The Hour Glass

A WISE MAN A FOOL SOME PUPILS AN ANGEL THE WISE MAN'S WIFE AND TWO CHILDREN
SCENE: A large room with a door at the back and another at the side opening to an inner room. A desk and a chair in the middle. An hour-glass on a bracket near the door. A creepy stool near it. Some benches. The WISE MAN sitting at his desk.
FOOL. Give me a penny.
FOOL. Won't you give me a penny?
WISE MAN. What do you want? The words of the wise Saracen will not teach you much.
FOOL. Such a great wise teacher as you are will not refuse a penny to a Fool.
WISE MAN. What do you know about wisdom?
FOOL. Oh, I know! I know what I have seen.
WISE MAN. What is it you have seen?
FOOL. When I went by Kilcluan where the bells used to be ringing at the break of every day, I could hear nothing but the people snoring in their houses. When I went by Tubbervanach where the young men used to be climbing the hill to the blessed well, they were sitting at the crossroads playing cards. When I went by Carrigoras where the friars used to be fasting and serving the poor, I saw them drinking wine and obeying their wives. And when I asked what misfortune had brought all these changes, they said it was no misfortune, but it was the wisdom they had learned from your teaching.
WISE MAN. Run round to the kitchen, and my wife will give you something to eat.
FOOL. That is foolish advice for a wise man to give.