JUDGE. Oh, that fellow—give him a bill and he'll be satisfied! His honour wasn't worth a penny, anyhow.
THE OTHER ONE. [Slaps the JUDGE on the mouth, while the rest spit at him and mutter with clinched fists] Here is the brother of the sailor who was beheaded in spite of his innocence. Can you restore his brother to life? No! And you cannot pay for his life with yours, as it is not worth as much.—And finally we come to the neighbour whom you cheated out of his property in a perfectly legal way. Not familiar with the tricks of the law, the neighbour has, contrary to prevailing practice, placed the judge's son-in-law in charge of the property as life tenant, wiping out his previous indebtedness and making him also legal heir to the property.
JUDGE. I appeal to a higher court!
THE OTHER ONE. This case has passed through all the instances except the highest, and that far you cannot reach with your stamped papers. For if you tried, all these poor people whom you have robbed of their living would cry out: Guilty!—Thus we are done with all that could be properly disposed of. What remains here still undisposed of goes to the poor: clocks, vases, jewelry and other valuables that have served as bribes, graft, tips, souvenirs—all in a perfectly legal way because evidence and witnesses were wanting. You poor, take back your own! Your tears have washed the guilt from the ill-gotten goods. [The POOR begin to plunder] And now remains the last item to be sold by me. This pauper here, formerly a judge, is offered to the lowest bidder for board at the expense of the parish. How much is offered? [Silence] No offer? [Silence] First, second, third time—no offer? [To the JUDGE] There, you see! Nobody wants you. Well, then, I have to take you myself and send you to your well-earned punishment.
JUDGE. Is there no atonement?
THE OTHER ONE. Yes, punishment atones.—Take him into the woods and stone him in accordance with the law of Moses—for no other law was ever known to him. Away with him! [The people pounce on the JUDGE and jostle him.
The scene changes to the "waiting-room." The same setting as in the second scene of the fourth act: a kettle-shaped chasm surrounded by steep black rocks. (The same people are on the stage.)
In the background appear a pair of huge scales for the weighing of newcomers.
The JUDGE and the OLD LADY are seated opposite each other at a small table.
JUDGE. [Staring in front of himself as if lost in a dream] Hush!—I had a dream! They were throwing stones at me—and yet I felt no pain—and then everything turned black and vacant until this moment—How long it may have lasted, I cannot tell—Now I am beginning to hear again—and to feel. It feels as if I were being carried—oh, how cold it is—they are washing me, I think—I am lying in something that has six sides like a cell in a honeycomb and that smells like a carpenter shop—I am being carried, and a bell is ringing—Wait! Now I am riding, but not in a street-car, although the bell is ringing all the time—Now I am sinking down, down, as if I were drowning—boom, boom, boom: three knocks on the roof—and then the lessons begin—the teacher is leading—and now the boys are singing—What can it be?—And then they are knocking on the roof again, incessantly—boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom—silence—it's over! [He wakes up] Where am I? I choke! It's so stuffy and close here!—Oh, it's you!—Where are we? Whose bust is that?
OLD LADY. They say it is the new god.
JUDGE. But he looks like a goat.