Tobias's story

 

 

play by Georg Starke from the Book of Tobias – Old Testament
Portuguese version by Ruth Salles

Tobiah, of the tribe of Naphtali (of Galilee), was taken captive, with many of his own, to the city of Nineveh in Assyria, whose king was Salamanasar. With him was also his wife, Anna, and their son, also named Tobias. The old Tobias, since childhood, seriously complied with the laws of the Israelites, distributing tithes and firstfruits. He shared all he had with his brothers, fed and clothed the poor, consoled the bereaved, and buried the dead. The king loved him; at that time he went to Rages, where he lent silver to his friend Gabael, in exchange for a receipt in his own hand. After the death of King Salamanasar, Sanherit reigned, who pursued and had the Israelites killed. Old Tobias secretly buried the dead. One day, returning home tired, he leaned against the wall, and a swallow dropped hot dung into his eyes. Tobias was blinded. Ana, his wife, worked spinning and weaving. Tobias, desolate, prays to God, pleading for death. At the same time, in Ecbatana, Sarah, daughter of Ramuel, also prayed to God for having been married seven times, and seven times, when her husband approached, she was killed by the demon Asmodeus. Their prayers were heard, and God sent the Archangel Raphael to help them. Old Tobias, thinking he was going to die soon, calls his son and sends him to get the silver loaned to Gabael, and tells him to find a companion for the journey. Rafael appears as a handsome young man, but does not make himself known, and promises to accompany the young Tobias. They leave. On the banks of the Tigris River, Tobias is startled by a huge fish. Rafael orders him to grab him by the gills, take out his gallbladder, heart and liver, which will serve as medicine. Then they eat some of the meat and salt the rest for the trip. Stopping at the house of Raguel, a relative of old Tobias, Rafael orders Tobias to ask his daughter Sara to marry him. Tobias, who knows her story, is scared, but Rafael inspires him with confidence and says that Sara is destined for him. They throw the heart and liver into the coals, and the smoke drives away the devil. Sara and Tobias spend three days in prayer before joining together. The wedding is celebrated and Raguel divides up his goods. Rafael still goes to get the silver with Gabael and then the three return. Meanwhile, every day Ana climbs the mountain expecting to see travelers. Tobias comes first, then Sara with her entourage. On the way, Rafael gives instructions to Tobias. When he gets home, he must pray and smear old Tobias' eyes with fish bile. So it is done, and the joy is great. Then Rafael arrives, bringing Sara with Gabael's silver and his possessions. Father and son want to reward their traveling companion, and then he makes himself known as the Archangel Raphael. In this, he disappears. All prostrate themselves to the ground, praying in thanksgiving.

Geog Starke was an anthroposophist doctor from Bingenheim, Germany.

 

CHARACTERS

choir (spoken)
Choir (sung)
3 men
3 women
boy
2 soldiers
Old Tobias
A-N-A
Young Tobias
The Archangel Raphael
Beings of fire, water and light
Voice
Sara
Raguel, Sarah's father
Sara's Mother (Character Mute)

…………………………………………………………………………………

ENTRANCE

CHORUS (sings):
“Tobias by us will be sung,
he, who, through the archangel Raphael,
to the lands of the East he was guided.
Behold, Old Tobias is blind.
Lost is your vision
that came from the ancient forces.
And behold, in Sara's heart
the violent fire does not go out,
because it can't be consumed like that
what comes from the fire of Cain.
Then the archangel Raphael, in disguise,
brought healing from pain and sin.
By young Tobias was shown
the pure light, the fire released.
Let us therefore praise Raphael and his healing,
that is waiting for those who seek it.

CHORUS (speaking):
Oh, pain! Oh, I mourn! Oh, I'm sorry!
Oh, torment!
Let's throw ashes on our heads,
yes, let's play,
for how much we suffer
Poor enslaved people,
who lost his freedom.
So far from home we are,
where our God we honor.
How heavy and unforgiving
the current
which prevents the return home.
We can only regret!

 

SCENE 1

1st. MEN:
“You must live here, as they said.
(Two women pass.)
– Stop, stop, women! I'm friend.
Do not be afraid. Does Tobias live here?

1st WOMAN:
- Sorry, sir, we passed.
Their strange clothes frighten us.

2nd WOMAN:
– How to take him, like this, for our brother?
Come this far? don't even know the house
so sought after by those who suffer?

1st. MEN:
- We need help, because death
took some of us. Sad disease!
As everywhere, we are prevented
bury them according to the old ways,
with the prayers that our fathers said,
by the blessings of God accompanied.
We must turn to their gods
so that such misery may end.
The village is full of soldiers.
We have to bury in secret
and we implore Tobias' help.

3a. WOMAN:
– The appeals of all are the same:
healing the sick and comforting the weak;
to the dead the certainty of the ways
that lead them to resurrection one day.
Tobias doesn't care about the danger
nor to be watched in their occupations.

1st WOMAN:
– He knows the way, for so many
has already helped in the last hour...
(2nd and 3rd Men arrive)

1st. MEN:
- They already threaten us with cruel punishments.

2nd WOMAN:
– If they are discovered, they will all be
exiled to more distant lands.

2nd. MEN:
'Who the hell gave his reward!'
It would be much better if we died soon.
Their actions would thus lose them.

3rd. MEN:
- Silence! Someone hears us. Let's disperse!
(two Babylonian soldiers pass)
Now they're gone. hurry, friend,
where are you from and what do you want?
The guards will return. we are suspects
for being here like this.

1st. MEN:
– I asked them where Tobias lives.

3a. WOMAN:
– He has some dead and sick there.
Will piously prepare them
for the way to our eternal Home,
according to the uses of the ancestors.

1st WOMAN:
– Here they robbed us of our home.
Your beliefs force us to adopt.

2nd WOMAN:
“However, let us endure our exile.
There is always hope to come back.

3rd. MEN:
- Let's stop talking. We need
help friends because they are in a hurry.
There is Tobias' cabin.
You are certainly at home. This is the time
in which so much risk is taken in the preparation
careful of the holy sacrifice
that every night he takes to his brothers.

BOY (runs out of Tobias' cabin):
– O friends, listen! What a sadness!
I barely have the courage to tell
what misfortune befell Tobias.
He was lying down, resting,
when, from an innocent little bird,
the light manure slips off the roof
and falls right into Tobias' eyes.

3a. Woman:
– And is he blind?

BOY:
- We don `t know yet.
For now he has a blurred vision
and suffer a lot of pain.

3rd. MEN:
- As you know?

BOY:
– I am a friend of young Tobias,
and we played in the back of the house,
when Anna, his mother, called for him,
and it was from her lips that I heard everything.

CHORUS (spoken and muted):
– Oh, bitter fate!
Always hits the good ones!
Who will change it?
How to finish?
Oh, what a sad pain!
Mercy, Lord!

2nd. MEN:
“No complaints, no grudges.
The best is to help.

2nd WOMAN:
- And we can
return love to good Tobias.

3rd. MEN:
- A good service to him we will render
faithfully following your example.
(The two Babylonian soldiers return)

1st. SOLDIER:
What are you all doing here? You know
that is forbidden!

2nd. SOLDIER:
- Then! Go to work!
Disperse from here or you will be arrested.
and soon they will learn to obey.
(Women and men leave the venue and join the choir)

1st. SOLDIER:
– You cannot understand these people well.
Now they are on the threshold of despair,
now proud they raise their heads.
Do you know who Tobias is?

2nd. SOLDIER:
- Yes, the old man
who lives in the ruined hut?
Seems to me to be the center
of a secret cult.

1st. SOLDIER:
– The old man must be a good man,
for eyes so bright I never saw.

CHOIR:
– Oh, pain! Oh, I mourn! Oh, I'm sorry!
Oh, torment!
Let's throw ashes on our heads!
Yes, let's play
how much we suffer!
Who here in the strange land
gave us courage and hope,
how blind was left,
from the light of private eyes!

(Light music as in the entrance. Two seats are set to the left for Ana and Tobias. A distaff for Ana. Tobias and Ana take their seats.)

CHOIR:
— Where there is a good deed connected with the probation,
the motto is to watch and love your destiny.

OLD TOBIAS:
– It is a divine blessing to be able to give,
with a friendly gesture, relief from despair.
How good it was to be able to walk in the night
to bring light to every brother
who already had his body weakened,
still with faith in a deliverance.
I could lead them comforted
to the threshold of life, giving the earth
your body clothing.
But fate blinded my eyes.
Oh, if I could find, instead of terrestrial light,
the eternal sun, the celestial radiance.
For both sides, the paths are closed,
until death opens the dark portico for me.

A-N-A:
– We have pain relief in our son.
He looks at the world happily
and supports his father, feeling so grateful…

OLD TOBIAS:
– The love you think you give now
for me it has always been a source of strength.
But if Tobias stays here with us
many things got in your way,
and it's time to go out and see the world.

YOUNG TOBIAS (runs in):
- Look father, look here what I bring you!
As I learned, I did the work.
And the good neighbors gave a lot
of what they harvested. I came running
to deliver all this into your hands.

OLD TOBIAS:
– I appreciate it, but… such a great offer…
We must not settle soon
that which does not come from one's own effort.

YOUNG TOBIAS:
– O dear father, please accept!
Who gave so much to friends will hurt them?

A-N-A:
“It's the simple gratitude of good neighbors.
And now, son, hear what you mean
your devoted father of your future.

OLD TOBIAS:
– Son, you are young, and time is short.
You must go out, see other lands.
The heart expands on the journey.
I thought to send him to Rages, where he lives
Gabriel, my friend. I lent you
someday some silver as an aid.
He is ready to return such a sum
that will relieve us of so much poverty.
Ah, if only I could accompany you, son.
May luck find you a good friend
make this journey with you!

YOUNG TOBIAS:
- Dear father, the separation hurts me,
but the unknown already attracts me.
I will do your will. I wish
restore you to health on my return!
It doesn't bother me to think of a companion.
I know how to trust fate.

RAFAEL (with travel clothes):
– Fear nothing. I am here.
Forgive me listening to all the conversation (to Tobias)
Trust in me. It is I who will guide you.

OLD TOBIAS:
- I don't know him and I can't see him,
but from the tone of voice I feel confident.
Take Tobias. Be your friend.
The friend who was sent to him
for God.

RAFAEL:
– Come, Tobias, give me your hand.

ANA (hangs a bag over Tobias' shoulder):
– May divine love follow you on your way.

OLD TOBIAS:
– I thank you, friend. God keep them!

CHOIR:
The good deed of love,
with her the angels weave
the plots of fate.

 

SCENE 2

YOUNG TOBIAS:
- I do not know you. I never saw him before,
but it does not seem strange to me;
as if you were always by my side.
You bring joy, and I don't want to
ask where it came from and who sends it.
My heart just follows these days,
the impulse that happiness brought.
I know that you are a friend and that you will be my guide.

RAFAEL:
– You are good at not asking questions.
and in having so much confidence in fate,
for you know that fate is your friend.
I will not let down your confidence.

YOUNG TOBIAS:
- But when I look at the world in wonder,
I always remember the poor, poor father.
I wanted to give back the light in her eyes.

RAFAEL:
– I understand your yearning, In me trust!
The path we will follow together
will also answer this riddle.
But it's too late. The body wants rest,
and the soul wants to be contemplative.
On the bank of this river we rest,
and what it brings of miracles let us observe.
(He takes Tobias into the water; he can transform his garment in such a way that he appears as an angel and speaks with a modified voice.)
You can hold with your feet what is solid
and capture with the mind everything that has form.
The waves of the waters want to show you
life forming itself in pictures, in colors.
untie your sandals
and wash your feet
and tread with enthusiasm!
(Beings of fire, water and light appear. Eurythmy and perhaps music.)

BEINGS:
– Waves weaving, life forming,
rippling sound getting stronger
into the water in constant currents.
colors shine,
sometimes they dissolve, sometimes they condense.
life in substance
it is generated in water in constant currents.

YOUNG TOBIAS:
– The mind guides me! The earth firm me!
The firm support gives me what is solid.
Caught in the waves, here he is stolen.
Add in the waters my firm support...

VOICE:
– Generated by the flashing flames of fire,
illuminated by the brightening radiation of light,
permeated by the living power of water,
join the healing force
to life in substance
in the form of FISH.

YOUNG TOBIAS:
– What do I support? I'm sinking!
The monstrous fish wants to devour me!

RAFAEL:
– Take it with courage, with a firm hand!
Bring him down to earth, and he will calm down!
(Tobias takes it. The three beings disappear.)

RAFAEL:
– Generated by the flashing flames of fire,
illuminated by the illuminating radiance of light,
permeated by the living power of water,
the fish
brings the healing force
to life in substance.
(Vision ended. Rafael again as traveling companion.)

YOUNG TOBIAS:
– I witnessed a curious sight.
When I lost trust, I gained it.

RAFAEL:
– Remove the gallbladder and heart
and fish liver. of them want
the forces free themselves. will comply
with the desire that your heart holds.
Let's go to Raguel's house. His daughter
luck will give you a good wife.
We will cure her of a terrible disease,
and so everything becomes a good destiny.

VOICE:
– If you boldly imprison
the primitive forces,
will have in your hands finally captured
healing forces.

(Music. The two leave. The actors in scene 3 go to their seats.)

 

SCENE 3

(Raguel's house. Small altar with incense. Sara, Raguel. The mother as a mute character.)

SARA:
– Two men are coming to our house.
Oh, heavens, what suffering! Certainly
come again to ask me to marry you,
which led to the death of the other seven,
because of the evil disease I have.

RAFAEL (entering with young Tobias):
– We salute you all. Do not fear us!
These evil forces we know,
and from this evil we have come to free her.
This is Tobias. fate brought him
to be your husband. In your hands
he has the healing substance.
Follow the will of your pure soul.

RAGUEL (to Tobias):
– And the evil force of fire,
that produces desire and generates death,
do you know too?

RAFAEL:
– I return to the fire what came from it:
heart and liver of the sacred fish.
Purged in water, it loosens the bonds.
Where the light generated it, it transforms the pain.

YOUNG TOBIAS (throwing heart and liver into the fire on the altar):
– I return to the fire what came from it:
heart and liver of the sacred fish.
Purged in water, it loosens the bonds
and, generating light, transforms pain.

(Rafael leaves without the others noticing.)

SARA:
“I feel that the forces of evil have left me.
How grateful I am for such a benefit!

RAGUEL:
– Miraculous signs brought us fate,
and united them by means of profound forces.
Wise fate reigns in the waters,
subject fire to healing power.

RAFAEL (returning unnoticed):
– Other good news I bring now.
We don't need to go to Gabael,
because he already gave me back the silver
and wishes her father that she would serve him
of help in your good life.

YOUNG TOBIAS:
- We can then go back to our house.
Good to see my father still alive!
Return grateful and with full hands!
Miseries and blindness must disappear.

VOICE:
– Trusting fate,
following your will,
so freedom
come to us, and dissipate
evils and misery.

(Music. Everyone leaves. Prepare for scene 4.)

 

SCENE 4

(Old Tobias and Ana wait for their son to arrive.)

OLD TOBIAS:
– Every day waiting in vain…
Our son takes a while and I worry.
My strength is abated. I wish
having Tobias with us before death.

A-N-A:
- As much as I look into the distance, I see nothing.
Oh! I see clouds of dust now!
But I see that it can't be just two.
Who could come too now?

YOUNG TOBIAS (running ahead):
– Ah, my dears, my dear parents!
What a joy to finally find them!
Hear the wonders of this trip!
The most beautiful, that the friend showed me,
it will make itself felt.
(He passes the fish's bile into his father's eyes.)
– Embracing the light
in quickened water,
the fish's bile
shelters the cure,
free from the dark
and returns the light
to blind eyes.

OLD TOBIAS (seeing again):
- Oh, what a joy to see you again
the streams of light with their own eyes.
I can see you all!
Mom, Tobias and this world in color!
And the friend, where is he? I'm so grateful to you!
(Rafael comes in with Sara)

YOUNG TOBIAS:
- Here he comes and brings with him
the wife that fate chose me.

OLD TOBIAS:
– I thank you, stranger.
Let me thank the great friend
for everything my son has received.
Stay here, benefactor of my life,
and share with us the joy!

RAFAEL:
– Good friends, I must leave now,
for I have, by duty, other actions.
Now I can reveal my name:
I'm Raphael, I'm one of the seven archangels
who stand before the throne of God!
(takes off his traveler costume)
God sent me to you to help
and bring healing to so many sufferings,
lead your child through the day
in which he alone could act in the world.
As you two learned,
always accepting and loving your destiny,
that so strangely has guided them,
so the disease harbors its own cure.
We give thanks to God for all this!
What was spawned by the flashing flames of fire,
what is illuminated by the illuminating radiation of light,
which is permeated by the living power of water,
disintegrates into substance of divine origin,
pierces one's own dark fate
like illness.
The disease is cured when,
sacrificing one's own dark fate,
the substance reveals its divine origin,
permeated by the living power of water,
illuminated by the brightening radiation of light,
generated by the flashing flames of fire!

(Raphael's last words can be eurythmized by the three beings in the background. These again step back. Afterwards, the actors gather and can sing the hymn of Saint Raphael.)

HYMN OF SAINT RAFAEL

Console those who suffer
and help the sick,
San Raphael!
diseases and pests
take away!
help, help,
San Raphael!

Do the best,
drive away the plague,
San Raphael!
fevers and pains
that hit us
help, help,
San Raphael!

when we lay down
take care of us
San Raphael!
the slight pains
in your heart.
help, help,
San Raphael!

 

END