Nathan

On this wise spake the Judge: “Either ye bring Right soon your father here before me, else I spurn you from my seat. What! think ye I Am here to answer riddles? Or do ye wait Until the true Ring find a tongue and speak? Yet stay! ’Tis said that in the true Ring lives A magic gift, to make the owner loved-- Well-pleasing before God and man. So good, This shall decide the cause; for never, surely, In this the false can emulate the true. Which of the three of ye is best beloved By the other twain? Marry, speak out! Ye are dumb! Mysterious power, that only backward works, Not outward from within! Lo, each of you Loves best of all--himself! So are ye all Deceived, and all deceivers. All your rings Are manifestly false. Belike the true Was irrecoverably lost; and so Your father, to conceal the loss, made three In place of one.”