Produced by Kentuckiana Digital Library, David Garcia and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. THE BELLES OF CANTERBURY A CHAUCER TALE OUT OF SCHOOL =A Play In One Act for Eleven Girls= BY ANNA BIRD STEWART, A.M. DEDICATED TO MISS DOROTHY CONREY 1912 * * * * * =PRICE 25 CENTS= NEW YORK LONDON SAMUEL FRENCH SAMUEL FRENCH, LTD. PUBLISHER 26 SOUTHAMPTON STREET 28-30 WEST 38TH STREET STRAND =THE BELLES OF CANTERBURY= PERSONS IN THE PLAY. FRESHMAN } SOPHOMORE } JUNIOR } _Pupils at a girls' school_ SENIOR } CHARACTERS FROM THE _CANTERBURY TALES._ WIFE OF BATH _From the Prologue_ PRIORESS " " " FIRST NUN " " " SECOND NUN " " " EMILY _From the Knight's Tale_ HIPPOLYTA " " " " GRISELDA " " _Clerk's_ " COSTUMES. The simplicity of the costuming as well as of the stage setting makes the play an easy one for amateurs to produce. The dress of the four school girls should be as modern as possible. Their hair should be elaborately arranged. HIPPOLYTA should wear the dress of an Amazon, armor if possible, or a short skirt, sandals laced high with crossed strings, waist to match the skirt, a crown, and a shield on the left arm. The shield can he made by gilding or covering a barrel-head with silver paper. EMILY wears a long gown of pale dull green cheese cloth, falling straight from the shoulders and girded in at the waist by a curtain cord. She must have fair hair which should be braided down her back. GRISELDA should wear a similar costume of pale gray and lavender, with a tall headdress of wire covered with white gauze and tinsel. The WIFE OF BATH wears a short skirted costume of very bright colors, red stockings, very broad shoes, a straw hat with a broad brim and no trimming, if possible one of the sun hats worn by farmers. The PRIORESS and her NUNS wear black skirts and white waists. Over this they wear black scholastic gowns such as are worn by graduates of academies and colleges, girded in with a leather strap. A yard of white cloth cut down one side for about ten inches, and then a circle cut out of the center, makes the white _guimpe_ for the NUN, the curved part being put under the chin and the two cut ends fastened on top of the head. A second piece of white cloth is bound across the forehead for a _bandeau_. Two yards of black material make the veil which falls on either side of the face and down the back. =THE BELLES OF CANTERBURY=