Yet did a monk let slip the truth to me,-- The devil's remedies the Jew employs. Beware his drugs; transformed within the blood They grant an entrance to all kinds of sin. FOURTH COUNTRYMAN: The men who wait upon the knights oppose Our ancient customs, saying that the Jew Hath stores of knowledge both to heal and bless Which will in days to come be rightly prized. FIFTH COUNTRYMAN: New times and better are in store; I see Their coming in my spirit, when my soul Pictures to me what eyes cannot behold. The knights intend to bring all this about. FOURTH COUNTRYWOMAN: We owe the Church obedience, for she guards Our souls from devil-visions, and from death, And from hell-fire. The monks bid us beware The knights, and their vile sorcerer, the Jew. FIFTH COUNTRYWOMAN: Only a short time longer need we bear In patience the oppression of the knights. Soon will their citadel in ruins lie. Thus hath it been foretold me in a dream. SIXTH COUNTRYWOMAN: I fear such tales betoken mortal sin-- That noble knights do plot to bring us harm-- Nought do I see but good come from their hands; I needs must count them Christians, as ourselves. SIXTH COUNTRYMAN: What men shall think of them in days to come 'Twere best to leave to be adjudged by those Who shall live after us. Mere tools are we, Used by the knights in their satanic arts To war against true Christianity. If they be driven out we shall be freed From their pernicious sway, and live our lives As we shall choose, in this our native land. Now let us go to vespers, there to find That which our souls require, and that which is In harmony with our ancestral ways. These novel teachings suit us not at all. (Exeunt the countryfolk.) (Simon, the Jew, enters from the wood.) SIMON: