thou shalt please to choose. Declare quickly
now which one thou wilt accept.'

And Judas made answer unto her--nor could he
rid himself of sorrow and turn away the wrath of
his ruler, but he was in the power of the queen--: 610
'How shall it be with him who treadeth the moor
in a desert, weary, without food, and tortured
with hunger, if before his eyes a loaf and a stone
together seem hard and soft, and he knoweth them
not apart, but taketh the stone to ward off his 615
hunger, and marketh not the loaf, turneth to want
and forsaketh the food, refuseth the better when
he hath the choice of both?'

Then openly before the people the blessed Elene
gave him answer:--'If thou wouldst have thy life 620
in the world and a home with the angels in the
kingdom of heaven, the reward of victory in the
sky, tell me straightway where the holy rood of
the King of glory lieth under the earth, which ye 625
have hid now for a while from men because of the
unrighteous murder.'

Judas answered, and his heart was heavy within
him; there was grief in his soul, and woe either
way, whether thus he forsook the joy of the 630
heavenly realm and this present kingdom beneath
the skies, or disclosed the rood:--'How can I
reveal that which came to pass so long ago in the