Joseph.
About my brother?
Rebekah.
Now, Joseph, you shall be good,
And do as you'd be done by;
We didn't mean to be rude
When you fell and began to cry:
We wanted to make you forget your pain;
But it frets you, and we'll not laugh again.
Joseph.
Well, if you'll all sit still,
And not be frisking about,
Nor utter a whisper till
You've heard my story out,
I'll tell you a tale as weird
As ever you heard in your lives,
Of a man with a long blue beard,
And the way he treated his wives.
All.
Oh, that will be nice!
We'll be still as mice.
Joseph.
[Relates the old story of Blue Beard, and
DAVID, and RUTH enter from the cellar
unperceived.]