RACHEL. Hear, yet linger!
ISAAC. Oh, Oh, Oh! Why doth God try me?
To the poor I've given my portion,
I have prayed and I have fasted,
Unclean things I've never tasted
Nay! And yet God tries me thus.
RACHEL (to ESTHER).
Ow! Why dost thou pull my arm so?
I will stay, I am not going.
I just wish to see the King and
All the court and all their doings,
All their gold and all their jewels.
He is young, they say, and handsome,
White and red, I want to see him.
ISAAC. And suppose the servants catch thee
RACHEL. Then I'll beg until they free me!
ISAAC. Yes, just like thy mother, eh?
She, too, looked at handsome Christians,
Sighed, too, for Egyptian flesh-pots;
Had I not so closely watched her
I should deem-well, God forgive me!—
That thy madness came that way,
Heritage of mean, base Christians;
Ah! I praise my first wife, noble!
(To ESTHER.)
Praise thy mother, good like thee,
Though not wealthy. Of the second
Did the riches aught avail me?
Nay, she spent them as she pleasured,
Now for feasts and now for banquets,
Now for finery and jewels.
Look! This is indeed her daughter!
Has she not bedeckt herself,
Shines she not in fine apparel
Like a Babel in her pride?
RACHEL (singing).