The play requires from a half-hour to an hour, according to the number of Lords and Ladies, and to the length of the dances.
SCENE
Act I—The depths of the woods; Act II—The palace garden; Act III—A garret; Act IV—Winter woods; Act V—The awakening in the palace garden.
ACT I
[Curtain rises on the three Fairies, Spring, Summer, and Autumn, dancing in the woods. After dance is finished, enter the King’s Page with three letters, one of which he hands to each Fairy with a courtly bow.]
Page. A message from the court, to please Your Fairyships.
Fairies. [Tear open the envelope and read.] The King and Queen do now request that you, as God-mama, will attend the christening of the Royal Princess Erda, in the palace garden, to-morrow evening, e’er the sun shall sink to rest.
Spring. Well, Sisters mine, shall we accept the invitation?
Summer. It will give us pleasure, will it not, to serve so good a King and Queen?