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THE ANCIENT MARTYRDOM 2ig
As Donna Emilia entered the room, she stretched
forth her hands toward her husband.
" Look at me, Don Antonio Greco," she said, " I
carry in my hands golden vessels full of royal figs! "
And she related how she had prayed, and what she
had promised, and what she had been advised.
As she said this to Don Antonio he sprang from
the chair. His arms dropped stiff at his sides, and
his hair rose on his head. He was greatly terrified.
" The Ancient Martyrdom," he exclaimed. " The
Ancient Martyrdom ! "
For " The Ancient Martyrdom " is a mystery, which
in its day was played all over Sicily. It supplanted
all other oratorios and mysteries, and was played
every year, in ever city, for several hundred years.
It was the greatest day of the year when " The
Ancient Martyrdom " was given. Now, however, it is
no longer played, and the people remember it only as
a myth.
In past days it was even played at the
marionette-theater, but now it is considered too old-fashioned,
and has probably not been played for thirty years.
Don Antonio began to shout and yell at Donna
Emilia because she tormented him with such
absurdities. He struggled against her, as against a demon
who had come to seize upon him. " It was
amazing, it was heart-rending," he said. But Donna
Emilia remained calm and let him rave. She only
said that what she had heard was the will of God.
Don Antonio began to waver. The grand idea
gradually gained supremacy over him. Nothing had
been so loved and played in Sicily as that. And
dwelt there not constantly the same people on that
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