oo.
Now, mistress, fare thee well, adieu!"

Selicha then says:

"O heaven now what shall I do?
He'll list not to my vows so true.
Come, Pickelhering, tell me quick,
What I shall do his love to prick?
I'll die if I no means can find
To bend his humor to my mind.
I'll give thee gold, thou mayst depend,
If thou'lt but help me to my end."

Pickelhering appears, and says:

"My lady, here I am, thy slave,
My wisest counsel thou shalt have.
Thou must lay violent hand on him,
And say: 'Unless thou'lt grant my whim,
I'll drive thee hence from out my court,
And with thy woes I'll have my sport,
Nor will I stay thy punishment,
Till drop by drop thy blood is spent.'
Perhaps he will amend his way,
If thou such cruel words wilt say."

Selicha follows his advice, but being thwarted, again appeals to
Pickelhering, who says:

"My lady fair, pray hark to me,
My counsel now shall fruitful be.
A garbled story shalt thou tell
The king, and say: 'Hear what befell:
Thy servant Joseph did presume
To enter in my private room,
When no one was about the house
Who could protect thy helpless spouse.
See here his mantle left behind.
Seize him, my lord, the miscreant find.'"

Potiphar appears, Selicha tells her tale, and Pickelhering is sent in
quest of Joseph, who steps upon the scene to be greeted by his master's
far from gentle reproaches:

"Thou gallowsbird, thou good-for-naught!
Thou whom so true and good I thought!
'Twere just to take thy life from thee.
But no! still harsher this decree:
In dungeon chained shalt thou repine,
Where neither sun nor moon can shine.
Forever there bewail thy lot unheard;
Now leave my sight, begone, thou gallowsbird.'"

This ends the scene. Of course, at the last, Joseph escapes his doom,
and, to the great joy of the sympathetic public, is raised to high
dignities and honors.

This farce was presented at Frankfort-on-the-Main by Jewish students of
the city, aided by some from Hamburg and Prague, with extravagant
display of scenery. Tradition ascribes the authorship to a certain
Beermann.

"Ahasverus" is of similar coarse character, so coarse, indeed, that the
directors of the Frankfort Jewish community, exercising their rights as
literary censors, forbade its performance, and had the printed copies
burnt. A somewhat more refined comedy is _Ac