Britain ... - Blue-Lite

Scene II.] THE DEVOTED ONE. 225
An only son, in yonder skies to be
Their bright companion.
CANUTE.
Thou that son hast given
Dark fellowship to hold with damned fiends !
And of the greatest crime art self-accused,
That woman can commit.
ERMINGILD.
Crime !
If in thine eyes a crime it be, then learn
I glory in the deed ! and were I now
lofty King ?
With mine own people, I should hear their shouts
Proclaiming me the first of Wendish mothers,
The harps of minstrels with my fame would ring,
And a great nation's homage on me wait.
And shall I hang my head in shame, because
Thy ignorance brands me for an act which I
Count as my highest glory ? No, bring forth
Thy Christian tortures ; I will brave them all,
And tell thee 'tis my last, my greatest pride,
To die a martyr for Sclavonia's faith.
ZANDAGAST.
Our lives, O King, are in thy power, but we
Heed not the threatening of thy stormy wrath.
The faith our fathers died in, and the gods
and never shall this knee
They served, are ours ;
In homage bow to him, the crucified,
Whom for your God ye worship.
CANUTE (stabbing Zandagast.)
Die thou, then,
Blaspheming homicide, fanatic rebel
To God and to our laws!
Q