SCENE I
TIME: once upon a time.
PLACE: in the house of the poor Spinner.
| THE DAME. | ||
| ISABEL, her daughter. | ||
| FLAT-FOOT } | ||
| HANGING-LIP } | the Three Great-Aunts. | |
| BROAD-THUMB } | ||
| THE QUEEN. | ||
[The living-room in the Dame's cottage is seen. The DAME and the THREE GREAT-AUNTS are spinning. ISABEL sits at her spinning-wheel, but has stopped work and looks out of the open door.]
DAME (sharply). Isabel! You gaze without!
ISABEL (nodding). Upon those great trees, mother. How beautiful they are! How like sentinels they stand at our door guarding us!
FLAT-FOOT (growling). What nonsense! You'd better be spinning.
ISABEL (not heeding). Mother, see you that old oak! See how proudly it lifts its head up into the sky! 'T is the king of the forest!