Four Mystery Plays

by Rudolf Steiner

Scene 9

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

Bertha:

Dear mother, I so long to hear the tale

Cecilia often spake of years ago.

Thou dost know all those fairy-tales to tell

Which father brings back with him from the knights

When he comes home, and which with greatest joy

So many friends are always glad to hear.

Keane:

The soul can find real treasure in those tales.

The gifts which on the spirit they confer

Decay not with the body in the grave

But bear their fruits in later lives on earth.

Darkly, as through a glass, we glimpse their truth;

And from such darkened sight, our souls can win

Knowledge to serve our needs in daily life.

If only folk could realize the store

Of precious gifts our knights have to bestow!

Cecilia and Thomas have, alas,

Deaf ears at present for such things as these;

Since they draw wisdom from another source.

Bertha:

Today I fain would listen to that tale

Which tells about the Evil and the Good.

Dame Keane:

Right gladly will I tell it thee. Attend.

Once on a time there lived a man who spent

Much time in puzzling over cosmic truths.

That which tormented his poor brain the most

Was, how to learn of Evil’s origin.

And to that question he could not reply.

The world was made by God, so he would say,

And God can only have in him the Good.

How then doth Evil spring from out the Good?

Time and again he puzzled over this,

But could not find the answer that he sought.

Now it befell that on a certain day

This seeker on his travels passed a tree

That was engaged in converse with an axe.

Unto the tree the axe did speak these words:

‘That which thou canst not do I can achieve,

I can fell thee; but thou canst not fell me.’

Unto the vain axe thus the tree replied:

‘’Twas but a year ago a man did cleave

The very wood of which thine haft is made

Out of my body with another axe.’

And when the man had listened to these words

A thought was straightway born within his soul

Which he could not set clearly down in words,

But which completely answered his demand:

How Evil could originate from Good.

Keane:

Think on this story, daughter and thou’lt see,

How contemplating nature’s mysteries

May form fresh knowledge in a human head.

I know how many things I can make clear

Unto myself by spinning out in thought

The tales by which the knights enlighten us.

Bertha:

I know I am a simple little thing,

Without ability to understand

The learned words which clever people use

In setting forth the science they profess.

I have no taste for matters of that kind.

Whenever Thomas tells us of his work

I nearly fall asleep. But I could spend

Unnumbered hours in listening to the tales

Which father brings back home on his return

From visiting the castle, and wherewith

He often weaves a story of his own

As he recounts them to us hour on hour.

(Exeunt.)

(After an interval, the Countryfolk come across the meadow.)

First Countryman:

My uncle yesterday came home again.

He dwelt a long time in Bohemia,

And earned an honest living in the mines.

Full many a bit of news he hath to tell

Picked up by him upon his journeyings.

Excitement and unrest are everywhere.

Attacks are made upon the Spirit-Knights.

Our local brotherhood can not escape;

Already preparations have been made

And ere long will this castle be besieged.

Second Countryman:

I hope ’twill not be long ’ere they attack.

Many amongst us will most certainly

Gladly enlist among the fighting-men;

I mean to be among the first myself.

First Countrywoman:

Thou wilt but hurry headlong to thy doom!

How can a man be such a witless fool!

Hast thou forgot how strongly fortified

The castle is? The battle will be grim.

Second Countrywoman:

It is no business of the countryfolk

To mix with things they do not understand.

Yet there are many hereabouts today

Who do naught else but go from place to place

And fan the embers of revolt and strife.

Things have already come to such a pass

That sick folk have to cry in vain for aid.

The good man who in former days was wont

To help so many in sore need, can now

No more pass out beyond the castle gates,

So cruelly have folk belaboured him.

Third Countrywoman:

Of course! for many people were enraged

On hearing from what source the sickness came

That broke out, all at once, among our cows.

The Jew brought this upon them by his spells.

He only seems to make sick people well

In order, by the use of hellish arts,

Better to serve the ends of evil powers.

Third Countryman:

This fuss about vile heresy is nought,

And matters not. The fact is that these folk

Had all they needed, and nought else to do

But spend their leisure in abusive talk.

A clever judge of human nature then

Devised this silly tale about the Jew,

How he had laid a spell upon our stock.

And so from this alone the storm arose.

Fourth Countryman:

I think that every one of you might know

What wars do mean, with all their misery.

Have not our fathers told us all that they

Must needs endure, when all the countryside

Was overrun by bands of soldiery?

Fourth Countrywoman:

I always said that it would come to pass:

Their lordships’ rule must shortly fade away.

Already hath a dream revealed to me

How we can be of service to the troops

When they arrive to carry out the siege,

And take good care of all their creature needs.

Fifth Countryman:

If dreams today are still to be believed,

That is a matter we need not discuss.

The knights have tried to make us cleverer

Than were our fathers. Now they have to learn

How much our cleverness hath been increased.

Our fathers let them in; in our turn we

Shall drive them out. I know the secret tracks

That yield an entrance to the fortalice.

I used to work within it until rage

Drove me away; now will I show the knights

How we can make their science serve our ends.

Fifth Countrywoman:

He surely hath no good thought in his heart;

I trembled as I listened to his words.

Sixth Countryman:

In spirit-vision I have lately seen

A traitor leading hostile soldiery

By secret ways into the castle’s keep.

Sixth Countrywoman:

Such visions are destructive, I should say.

No one who thinks as Christians ought to think

But is aware that honesty alone,

Not treason, can from evil set us free.

Sixth Countryman:

I let folk talk, and help as best I can.

How often do we hear a thing called wrong

By those who lack the courage in themselves

To do that very thing. Let’s go our ways;

I see the father coming down the road;

We will not interrupt his train of thought.

I found no difficulty up till now

In understanding everything he taught;

But in the sermon which he preached today

He said much that one could not understand.

(The Countryfolk go away towards the forest.)

(After an interval the Monk comes along the meadow path.)

Monk:

It must be that a soul is led astray

In striving to pursue her natural course.

The weakness of my heart alone allowed

Such visions to appear before mine eyes

As those which I beheld within those walls.

That they must show themselves to me in strife

Is proof enough how little yet in me

The psychic forces work in harmony.

Therefore will I address myself anew

To kindle in myself those potent words

Which bring me light from out the Spirit-heights.

That man alone prefers another road,

Whom personal illusions have made blind.

The soul can only triumph over lies

By proving herself worthy of the grace

Which Spirit-light, outpoured from founts of love,

In words of wisdom doth reveal to her.

I know that I shall find the greatest strength

Which can throw light on what the Fathers taught.

When from the gloom of self’s imaginings

With lowly heart submissive I can flee.

(Exit.)

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

Cecilia:

Dear brother, when in fervent ecstasy

Of silent prayer my soul did bow herself

Unto the Fountain of the World, and yearn

Whole-heartedly to be made one therewith,

A light before my spirit would appear—

With gentle warmth and radiancy aglow;

This then transformed itself into a man

Who looked into my face with tender eyes,

And spoke to me. These were the vision’s words:

‘Human delusion left thee once forlorn,

And now thou art upborne by human love;

Wait therefore until longing finds a way

To bring the seeker safely to thy side.’

Thus spake this human figure oft to me;

Nor could I fathom what the words might mean;

And yet a dim foreboding made me glad,

That some time they should be fulfilled for me.

And then, beloved brother, thou didst come,

And when I first set eyes upon thy face,

I felt my senses leave me; for thou wast

That human figure’s very counterpart.

Thomas:

Dream and foreboding told thee but the truth,

Indeed ’twas longing guided me to thee.

Cecilia:

And when thou didst request me as thy wife

I thought the Spirit had ordained it so.

Thomas:

That in good truth the Spirit’s purpose was

To re-unite us, clearly may be seen,

Although we read it not aright at first.

As wife and helpmeet, sent me from above,

So didst thou seem to me, when first we met.

And then my long-lost sister did I find.

Cecilia:

And henceforth nothing shall divide us twain.

Thomas:

Yet many obstacles between us rise.

Thy foster-parents by close ties are bound

Unto the brotherhood which I must spurn.

Cecilia:

They are incarnate love and kindness both;

And loyal friendship will they give to thee.

Thomas:

My creed will separate me from their love.

Cecilia:

Through me you will find out the way to them.

Thomas:

Keane, the dear fellow, is so obstinate;

He never will see aught but darkness there

Where I perceive the very fount of light.

In riper years it was first granted me

To turn my steps toward this light of truth,

Since all I learned of it in childhood’s days

Upon my spirit made but little mark;

Whilst later on, my every thought was bent

On scientific knowledge as a means

To gain a livelihood. When I came here

At last I found the teacher and the guide

Who had the power to liberate my soul.

The teaching he hath let me listen to

Doth bear the very stamp of truth itself.

Such is his speech that heart and head alike

Must yield themselves as captives to his words,

So full at once of gentleness and good.

I took the greatest trouble heretofore

To understand the other spirit type;

And found it could but unto error lead.

Since it clings only to those spirit-powers

Which may be faithful guides in earthly ways

But cannot lift one up to higher worlds.

How shall I therefore ever find the way

Into the hearts of people who believe

That from this error all salvation springs?

Cecilia:

I hear thy words, dear brother, and they seem

The product of no peaceful frame of mind.

Yet ’tis a peaceful scene of former days

Which they have reawakened in my soul.

’Twas one Good Friday, many years ago,

I saw the scene of which I speak to thee.

It happened that upon that day the man

Who wore my brother’s features, said to me:

‘From source divine hath sprung the human soul;

It can in death dive down to nature’s depths,

In time it will set spirit free from death.’

Not until afterwards was I aware

That these words are the motto of our knights.

Thomas:

Alas! my sister, that thy lips should speak

Those evil words, which our opponents take

As revelation of the highest truth.

Cecilia:

I have at heart no sympathy at all

With outward acts committed by the knights;

I truly serve the creed that nourished thee.

But never could I make myself believe

That men who guide the footsteps of the soul

By such instruction toward so high a goal

Walk not themselves the path that Christ hath trod.

The Spirit’s pupil am I, staunch and true,

And I confess that it is my belief

That on that day, my brother’s spirit strove

To speak of aims that lead the soul to peace.

Thomas:

The powers of destiny have not ordained

Peace for the soul, it seems, for thee and me;

They take our father from us that same hour

That sees him once again restored to us.

Cecilia:

My faculties are clouded o’er with pain

When of our father thus I hear thee speak.

Thy heart would draw thee to his side in love,

And yet thou tremblest at the very thought

Of union with him whilst he is alive.

Thou followest our leader in good faith,

Yet canst not hear the messages of love

Which his commands so tenderly convey.

A dark enigma faceth me; I see

The goodness of thy heart, thy steadfast faith,

And yet must shudder at the deep abyss

That yawns so horribly betwixt you twain.

And did not hope live on to comfort me,

And tell me love is never overcome

I should lack courage to endure this pain.

Thomas:

Dear sister, thou hast yet to learn the power

Of thought, once it hath gripped a human soul.

This is no case of son opposing sire;

But one thought from another turns away.

Thought is the sovereign whom my soul obeys;

Did I refuse her homage I should be

In very truth my spirit’s murderer.

Curtain; Thomas and Cecilia still standing in the meadow

(This closes the vision into the XIVth Century and the following is the sequel of the events described in the first five scenes.)