PEER
[softly, with a pale face]
That’s the sword of wrath!
In a crack to the bottom, every soul, man and mouse!
Oh, for ever blest be the lucky chance —
[With emotion.]
A chance? No, no, it was more than chance.
I was to be rescued and they to perish.
Oh, thanks and praise for that thou hast kept me,
hast cared for me, spite of all my sins!—
[Draws a deep breath.]
What a marvellous feeling of safety and peace
it gives one to know oneself specially shielded!
But the desert! What about, food and drink?
Oh, something I’m sure to find. He’ll see to that.
There’s no cause for alarm;—
[Loud and insinuatingly.]
He would never allow
a poor little sparrow like me to perish!