The Hermit had gone out to his followers. Those within the house closed the window-shutters and the door.
There was a cry without: ‘Fire the house!’
‘Let us bless God, and die!’ said Eleazar, and none of them hesitated. Eleazar spoke: ‘I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He will stand at the latter day upon the earth. And when I am free from my flesh, I shall see God. Him shall I see and not another, and for that my soul and my heart cry out.’
The mother had taken the youngest son in her arms, as though she wished to protect him against the fire which now seized on the wall.
Then Eleazar began the Song of the Three Children[55] in the fire, and when they came to the words,
‘O thank the Lord, for He is good,
And His mercy endureth for ever’,
their voices were choked, and they ended their days like the Maccabees.
AUGUST STRINDBERG, 1907.