The Pupil.
Master.—Well, boy, what have you done to-day?
Pupil.—I have done many things. Last night, when I heard the tolling, I arose from my bed, and went to the church, and sang nocturns with the brethren, and morning lauds ... after that prime, and the seven psalms, with litanies, and chapter-mass, then terce and the mass of the day; after this we sang sext, and ate, and drank, and slept, and again we arose, and sang nones, and now here we are before you, ready to hear what you say to us.
Master.—When will you sing vespers or compline?
Pupil.—When it is time.
Master.—Were you threshed to-day?
Pupil.—Not I, for I behaved myself warily.
Master.—And how about your school-fellows?
Pupil.—Why do you ask me about that? I daren’t tell you our secrets. Each one knows whether he was threshed or not.
Master.—What do you eat every day?
Pupil.—I still eat flesh-meat, because I am a child living under the rod.
Master.—What more do you eat?
Pupil.—Vegetables, and eggs, fish, and cheese, butter, and beans, and all clean things I eat, with great thankfulness.
Master.—Surely you are gluttonous, since you eat everything that is put before you.
Pupil.—I am not so greedy as to be able to eat all kinds of food at one meal.
Master.—How then?
Pupil.—Sometimes I eat some kinds of food, sometimes others, in moderation, as a monk should do, without greediness, because I am not a glutton.
Master.—And what do you drink?
Pupil.—Ale, if I have it, or water, if I have no ale.
Master.—Don’t you drink wine?
Pupil.—I am not rich enough to be able to buy wine for myself: and wine is no drink for children or the foolish, but for those who are older and wiser.
Master.—Where do you sleep?
Pupil.—In the dormitory with the brethren.
Master.—Who wakes you for nocturns?
Pupil.—Sometimes I hear the tolling and arise, sometimes my master awakes me sternly with the rod.
Master.—My good children and agreeable pupils, your master bids you obey the divine teaching and that you behave yourselves well in every place. Go obediently when you hear the church bells into the church, and humbly bow before the holy altars, and stand reverently, and sing in time and tune, and pray for your sins, and go out thoughtfully to the cloister or the school.