe ? 
 
 ScHO. — You here are raised in a cage hke the 
 poor songbirds who would not live in freedom, 
 because they have unlearned the use of their wings. 
 You pass from the father's hand to that of the 
 husband, just as one of those birds would pass from 
 one cage into another, and after fluttering around 
 anxiously for a while begins its life over again, 
 picking the seed from the new trough as if it never 
 had known another. I was raised in freedom and 
 would not give it up. 
 
 Fraid. — And your present Hfe — forgive my 
 frankness — has it more freedom than you enjoyed 
 under your parental roof? 
 
 ScHO. — I have chosen it. My life is of my own 
 choosing and has a purpose, just as it would have 
 had a purpose had I found the man I was longing 
 for. 
 
 Fraid. — And you renounced all happiness of 
 woman for this man's sake ? 
 
 ScHO. — I did. . . . And do you know who he 
 was for whose sake I left parents, for whose sake 
 I gave up all that is dear to a woman's heart, for 
 whose sake I renounced life and renounced a pros- 
 pect for which the companions of my youth envied 
 me ? He was from this country. We called him 
 Israel Tedesco. 
 
 Fraid. — Sister Scholastica! 
 
 ScHO. — He is Rabbi Israel Bruna now. If you 
 love him as I did — as I do nov/, in spite of my vows, 
 in spite of the fact that he is the husband of another 
 woman, and in spite of my acquiescence in this 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 59 
 
 fact — you will do what is the only means of saving 
 his life. I hear the shrieks of agony as he is placed 
 on the rack; I see the executioner approaching him 
 with hot iron and with burning sulphur to increase 
 his pain. I see him gasp for breath, I see him 
 faint, I see him slowly reviving to become more 
 wretched than before. And you are sitting here 
 quietly, enjoying life and health, while every bone 
 in his body is aching — 
 
 Fraid. — Sister, if you really loved him you 
 would know him, and if you knew him you v/ould 
 see that it is hopeless to expect that he would re- 
 nounce his religion in order to save his life. 
 
 ScHO. — But if you love him you v/ill do it. If 
 you see the truth of that faith which the God of the 
 Universe has endowed with the power to conquer 
 the world, your conversion will be a source of grati- 
 fication to the holy man whose whole life is given to 
 the winning of souls. He will see in it a sign from 
 heaven, encouraging him in his labors, and he may 
 grant you the life of your husband. He will. I 
 shall unite my efforts with yours. Come with me, 
 sister; sister in flesh and sister in suffering! Be 
 my sister in spirit! The Saint will speak to you. 
 God has given him wonderful pov\^ers over human 
 souls. The light of truth will appear to your be- 
 dimmed eyes and you will save that life which 
 ought to be so precious to you. Come, sister, 
 come at once! 
 
 Fraid. — Would I not lose him if I thus saved 
 his life ? 
 
 ScHO. — How selfish! To think of yourself 
 when you ought to think of him and of nothing else. 
 
 {Knock at the door.) 
 
6o ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 Scene V 
 Enter Meinhard. Scholastica startled. 
 
 Meinhard. — Has my appearance frightened 
 you ? I hoped to find you here. I have been 
 longing for this opportunity for years. 
 
 ScHO. — I am here to minister to those who need 
 me; others may not speak to me without the consent 
 of my prioress. 
 
 Mein. — And if I asked for a short interview on 
 the ground of our former relationship ? 
 
 ScHO. — It would be the same. My duty is 
 defined by the laws of my order. 
 
 Fraid. — The yoke of the law which you boast 
 of having broken. 
 
 ScHO. — Mock as you will. I have chosen and I 
 have found my peace in the law of love. 
 
 Fraid. — That love which permits you to sneak 
 into peaceful homes and reward hospitality with 
 slander, plots of murder, and destruction. 
 
 Mein. — Forgive, good lady. Your reproach 
 does not strike me. Konrad invited me to see a 
 Jewish ceremony and a handsome woman. He 
 kept his promise in both respects. The only part 
 of the plot to which I had pledged myself Was to 
 disappear when noise in the street would forebode 
 trouble. 
 
 Fraid. — And the corpse of the child ? 
 
 Mein. — I knew nothing of its existence. I was 
 told that it was necessary to carry a bundle in order 
 that we may appear as strangers who had just 
 arrived in the city. 
 
 Fraid. — But now you know that this bundle 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 6i 
 
 was brought by your friend. Does not your honor 
 require that you confess the truth and save the 
 victims of tyranny ? I was told that this was the 
 first duty to which a knight is pledged. 
 
 Mein. — How noble you are, good lady, to think 
 so highly of us! If I came before the tribunal and 
 made such a confession they would say that I had 
 been bought by the Jews, and my testimony would 
 help you no more than your husband's protestations 
 of innocence. 
 
 Fraid. — Sister Scholastica, your religion teaches 
 you to gather in the outcast, but forbids you to 
 vindicate the innocent and to tell the truth when 
 falsehood is advantageous to your schemes of power 
 and wealth. 
 
 Mein. — Fair lady, if your preachment is meant 
 for me it is directed to the wrong person. I have 
 no share in these ecclesiastical quibbles. My cup is 
 not the cup of the Lord's Supper, but the cup of the 
 convivial table. This world belongs not to the 
 just, but to the powerful. Righteousness is with 
 the strongest sword and the weak cause is always 
 Wrong. 
 
 ScHO. — You blaspheme! 
 
 Mein. — Maybe! Some people call it so. But 
 when I knew you as Abigail Pineiro you were not 
 shocked by the reUgion which teaches that joy is 
 goodness and the law of life the law of righteousness. 
 ScHO. — It may have been through you that I 
 learned to see in resignation true joy, and in doing 
 good to others my highest duty. 
 
 Mein. — Let us not spoil this opportunity with 
 childish quarrels. The occasion is too serious and 
 
62 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 too rare. It will, perhaps, never return. I know, 
 I feel, that it cannot be your earnest desire to live 
 this life of self-deception forever, Abigail. You 
 despised me because you believed that I was 
 trifling with your life and that I wanted to make 
 you miserable for the sake of a frivolous pleasure. 
 Perhaps you were right then, I misunderstood you, 
 I misunderstood myself, I felt deeper than I knew. 
 Since you took the veil I have not had a moment's 
 rest. I accused myself of having destroyed your 
 life. I say it here^in the presence of this afflicted 
 woman. You take interest in her husband's lot. 
 The pathos of love has touched your heart; the 
 recollections of your youth have come back to you, 
 for you plead again the cause of your people. 
 You wish to see the rabbi free. Am I right ? 
 ScHO. — You are. Why should I wish to conceal 
 
 it ? r 
 
 Mein. — You wish to help him. I shall assist 
 you. 
 
 Fraid. — Good Sir Knight! The Lord has 
 shown you the way to our home. 
 
 ScHO. — Do you plan an act of violence, Mein- 
 hard, or do you expect to arm the enemies of our 
 faith against the Saint ? 
 
 Mein. — Leave your Saint alone! I have fol- 
 lowed his army long enough to know something 
 about his saintliness. 
 
 ScHO. — Beware, Knight Meinhard! No one 
 will put forth his hand against the Lord's anointed, 
 and be guiltless! 
 
 Mein. — Don't worry, Abigail. He may go on 
 and heal the lame and the blind, as far as I am 
 concerned. 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 63 
 
 Fraid. — Oh, pray, pray tell me what I — what 
 can be done to free my husband ? Shall I go to the 
 priest ? 
 
 Mein. — It would be of no avail. He knows no 
 human feelings. But I can influence him. My 
 father is the burgomaster and hates Capistrano. 
 He hates that fanaticism which uses the Jews as 
 scapegoats in order to cater to the low instincts 
 of the rabble. He denounces the policy which 
 drives them to usury, and then murders and robs 
 them for that crime. 
 
 Fraid. — Oh, you are the first Christian I met 
 v/ho is just to our people. How often has my 
 husband denounced the merciless usurers! 
 
 Mein. — You may perhaps overestimate my 
 love for Israel and my faith in their goodness, for I, 
 or rather my father, paid dear for their readiness 
 to help. Sister Scholastica would be able to tell 
 you something about it, had her father allowed her 
 some insight into his books. Two soldi for every 
 scudo a week. I had to pay when I had spent my 
 money before the next draft arrived, and sure 
 enough, that happened each time. 
 
 ScHO. — You know that I had no share in his 
 business transactions. 
 
 Mein. — I readily grant it, Abigail, but I loved you 
 in spite of all that. I went to your father's bank, 
 although Samson Monselice offered me a loan at 
 one soldo. I went to your father because I wished to 
 see you, and for your sake to-day I shall do my 
 best to save the Rabbi. 
 
 Fraid. — You spoke to me as a sister, give him a 
 word of encouragement. 
 
64 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 Mein. — My father stays the rebelHon. Some 
 Councillors and many of the city people are for the 
 Hussites. If my father will threaten to join them, 
 should the disorder not be checked, Capistrano will 
 release his victims. Your saint possesses some 
 practical wisdom and does not always trust in his 
 miracles. 
 
 ScHO. — And you will advise your father to 
 threaten brother John with such intentions ? 
 
 Mein.— I will. 
 
 ScHO. — And what part shall I play in this 
 scheme ? 
 
 Mein. — None whatever! You shall rend the 
 veil which obscures your eyes. You shall open 
 your heart and be what you have been. I shall con- 
 ceal you safely with me for a few weeks and then 
 you shall follow me to your sunny home. I shall 
 go as ambassador to the Court of Naples. No one 
 will know you there, and you will live the life of 
 w^hich you dreamed when I first saw you. 
 
 ScHO. — Knight Meinhard, you misjudge me. 
 I shall preserve the peace of my soul, even at the 
 cost of that life for which I would gladly lay down 
 my own. 
 
 Fraid. — O sister, did you not teach me to sink 
 myself before him whom I love ? 
 
 ScHO. — I cannot. I can give my Hfe, but not 
 my soul. 
 
 Mein. — Do you know Rabbi Israel ? 
 
 ScHO. — I did know him when I was very young. 
 
 Mein. — You were a woman then, and woman 
 you remained even in your cloister. The law of 
 your order is the law of your life. Abigail, I can 
 understand you. 
 
ACT IV 
 
 Scene I 
 
 Chapel in the Franciscan convent. Scholastica, 
 Capistrano. 
 
 Scholastica {kneeling before the confessional). — 
 Man of God, I accuse myself of sinful lust. I had 
 hoped to deaden the flesh when I took the veil, and 
 for years I thought that I had succeeded. But 
 since I followed your host, desirous of living in the 
 shadow of your sancity, and to minister unto the sick 
 and the wounded of your army, the world has risen 
 in me anew. 
 
 Capistrano. — Did you implore the aid of the 
 Holy Virgin, my daughter ? 
 
 ScHO. — At night, when my thoughts troubled 
 me, I slipped out of my cell into the church and 
 knelt at the altar of the Mater Dolorosa. By the 
 dim light of the oil lamp, which some pious 
 Christian had placed before the picture, I noticed 
 a stern look of rebuke in her eyes. 
 
 Capis. — You must not be deterred by such a sign. 
 It may be a mere delusion, produced by Satan, who 
 troubles your soul. 
 
 ScHO.— Holy man of God, it was not a delusion. 
 I saw it as distinctly as I used to see the expression 
 of pain, coupled with compassion, in the face of my 
 mother when she rebuked me. I could see the 
 frown on her forehead and the motion of her eyes 
 as I can see the lines on your face now. 
 
66 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 Capis. — Suppose it were so. Implore the aid 
 of the Holy Virgin again, pray to her in earnestness 
 and zeal. 
 
 ScHO. — I did, night after night. I prayed to 
 her, who had given up her Son to a death of igno- 
 miny, because it was the will of the Father. I im- 
 plored her to teach me to despise the world for the 
 Son's sake. 
 
 Capis.— And ? 
 
 ScHO. — It came as a ray of benign light from 
 her eyes, and, comforted, I returned to my cell. 
 
 Capis. — Thou hast been deemed worthy of a 
 sign of grace, my daughter. Did this sign ever 
 repeat itself? 
 
 ScHO. — It did not, and this makes me more 
 miserable. It began Wednesday of the Passion 
 week, just that night when the trouble arose with 
 the Jews. The following night I v/as sorely 
 tempted by the Evil One. I could hear the sweet 
 tones of the lute, and I sav^^ myself on the hills 
 around Lake Como. I saw the vintner's feast with 
 dancing and singing girls. I sav7 my father at the 
 table covered with dainties, and the brass candela- 
 bra over it, making the room radiant with light. 
 I saw my mother, dressed in white silk with a pearl 
 necklace and a gold brooch at her neck. She held 
 her arms open as she used to do when I was a child. 
 Horrorstricken, I fled to the church and knelt be- 
 fore the picture. But all that I saw was a stern 
 look of reproach, and my mother passing between 
 me and the Virgin, stretching out her arms, and 
 since that night my peace has gone. 
 
 Capis. — Thou hast forgotten the Saviour's 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 67 
 
 words : " I have no mother." It is Satan's old trick 
 of tickhng the flesh. Didst thou chastise thy flesh ? 
 
 ScHO. — I did, holy man of God. I fasted and 
 lashed myself till the blood streamed dov n my 
 back; and this morning, during the mass, I fainted 
 from exhaustion, so that the mother superior for- 
 bade me to continue my penance. 
 
 Capis. — Hast thou voWed to continue this life 
 of penance ? 
 
 ScHO. — I have. 
 
 Capis. — And thou wishest to be released of thy 
 vows .? 
 
 ScHO. — No, saintly father! I asked the mother 
 superior to let me seek thy advice. Man of God, 
 I have seen thee heal the blind and the lame. May 
 I not say unto thee, even as the poor sinner said 
 unto our glorious Saviour, "Help myunbehef ?" 
 
 Capis. — Satan conjured up before thee the pic- 
 tures of thy father and thy mother. Didst thou not 
 see any other vision ? Conceal nothing from me, 
 A little fact may help to show the crevice through 
 which Satan enters thy soul. 
 
 ScHO. — I conceal nothing, man of God. How 
 could I, asking thy help ? 
 
 Capis. — Have thy thoughts returned to a friend 
 of thy youth, for whose sake thou hast sought refuge 
 behind the sacred walls of the convent ? 
 
 ScHO. — My father, thine eye penetrates into the 
 innermost chambers of my heart, although, v. hen 
 I chose the life of holiness it was not for man's sake. 
 I had lost the faith of my fathers, and my heart 
 panted for the real joy of life, v'hich neither music 
 nor poetry nor the convivial table could give me. 
 
68 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 I was disgusted with the selfishness of men, who 
 recklessly sacrificed the lives of women to their 
 crude, carnal pleasures, and therefore I resolved to 
 live for others. 
 
 Capis. — Examine thyself closely, my daughter. 
 Were all the men whom thou hast met in the world 
 so selfish as thou hast described them .? 
 
 ScHO. — When a mere child, not being quite 
 fifteen, I kne\v a man who was as near Christian 
 perfection as any one of our people could come. 
 He was always calm, desiring no earthly advantage 
 for himself, and always willing to help others. He 
 never had an unkind word even for Christians, 
 who treated us not as Christ said we should treat 
 our enemies. 
 
 Capis. — Didst thou enter the monastery because 
 he spurned thee ? 
 
 ScHO. — He never knew of my affection, nor did 
 I know" of it myself, until my father wanted me to 
 marry another man. 
 
 Capis. — What brought thy thoughts back to 
 him at this time ? 
 
 ScHO. — I learned that he was in danger and the 
 desire has come over me, not to possess, but to 
 help him. 
 
 Capis. — Why is he in danger ? 
 
 ScHO. — God has given thee the power to read 
 men's souls. I would not conceal aught before 
 thee. I am speaking of Rabbi Israel. 
 
 Capis. {startled). — Israel ? That son of Belial .? 
 Dost thou know that he is charged with the heinous 
 crime of murder and blasphemy, that he crucified 
 an innocent child in order to mock our belief in the 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 69 
 
 sacrifice of Jesus, who offered up His body in order 
 that mankind shall be redeemed from sin ? 
 
 ScHO. — Holy man of God, I owe thee my life. 
 Thou hast shown me the path of truth, but in this 
 case thou art mistaken. I do not.know whether 
 Jews ever perpetrated such an abomination. 
 
 Capis. — Is Satan beginning to lure thee back 
 to the atrocious superstitions of thy youth ? 
 
 ScHO. — Superstition. Let me confess it. I 
 saw a great deal of it at home. They used to save 
 a piece of their unleavened bread from Easter to 
 Easter, saying that it was a protection against evil 
 spirits. And sometimes I think that what I see 
 about relics and sacred water is not different. 
 
 Capis. — My daughter, my daughter! Satan has 
 widened the crevice in thy heart and can enter it 
 freely. 
 
 ScHO. — My father. Help my unbelief, and I 
 shall bhndly follow thy teachings for the Holy 
 Virgin has chosen thee to open the eyes of the blind. 
 
 Capis. {-flattered). — Apage, Satanas. {Making the 
 sign of the cross.) Thou canst not win me over by 
 flattery. How knowest thou ? 
 
 ScHO. — When the Holy Virgin smiled on me in 
 that one glorious night, her eyes turned in the di- 
 rection of St. Francis's altar. I followed her, and 
 in the midnight darkness of the church I could see 
 thy figure loom up, and I saw St. Francis lifting up 
 his hands to bless thee. 
 
 Capis. — Art thou sure this was not a delusion ? 
 
 ScHO. — My father, it was a vision, as clear as the 
 appearance of the Holy Virgin. 
 
 Capis. — And thou couldst testify to it before the 
 bishop and the brothers of the convent r 
 
70 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 ScHO. — I can and I will, as I hope that by the 
 grace of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy 
 Ghost, and by the grace of the Holy Virgin, and the 
 intercession of the saints, I shall enter the king- 
 dom of heaven. 
 
 Capis. — Thy faith is strong, my daughter, and I 
 trust, that whatever Satan's wiles may be, they v, ill 
 never entice thee away from the path of Christ. 
 
 ScHO. — And mayest thou be my guide in all 
 temptation, thou beloved disciple of thy master, 
 St. Francis. But thou who knowest human 
 hearts as no other man does, wilt know that I 
 speak the truth when I declare that I never saw 
 nor heard, in my Jewish life, of any law or custom 
 demanding the sacrifice of Christian children. 
 
 Capis. — They are shrewd, these sons of hell, 
 and know how to hide their practices from those 
 who might betray them. 
 
 ScHO. — Even if they do practice such horrors, 
 I am sure that this man Israel is incapable of doing 
 so. I saw him plunge into a swollen stream, and, 
 at the peril of his life, rescue a Christian child, 
 that was being carried away by the flood. I saw 
 him during the terrible plague carry food and 
 water to the stricken houses which many Christians 
 were afraid to approach. 
 
 Capis. — If this man, while sitting in darkness, 
 practises Christian virtues, may he not be brought 
 into the full light of the truth ? Perhaps he is 
 chosen to lift the veil from the eyes of his people. 
 
 ScHO. — I spoke to his wife about it, but she 
 would not listen. 
 
 Capis. — Thou must not slacken in the service 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 71 
 
 of the Lord. It is the arch enemy, again, who 
 whispers in thine ear that all thine efforts are bound 
 to be futile. Perhaps thy doubts and thy torments 
 are divinely ordained to help thee win a precious 
 soul for Christ, who holds out His hand to a re- 
 bellious people. 
 
 ScHO. — Canst thou hold out no other hope ? 
 Canst thou show me no ray of light ? Holy man 
 of God, whom the Mother of God pointed out to 
 me as the healer of my soul, canst thou offer no 
 balm for my wound ? 
 
 Capis. — God is merciful to sinners. He will 
 let no soul perish that trusteth in Him. Offer 
 Him the gift of thy heart. Ask the Virgin of per- 
 petual help to give thee strength to do thy duty. 
 
 ScHO. — My father, is there no hope for the 
 innocent victim ? 
 
 Capis. — The soul that sinneth will die, death 
 temporal and eternal. 
 
 Scene II 
 
 Capistrano leaves the confessional suddenly. 
 Meinhard and Fraidlin have shortly before en- 
 tered the chapel and remained in the background. 
 As Capistrano leaves the confessional, Meinhard 
 advances. 
 
 Meinhard. — My father, thou art wise as thou 
 art pious and wilt not despise a word of warning 
 when it comes from the humblest of thy children. 
 
 Capis. — The wisdom of the world is strange to 
 me. " I glory in the foolishness of God, which is 
 
72 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 wiser than men." What you men of the sword 
 and of the council offer as wisdom is to yield right 
 before might. But whom bringest thou here ? 
 
 Mein. — She is of Israel's benighted children, 
 the wife of the man who faces death for murder 
 and blasphemy. 
 
 Capis. — The wife of the Rabbi, that arch-fiend, 
 who tortured an innocent child to death ? If thou 
 comest to offer money in ransom thou comest in 
 vain. If thou hopest pardon, tell me what thou 
 knowest; but the whole truth ! No subterfuges ! 
 
 Fraid. — The whole truth ! Well then. As thou 
 believest to obey the call of my master, my husband 
 is innocent. 
 
 Capis. — And in order to tell me this thou hast 
 brought Knight Meinhard as witness. A suspicious 
 witness indeed! One who was found in thy com- 
 pany when the deed was committed; a Christian 
 who forgot his obligations so far as to participate, 
 and be it merely as a passive bystander in the feast 
 of Satan. A son of our Holy Church who is not 
 altogether free from the suspicion of heresy! 
 
 Mein. — Father! This to me who has taken the 
 cross and sworn to stamp out heresy ? 
 
 Capis. — Just the same, there are wolves in the 
 fold. Your father put stumbling-blocks in our 
 way. He refused to let me try these wretches be- 
 fore the ecclesiastic tribunal, wishing to prove 
 from musty parchments that our tribunal, con- 
 firmed by the Holy Father, is an encroachment on 
 the privileges of the city. He has even sent mes- 
 sengers to our gracious lord, the King, hoping to 
 beguile his youth. But the heart of the King is in 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 73 
 
 the hand of God. I shall prove that your father 
 favors heresy. He often allowed the heretics, in 
 spite of the warning of the bishop, to indulge in 
 their blasphemous feasts. The reputation of this 
 good Christian city has been dragged in the mire 
 through him, when he permitted these heretics 
 to march behind the chalice. 
 
 Mein. — My father has indeed not consented to 
 my taking the cross, but you do him an injustice 
 when you say that he favors the infidels. He 
 merely is opposed to severe measures, which, he 
 fears, will drive this city into the camp of the 
 enemy, because many aldermen will side with the 
 Hussites, and because your persecution of the Jews 
 will bring their wealth to the assistance of the 
 enemy. 
 
 Capis. — Has not this ungodly Mammon already 
 secured them assistance ? I know little of the 
 world. Knight Meinhard, nor do I wish to be 
 dragged into its unholy affairs. But some wit- 
 nesses in this trial assert that there are nobles, 
 connected with the most prominent families of this 
 city who have mortgaged not only their estates and 
 their jewelry, but even their very souls to the ene- 
 mies of Christ. 
 
 Mein. — My father, hovN^ you misjudge me! I 
 would not deny it, and could not, for you are a 
 Saint, as holy as any we invoke in the litany. 
 
 Capis. {with feigned humility). — Apage Satanas! 
 Do not tempt me, for I am but a mortal. Apage 
 Satanas! {Makes the sign of the cross.) 
 
 Mein. — Forgive me, father. But I may say 
 that I am a sinner and my debts are the wages of 
 
74 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 sin. Yet I owe nobody my soul. The man to 
 whom I am indebted — But you care not for the 
 things of this world. 
 
 Capis. — If they help to strengthen the kingdom 
 of God you may talk of them freely. 
 
 Mein. — This is above the plain mind of the 
 soldier. I should hate to offend you with worldly 
 talk. 
 
 Capis. — I shall not be offended unless your tale 
 be one of your boastful stories of sin. 
 
 Mein. — My father, God forbid that I should 
 thus offend your ears. You wrongly suspect me of 
 favoring the Jews for the sake of my creditors 
 among them. Listen then; the man to whom I 
 am indebted has given aid to the Hussites. Of 
 me he takes in order to pile up wealth; to the 
 Hussites he gives because he hates Christendom. 
 
 Capis. — And you did not tell me of this story 
 as soon as you learned of it ? 
 
 Mein. — I feared to trouble thee, holy man of 
 God, with affairs of this sinful world. 
 
 Capis. — You are very delicate. Knight Meinhard. 
 But tell me, is your creditor among the prisoners ? 
 
 Mein. — He is at liberty, for he knows how to 
 escape the watchfulness of men like you, my 
 father, who are too inexperienced in the ways of the 
 world. The aldermen are his debtors. 
 
 Capis. — Inexperienced as I am in the affairs of 
 this world, it would seem to me that these debtors 
 should be glad to deliver him to the tribunal. 
 Would you not think so. Knight Meinhard ? 
 
 Mein. — Indeed thou art a man of God, for thou 
 knowest not the wiles of this w^orld. If this Jew 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 75 
 
 be imprisoned and his property seized for the 
 King's treasury, these debtors would have to pay 
 to the King who would not be likely to show them 
 any mercy, while the Jew, as matters stand now, 
 has to make concessions. 
 
 Capis. — And the Jew ? 
 
 Mein. — He saves himself for the time being. 
 As to the future he counts on the Hussites, whose 
 new Fort Tabor was built with money extorted 
 from the Catholics. 
 
 Capis. — Are you sure that your desire to get 
 rid of debt is not at the bottom of these charges ^ 
 The Church will not tolerate the machinations of 
 her enemies, but she will not serve as a tool of those 
 who, by a pretence of serving her, wish to escape 
 the consequences of a life of libertinism. 
 
 Mein. — How you misjudge me, man of God, to 
 whom I looked up as the model of justice and 
 charity! 
 
 Capis. {murmuring). — Apage Satanas. Holy 
 St. Francis, banish from my thoughts vanity and 
 evil inclinations. (Crosses himself — aloud.) Wife 
 of the Rabbi, what knowest thou of thy people's 
 alliance with the enemies of the Church ? 
 
 Fraid. — I know nothing of what passes in the 
 world, outside of our quarter. My father taught 
 me to honor those whom God has placed in author- 
 ity, and not to rebel against them, though their 
 rule be harsh. 
 
 Capis. — Thou puttest thy words wisely indeed, 
 and showest good judgment. What is thy name, 
 my daughter ? 
 
 Fraid. — They call me FraidHn, father. 
 
76 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 Capis. — Fraidlin. This means joy in your 
 language. Is it not so r 
 
 Mein. — Indeed it is v/onderful hovv^ v/ell thou 
 hast learned to understand the barbarous sounds 
 of our northern tongue. This is surely the work 
 of the Holy Ghost, who has chosen thee for thy 
 great mission. 
 
 Capis. {murmuring). — Apage Satanas. Fortify 
 me, St. Francis, against temptations and vanity. 
 (Crosses himself; turning to Fraidlin.) Does thy 
 husband teach as thy father did ? 
 
 Fraid. — Certainly he does. And he said it 
 recently in my hearing to Pethahiah, the elder of 
 our community. 
 
 Capis. — This Pethahiah, who offered the council 
 a large sum to defray the cost of my sojourn! He 
 and thy husband are very close friends, I under- 
 stand. 
 
 Fraid. — Thou art misinformed, father, Petha- 
 hiah is not my husband's friend. 
 
 Mein. — Even I could have told you that, little 
 as I know about the spiritual affairs of Israel's 
 community. 
 
 Capis. — And how did you learn of it .? 
 
 Mein. — Everybody knows that Pethahiah re- 
 fused to contribute anything to the cost of the 
 rabbi's trial. 
 
 Capis. — The man loves Mammon. 
 
 Mein. — It is not this alone, for in such a case 
 the Jew considers it a meritorious piece of work to 
 help his brother-Jew. But Pethahiah's only son 
 became a Christian and the Rabbi is said to have 
 preached that this was a divine punishment for 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA ^^ 
 
 Pethahiah's sins, who brought the ill-will of the 
 Christians on the Jews by his heartless usury. 
 
 Capis. — Is this true, Fraidlin ? 
 
 Fraid. — Not quite, father. My husband would 
 not easily reprove a sinner publicly, but he told 
 Pethahiah so in our oWn house on the day of our 
 misfortune. 
 
 Capis. — And is it true that Pethahiah refused 
 to contribute to thy husband's release ? 
 
 Fraid. — This is true. 
 
 Capis. — And this heartless moneybag, who is 
 dead to the entreaties of his own people, is also 
 a traitor to our gracious King, and a supporter of 
 his enemies and those of our Holy Mother Church! 
 Is this so, Fraidlin ? 
 
 Fraid. — We women of Israel care not about the 
 men's business. I know not whether he desires 
 your victory or the victory of those who march 
 behind the chalice. 
 
 Capis. — This is their old trick of playing the 
 innocent, just as their spies had instructed Rahab. 
 Oh, generation of vipers! 
 
 ScHO. — Man of God, she speaks the truth. 
 The women of Israel are never consulted in affairs 
 of the community. They are the housekeepers 
 and bearers of children. 
 
 Capis. {to Fraidlin). — Have your people not 
 met Prokop, the priest who desecrated his orders 
 when he returned from one of his highway rob- 
 beries which he calls battles ? Did they not 
 furnish him bread and wine ? 
 
 Fraid. — I do not know. Father Johannes. 
 
 Capis. — Do not call me father. Call me 
 
78 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 brother, for I mean well with thee. Did not this 
 man Pethahiah expostulate with thy husband for 
 approving of your people's attitude. 
 
 Fraid. — No, brother Johannes. Pethahiah 
 wished these people to be punished and Rabbi 
 Israel said we should not be too severe with any one 
 w^ho did wrong. He never advised anything against 
 our King's will. 
 
 Capis. — I am glad to hear it, for thy voice has 
 the ring of truth. 
 
 Mein. — The Rabbi is innocent of any plot. His 
 life is turned away from the affairs of the world. 
 
 Capis. — Why are you so eager to plead his 
 cause, Knight Meinhard ? Will he make that old 
 Pethahiah release his grip on you ? 
 
 Mein. — I broke bread at his house. I came 
 as a stranger and he bade me welcome and seated 
 me at his table. It was the night when he v/as 
 arrested. I Vvould not wish harm to befall him 
 through me. 
 
 Capis. — Through you! You mean through his 
 devilish sacrifices in which you participated. 
 Those services of Satan bewitched you. 
 
 Mein. — Curiosity brought me there, but I am 
 sure the man never committed a crime. Let 
 Sister Scholastica answer. 
 
 ScHO. — The Knight speaks the truth. Rabbi 
 Israel walks in darkness, but he is incapable of 
 murder. 
 
 Capis. — So you said before. But if the man is so 
 saintly he \\ ill see the error of his v ays and find his 
 salvation here and hereafter, 
 
 Mein. — How I v, ould like to possess your holy 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 79 
 
 zeal, to feel that I am an instrument chosen by the 
 Holy Ghost. 
 
 Capis. (crossing himself), — Apage Satanas! It 
 may have been under the guidance of the Holy 
 Ghost that you, Knight Meinhard, participated in 
 the feast of Satan. 
 
 Mein. — How reUeved I feel, my father. But 
 while I am willing to lend my arm to the cross, my 
 tongue is weak, and my mind not equipped with 
 the learning necessary to evade the tricks of Satan's 
 arguments. 
 
 Capis. — I shall not put your faith to such a test. 
 Knight Meinhard, since Satan has such power 
 over you, but thou, Fraidlin, wouldst certainly 
 desire to see thy husband. It is against the law 
 that any one who is under trial for life receive 
 visitors. I hope, however, that the judges will 
 yield to my request and allow thee to see thy 
 consort. 
 
 Fraid. — Thou art good, brother Johannes. 
 May the Lord reward thee! 
 
 Capis. — And thou art willing to tell thy husband 
 that by walking in the path of truth and by leading 
 his people in this path, he will find mercy in the 
 eyes of God and man. Thou understandest ? 
 
 Fraid. — I do, brother Johannes, but — 
 
 Capis. — No " but," when God calls. 
 
 Fraid. — It will be useless. The women of 
 Israel look to the men for advice. 
 
 Capis. — Fortitude, my daughter, is necessary 
 in doing God's work. The disciples of the Master 
 were flogged and stoned and crucified, but they 
 wavered not. Your scribes and priests persecuted 
 
8o ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 them, but the Church is built upon an adamantine 
 rock. Everywhere, from the rising of the sun to 
 the going down thereof is the true God worshipped, 
 and a clean offering. Look at your people. Every- 
 where they are downtrodden, despised, and op- 
 pressed. Like Cain are they hunted from place 
 to place. 
 
 Fraid. — He knows it, father. But he told me 
 it was a test of our faith, and that we may truly 
 say, " All this has come upon us, yet have we not 
 forgotten thee." 
 
 Capis. — And were his heart hardened as thou 
 sayest, canst thou not behold the manifestations of 
 Christ and proclaim His kingdom. For thee 
 great things may be in store. With us, the women 
 are not dumb handmaids, thou mayest yet have a 
 place befitting thy nobleness of spirit and grace of 
 manner. Many a noble would be happy to pro- 
 claim thee his consort, and give thee a place among 
 princes. 
 
 Fraid. — Is this your advice, brother Johannes ? 
 That I shall forsake my husband and betray the 
 fidelity which is sacred among Jews as well as 
 heathen ? 
 
 Capis. — To infidels we owe no obligation. 
 
 Fraid. — Well, then, let me answer briefly and 
 distinctly. I Vvill not do it, and I would not if I 
 could. Rather than save my husband's life through 
 falsehood I would see him perish under all the 
 tortures that Sister Scholastica so vividly por- 
 trayed. Rather than save myself by betraying 
 him, I shall die with him and consider myself happy 
 to share his fate. 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 8i 
 
 ScHO. — My sister, thou knowest not what thou 
 speakest. Consider thy words. 
 
 Mein. — Give her time, my father. The Church 
 is long-suffering and merciful. 
 
 Fraid. — I demand no time from those who teach 
 adultery and plan murder. 
 
 Capis. — Well, then, thou shalt have what thou 
 desirest. {Opens the door and calls a guard.) Take 
 this woman into custody, and know thou, the door 
 of thy prison shall not be opened until thou ex- 
 pressest the desire to profess Christ : for thou art as 
 guilty as thy husband. 
 
 Fraid. — Innocent as he i^! 
 
 ScHO. — Have mercy, man of God! 
 
 Capis. — No mercy for the sinners. 
 
 Fraidlin taken away by the guard. 
 
ACT V 
 
 Scene I 
 
 Court of the Inquisition. Capistrano presiding 
 over the tribunal. Prelates, knights, clerks, armed 
 guards. Israel. 
 
 Capis. — Israel, you may still receive the grace 
 of a merciful God if you confess your guilt which 
 is clearly proven. Turn to Him, whom you 
 pierced, as did your fathers. 
 
 Israel. — I cannot confess what I have not done. 
 
 Capis. {to executioner). — Question him accord- 
 ing to the ordinances. 
 
 (Israel taken to the torture chamber. Groans 
 are heard.) 
 
 Scene II 
 Pethahiah is brought in. 
 
 Capis. — You son of hell, have you aided the 
 enemies of our gracious lord, the King, and of our 
 holy mother Church ? 
 
 Peth. — Oh, you holy and wise man, whose 
 wisdom is like the wisdom of Solomon, you cer- 
 tainly must see that this charge is a machination 
 of my enemies. All the members of the council of 
 our city, may the Lord increase their glory, will 
 testify that when I heard of thy coming I offered 
 a hundred shock groschen to celebrate this glorious 
 event, because, while not of thy faith — 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA . 83 
 
 Capis. — : Thou hadst sense enough to know that 
 thy sins shall be visited on thee. 
 
 Peth. — Our God gives wisdom to those who are 
 not of our faith, and power to those who are placed 
 on the thrones. Ask the governor how I, in these 
 bad times, gave three thousand pounds at only 
 three deniers a week to aid our glorious King in the 
 war against his accursed enemies, and now, al- 
 though I have lost heavily, I — 
 
 Capis. — A little later. Don't be too hasty. 
 And then answer directly. Didst thou give money 
 to that rebel against God and His anointed ? Didst 
 thou give money to Prokop ? 
 
 Peth. — Prokop ? I do not know him. I never 
 laid an eye on him. I would not allow him to pass 
 the threshold of my house. An enemy of the 
 King is my enemy, and sooner would I — 
 
 Capis. — Be not so profuse and answer directly. 
 {Takes a small piece of parchment from the table.) 
 Dost thou know this bond of Prokop ? 
 
 Peth. — No, holy man, I never saw it. How 
 could I ? 
 
 Capis. — Quiet! How could this have been 
 found in a hole in the wall of thy house, covered 
 carefully by boards, behind a wardrobe ? 
 
 Peth. — Oh, holy man, this was exacted from me 
 by violence. Six armed men entered my house 
 at night and placing the points of their daggers 
 over my heart, demanded that I give them fifty 
 schock. It was life or death, and so I had to give 
 it to them, and the bond I hid in a place where I 
 would never lay an eye on it again. I would have 
 reported it to the king's sheriff, but I feared their 
 revenge. 
 
84 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 Capis. — These wicked people, these highway- 
 men! 
 
 Peth. — So they are indeed, my father. How 
 truly thou hast spoken. 
 
 Capis. — There is only one thing I would like 
 to have explained. 
 
 Peth. — Ask, holy man, father of mercy, man of 
 justice, ask! Thy servant shall answer thee 
 according to the full truth. 
 
 Capis. — What about the interest of four pennies 
 for the shock ? Did they also force thee, at the 
 dagger's point, to accept it ? 
 
 Peth. {stutters). — Four pennies, Prokop, — they 
 — given to me. I never, never demand such a sum. 
 They mocked me by writing it. Thou seest it, for 
 thy wisdom is given to thee by — 
 
 Capis. — Thou never hast demanded such a 
 sum ? 
 
 Peth.— God forbid! The letters-patent of the 
 king allow three deniers and this is my limit. I 
 obey the King, for the King is put in authority by 
 God himself, and I fear — 
 
 Scene III 
 Meinhard enters. 
 
 Capis. — This is good; but {taking up another 
 parchment) this bond of Knight Meinhard's stipu- 
 lates five deniers on the shock. Was this also 
 written in jest ? 
 
 Peth. {embarrassed). — These young people are 
 reckless. They never pay, and one is happy if they 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 85 
 
 pay the Interest for two years. Afterwards, ac- 
 cording to the law of our gracious King, — may his 
 throne be exalted! — one must wait one year and 
 one day before the pledge can be sold, and often 
 it happens that the pledge is found to be stolen. 
 
 Mein. — You accursed son of the devil. 
 
 Peth. — O forgive, noble knight, I am not 
 speaking of you, for your honor is as free from any 
 spot as the white robe of the high priest. But you 
 see there are some, even among the knighthood, 
 vs ho take advantage of the kindheartedness of an old 
 man and bring him a pledge which is not their own, 
 and then, having lost the interest for a year one has 
 to return it for the sum lent on it. 
 
 Capis. — This does not seem so bad when your 
 capital has become doubled in the mean time. 
 
 Peth. — But consider our taxes, holy man! To 
 the King, to the city, and to the canon of the cathe- 
 dral! 
 
 Capis. — I do not wish to meddle with the busi- 
 ness of the authorities, and thou obeyest their laws ? 
 
 Peth. — With joy in heart! 
 
 Capis. — I wish to know whether this interest 
 stipulated in the bond of Prokop was stipulated 
 in jest. 
 
 Peth. (gaitiing confide?2ce). — Most assuredly, 
 holy man. How could it be otherwise ? 
 
 Capis. (taking another parchment). — How about 
 this letter of George Podiebrad, the arch-rebel, 
 who is plotting to overthrow the throne of our gra- 
 cious lord. King Ladislaus ? 
 
 Peth. — I never received such a letter. I can 
 swear to it by our holy Torah. It is the law of our 
 kings from times immemorial to respect our oath. 
 
86 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 Capis. — There is no need for such an oath. I 
 know that the letter was not received by thee be- 
 cause the messenger was intercepted by our soldiers. 
 
 Peth. — I assure thee, holy man, I should have 
 torn the letter to shreds, and handed the messenger 
 over to the king's sheriff. 
 
 Capis. — Good and noble! But listen what the 
 letter says. George Podiebrad recommends to thee 
 Ziska, the rebel captain. He will be surety for any 
 sum that you may lend to him, and in addition, 
 when he shall be king — listen, Pethahiah — you 
 shall have exclusive banking privileges in this city 
 and freedom of business in all royal cities. 
 
 Peth. — I ? To break my fealty to my lord the 
 King? Never! Not for all the treasures of King 
 Solomon! 
 
 Capis. — Good and noble Pethahiah! But I 
 did not read one line at the end. Podiebrad says 
 he is sure that thou wilt serve him this time as 
 faithfully as before and that thou wilt help Ziska 
 as thou didst help Prokop. 
 
 Peth. {stammering). — It is not true. It is a 
 lie. It is a plot to ruin me. I never saw Podie- 
 brad. I never even heard of Ziska. A plot and 
 invention of my enemies. 
 
 Capis. — How the righteous are persecuted! 
 The bond of Prokop — jest. The letter of Podie- 
 brad — a plot. And the murder of that poor boy — 
 another plot of your enemies. Your agreement 
 with the Rabbi that you V70uld kill the child and he 
 Vvould take charge of the blood, jest again. The 
 R.abbi confessed! Dost thou hear ? That confes- 
 sion — all jest! Jest, of course, jest! 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 87 
 
 Peth. — Confessed! He! 
 
 Capis. — Wilt thou come out with thy confes- 
 sion before they put the question to thee more 
 distinctly ? As distinctly as they put it to him ? 
 
 Peth. — He confessed ! The Ra bbi ! Confessed ! 
 Indeed! 
 
 Capis. — Thou wishest to confess too ? 
 
 Peth. — I have nothing to confess, holy man. 
 He did it all by himself. I learned it only after- 
 wards, and had it not been for our holydays, I 
 should have told the authorities. I should surely 
 have reported it the day afterwards, had the ter- 
 rible deed not been discovered. Oh, how miser- 
 able I was all the day! How my heart was 
 broken. 
 
 Capis. {to the guard). — Bring the Rabbi. 
 
 Scene IV 
 Israel earned in, bleeding and exhausted. 
 
 Capis. — Listen, thou servant of the evil one. 
 Thy partner has confessed, but he puts the blame 
 on thee alone. 
 
 Israel. — He is as innocent as I am. 
 
 Capis. — Oh, I know your tricks taught by your 
 accursed Talmud. In vain have the holy fathers 
 tried to free you from the snares of Satan. 
 
 Israel. — I am not wont to speak in equivoca- 
 tions. Pethahiah has no share in the crime. 
 
 Capis. — So thou didst it all by thyself ? 
 
 Peth. — Did I not say so, holy man ? My 
 enemy has cleared me. Thy wisdom has pene- 
 trated into his heart, and as I love and admire thee, 
 
88 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 I shall give thee the mortgage on Knight Meinhard's 
 property that thou mayest build on it a church 
 in honor of St. Francis, who must have been a great 
 and good man to have such wise and kind disciples. 
 
 Capis. — Is this perhaps jest also ? 
 
 Peth. — How would I dare to jest with such a 
 great man ? 
 
 Capis. — This is really a generous offer. We 
 shall see. Our saint shall have a sanctuary in this 
 city. I thought of it myself, and your synagogue 
 seems to me to be as good a place as any. 
 
 Peth. {frightened). — Our synagogue \ 
 
 Capis. — Be so good as not to interrupt me. I 
 have to deal with this sinner. Israel, didst thou 
 kill that child, pricking him with needles, nailing 
 him to the cross, pressing a crown of thorns on his 
 forehead, and finally piercing his side ? Make a 
 full confession and God will be merciful. 
 
 Israel. — As I hope in God's mercy, I did not 
 do it, nor did Pethahiah, nor did any of our people 
 ever commit such a crime. 
 
 Capis. — Pethahiah, thou hast said that the Rabbi 
 had done what he now denies. Dost still insist 
 that thou hast told the truth ? 
 
 Peth. {embarrassed). — I — I said he said — 
 
 Capis. — Clearly please, yes or no, unless we 
 shall question thee more distinctly. 
 
 Peth. — Yes, holy man, I said it. 
 
 Capis. — This means that this fiendish deed is 
 part of your accursed superstition and is done 
 every year. Hast thou ever done it before ? 
 
 Peth. — I ? Never! God forbid that I shed 
 innocent blood, the blood of Christians who are 
 my — 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 89 
 
 Capis. — Not so much eloquence, please. If 
 thou hast never done it before, v/ast thou not sur- 
 prised when the Rabbi told thee what he had done. 
 
 Peth. — Why dost thou ask me ? 
 
 Capis. — Answer directly. 
 
 Peth. — I — I do not know. 
 
 Capis. — How thy memory fails thee. We will 
 help thee to remember. (T^ ^he guards.) Torture 
 him! 
 
 Peth. — Listen, holy man, be not so hasty, for 
 thou art wise and the wise man does not judge 
 hastily. I shall confess everything. I was present, 
 but I did not do anything. Jekel, the Rabbi's 
 servant, gagged the boy, the Rabbi said the prayer, 
 and the scholars pricked the child with needles. 
 
 Capis. — The scholars ? What are their names ? 
 
 Peth. — Names! I do not know, I forgot. 
 They were strangers. 
 
 Capis. — Thy memory is beginning to fail again. 
 We — 
 
 Peth. — Oh, I remember now. They were 
 Hayim of Neustadt, and Aaron of — of — I be- 
 lieve from Franconia, Wuerzburg, if I remember 
 right. 
 
 Capis. — Take thy time. I see thou beginnest 
 to remember. 
 
 Scene V 
 Jekuthiel enters during the last words. 
 
 Jekuth. — Thou liest, old sinner. Believe him 
 not, brother Johannes. He lies for the sake of his 
 ill-gotten Mammon. 
 
90 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 Peth. {collapsing). — My sins have visited me. 
 My own flesh and blood rises up against me. 
 
 Capis. — What sayest thou t 
 
 Peth. — I did not see anything. I am old and 
 sick, and I feared the rack. 
 
 Capis. — Jest again! Let us see! He will 
 get his memory back. 
 
 Capis {to the guard). — Give him the first test. 
 Bring me Pasquale. {A strongs burly executioner 
 enters.) Here is work for thee, my son. We have 
 a hardened sinner. Tie him to the ladder and 
 throw thyself with thy full weight against the rope. 
 Never mind if his old bones crack. He has 
 money enough to pay. Bring the boy. 
 
 (Pasquale grins. Pethahiah howls as he is 
 dragged out.) 
 
 Scene VI 
 Enter Jekel. 
 
 Capis. — Thou dost know of what thou art 
 accused. Didst thou do it ? 
 
 Jekel. — I tried to but they would not let me. 
 
 Capis. — What didst thou try ? 
 
 Jekel. — To angle trout in the White Brook. 
 
 Capis — Do not trifle here, thou son of the devil. 
 Didst thou gag the boy ? 
 
 Jekel. — I had no chance. They grabbed me 
 from behind and had me on the ground before 
 I knew that any one was present. 
 
 Capis. — And then ? 
 
 Jekel. — Four others came. 
 
 Capis. — Who are they. 
 
 Jekel. — I did not know all of them, only An- 
 thony, the miller's, and Ulric, the swordmaker's son. 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 91 
 
 Capis. — What ! Christians ! 
 
 Jekel. — What else do you think ? A Jew 
 would not do such things. 
 
 Capis. — Do not play the innocent. What didst 
 thou get for thy work ? 
 
 Jekel. — Get ? Work ? What I got ? Beaten 
 I got, and my waistcoat was torn. A new one at 
 that, or rather it was an old one, but I had received 
 it that very day from Eva, Phineas the hideseller's 
 wife. 
 
 Mein. — Brother Johannes, you are wasting your 
 skill. Cannot you see that the poor fellow is an 
 imbecile ? 
 
 Capis. — Knight Meinhard, you are singularly 
 eager to defend the Jews. 
 
 Mein. — I cannot bear injustice, and though its 
 victim is a Jew. This old sinner, Pethahiah, richly 
 deserved his fate, though what he told here is not 
 true. That child was dead when it was brought to 
 the Rabbi's house, and all the wounds were inflicted 
 on a corpse. Master Eberlein, the surgeon, will 
 prove it to you. 
 
 Capis. — These Jews with their Mammon can 
 prove anything. Their ancestors bribed the guards 
 to testify that the Master's body Was stolen, and 
 that he never rose from the tomb. 
 
 Scene VII 
 
 ScHOLASTiCA enters. 
 
 ScHO. {pointing to Israel, zuho is lying on the 
 ground). — Holy man of God! As my Redeemer 
 liveth, I know that this man is innocent. Why 
 
92 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 should the glory of Christ be bought with the'^^blood 
 of the innocent ? The Lord has chosen thee to do 
 marvelous things in His name. Forfeit not thy 
 eternal bliss by judging rashly. 
 
 Scene VIII 
 
 Pethahiah is carried in. He has fainted and 
 lies with closed eyesy unable to speak. 
 
 Capis. — Has he confessed ? 
 
 Executioner. — He has repeated all his former 
 statements, and added that he gave money to buy 
 the boy from wayfaring people who had stolen him 
 from a farmer in Bohemia. 
 
 Capis. — This trial was conducted with all that 
 justice and lenience which has always graced the 
 Church of God. We shall not pronounce the 
 sentence of guilt until the culprits shall have been 
 given every chance of exculpating themselves. 
 {To Israel.) Dost thou still persist in denying 
 thy crime ? Remember that God is merciful to the 
 sinner who repenteth. 
 
 Israel. — Brother Johannes, my body is broken. 
 I have not many hours to live, even if you let me 
 run my course, and in the presence of God, who is 
 my maker and yours, and before Vvhom I shall soon 
 appear, I declare that I am innocent of the death of 
 this child, and so are all the others whom you con- 
 demn, even this poor sinner, Pethahiah, who in his 
 desire to save his wretched life turned witness 
 against himself. 
 
 (Pethahiah tries to raise himself and grasp the 
 Rabbi's hand.) 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 93 
 
 Capis. — Their hardness of heart has never left 
 these people, whom God has rejected because of 
 their ingratitude. They shall go to the place where 
 there is howling and gnashing of teeth. But they 
 shall not be condemned before all means of mercy 
 shall have been exhausted. Does any one present 
 know of anything in favor of these accused, which 
 has been overlooked in their just and impartial trial ? 
 
 Jekuth. — Holy man of God, this woman {point- 
 ing to Fraidlin) v/as maliciously accused by a 
 self-confessed traitor and slanderer. I swear it by 
 my honor as a Knight of the Cross. My duty as a 
 champion of woman's honor forbids me to say 
 more, but as this sword has been blessed by thee 
 for the defense of our holy faith, she is innocent. 
 
 Capis. — We shall take your word, Knight Con- 
 rad, if she profess Jesus, the Saviour, in whose honor 
 you have vowed to wield the sword. Jesus shall 
 make thee free, my daughter, free, body and soul. 
 My daughter, come and give glory to His name. 
 
 Fraid. — I thank thee, brother Johannes, and I 
 forgive Knight Konrad, and all those who have 
 wronged me and brought this misery upon me and 
 my people, but I desire no better lot for myself than 
 that of my people, who die the death of the righteous. 
 
 ScHO. — Brother Johannes, I have left my kin, 
 have abandoned home, father, and mother, and a 
 life of comfort and pleasure in order to serve Him 
 who innocently died an ignominious death. But 
 He forgave His offenders, while you sacrifice to Him 
 innocent victims, as if He were the idol of the 
 heathens. Think, before you give the hangman 
 your orders! 
 
94 ISRAEL BRUNA 
 
 Capis. — Sister Scholastica! Hast thou for- 
 gotten the words of the Master, " I have no mother, 
 and I have no brothers " ? Cast off this false 
 mercy! For those who sin against the Holy Ghost 
 there shall be no mercy! 
 
 Israel {rising with difficulty). — Mercy we ex- 
 pect from God alone, who is a God of justice. 
 But from those who desecrate His name by the 
 testimony of falsehood we desire no mercy. Their 
 mercy is a disgrace, as the Holy Scripture says: 
 {To Pethahiah, who turns to him with outstretched 
 hand) I forgive thee with all my heart, and the God 
 of Israel, who is long-suffering, will forgive thee, 
 when thou sayest with all thy heart, " May my 
 death be an atonement for all my sins." 
 
 (Pethahiah whispers it, and the other Jews repeat 
 It aloud.) 
 
 ScHO. — Oh, how blind I was to be misled by 
 empty words. Away with a creed which is a mere 
 babble of the lips; Jesus prayed for His enemies on 
 the Cross. You have made the innocent de- 
 scendants of His enemies pay a thousand times and 
 more for the sin which He forgave. Theirs is a 
 martyrdom more glorious than His. Rabbi Israel, 
 I have looked up to you from my childhood as to a 
 guide in life. I shall be with you in death. Curse 
 {pointing to Capistrano) upon murderers ! Fiends ! 
 Wild beasts who desecrate God's holy name by 
 acts of brutality. '* May my death be an atone- 
 ment for all my sins." 
 
 {Loud.) 
 
 Make room on the faggot, hangman! Holy 
 father Johannes Capistrano! Vain, earthly glory 
 
ISRAEL BRUNA 95 
 
 is thy piety! Bloodthirsty and cruel is thy pre- 
 tended zeal for God! Thy God is the God of 
 falsehood. I shall profess the God of Truth. 
 Rabbi Israel, teach me the prayer of martyrs, and 
 let us all join in it, grateful to the God of Israel for 
 our martyr lot. 
 
 (The hangman leads them to the faggot that is 
 looming in the background. The hymn is heard, 
 the voices grow weaker and finally cease.) 
 
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