FRONT SCENE.--_A wood near the Castle, as in Scene II. A group of_
PEASANTS _pass_.
FIRST PEASANT. I have seen silver and copper, but not gold.
SECOND PEASANT. It’s yellow and it shines.
FIRST PEASANT. It’s beautiful.
The most beautiful thing under the sun,
That’s what I’ve heard.
THIRD PEASANT. I have seen gold enough.
FOURTH PEASANT. I would not say that it’s so beautiful.
FIRST PEASANT. But doesn’t a gold piece glitter like the sun?
That’s what my father, who’d seen better days,
Told me when I was but a little boy--
So high--so high, it’s shining like the sun,
Round and shining, that is what he said.
SECOND PEASANT. There’s nothing in the world it cannot buy.
FIRST PEASANT. They’ve bags and bags of it.
[_They go out. The two_ MERCHANTS _follow silently. Then_ ALEEL
_passes over the stage singing_.
ALEEL
Impetuous heart, be still, be still,
Your sorrowful love can never be told,
Cover it up with a lonely tune.
He who could bend all things to His will
Has covered the door of the infinite fold
With the pale stars and the wandering moon.
END OF SCENE IV
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