Master Gyseburn nodded. “Here it comes,” said he. “You will find that it has very little to do with the Bible story about the Shepherds.”
“Just a made-up play, I suppose?” said Colin.
“That’s it. Just a funny story to make people laugh.”
By this time the pageant stood in its place before the Harphams’ window, and the children noticed that the big stage was divided into two parts. One part represented a field, in which three shepherds were seated with their sheep huddled round them; and next to this scene, on a line with it, there was a sort of separate compartment, at present covered by curtains.
The shepherds began at once to grumble about the weather. They complained of the cold, which one of them said made his legs cramped, and his hands all chapped.
Neither Margery nor Colin, nor indeed any of the simple people who watched the play, found anything strange in this. Indeed very few of them realized that all the events they were watching, took place in an Eastern country, whose scenery and climate were very different from anything that was represented by the pageant. They imagined all the scenes as happening in a country very like England—if not in England itself! So the shepherds talked about the “moors,” which, as you know, spread through Yorkshire, and of “bannocks,” which are special cakes made in the North of England, and of “ale,” the usual English drink; and no one criticized nor found fault, because scarcely anybody knew, or remembered, if they knew, that Christ’s life was spent in a warm far-away Eastern land, whose manners, customs, and language were as different as possible from those of England.
The shepherds talked about many things familiar in the every-day life of most of the people in the crowd. They grumbled about the taxes they had to pay, and they gossiped about their wives, who they said were always scolding and nagging; and they complained bitterly about their hard work, and their low wages. And the listening people laughed and were delighted, because all they heard came home to them and was thoroughly well understood.
Presently another shepherd entered, dressed like the rest in a linen smock, though over it he had thrown a heavy cloak. His appearance was hailed by a shout of delight from the audience, for he was a favourite actor, and the part he was going to play was well known.
His name was Mac, and with the shepherds he evidently had the reputation of a thief, for directly he arrived one of them warned the others.
“Is he come?” he asked. “Then each one take heed to his things!” And to make sure of him when they thought of going to sleep, the men forced him to lie down in the midst of them, so that if he stirred they would be warned.