And now I see the people do clean forsake Me.”
“And now,” went on the Almighty, “I must bring Everyman to a reckoning, for he is so cumbered with worldly riches that he forgets how all riches and pleasures are only lent to him for a time, and are to be used for My glory. I will send Death to him.”
“Where art thou, Death, thou mighty messenger?”
He called in grave accents. Then from a door beneath the stage there came a curious and grotesque creature.
He was like a skeleton; or rather the bones of a skeleton were painted on his close-fitting dress of black leather. The mask of a skull was over his face; his head was crowned with fading roses, and he carried a drum, upon which he beat with warning blows.
“Almighty God, I am here at your will,
Your commandment to fulfil” (said Death).
“Go thou to Everyman,
And show him in My Name
A pilgrimage he must on him take,