A GIRL. I'll pray with all my heart For our poor Queen! A 2D GIRL. We all will pray--and curse The King! 3D GUARD. Thou slut, be still, and hold thy tongue! Make haste into the church--go in! 1ST GUARD. I hear The lepers coming! hark! 3D GUARD. Here, girl, thou'st dropped Thy kerchief! [He picks it up.] THE GIRL. Thanks! 1ST GUARD (taking the old man by the arm). Take hold of me, old man. Make haste. [The doors of the church close: the stage remains empty for a few seconds. The music of the organ swells, and a hymn is heard. Then, by snatches, first distantly, then nearer, the rythmical rattling of the lepers resounds.] SCENE III The lepers enter the courtyard. They are a wild pack dressed in gaudy rags, and rumpled, armless cloaks with hoods; carrying long staves and crutches; with colored cloths bound about their sinister foreheads. Their faces are sunburnt, their hair is snow-white and streams in the wind. Some have their heads shaved. Their arms and feet are bare. Altogether they present a motley appearance, though the hardships of their life, as a band forced to live together, give them the aspect of weather-beaten and dried chaff driven hither and thither by the wind. They stand shyly and rock unsteadily on their dried and shrunken legs--silent and restless. Like ghosts of the noonday, they try to hush their voices throughout the scene. IWEIN (is the first to enter; the others file past him). Come quick! They've all gone in! A LEPER. Right here The cat shall catch the bird! A YOUNG LEPER (wearing a wreath, made of three or four large red flowers, in his dark hair). Heisa! Heisa! IWEIN. Speak softly, there, lest ye disturb the mass. AN OLD LEPER (feeble, and supporting himself on a crutch, in the tone of the town crier, almost singing). Today shall Queen Iseult, our good King's spouse Be given to us, the lepers of Lubin-- So cried the herald!-- YOUNG LEPER. Brother, brother, dance With me, for I'm the bridegroom--Ah!-- OLD LEPER (in the same tone). Today Shall Queen Iseult-- [Every time that the old leper begins to speak he is silenced by the others.] YOUNG LEPER (striking him). Thou fool! (To a fourth leper.) Come dance! 4TH LEPER. Be still! At noon to eat raw turnips, then at night To have the Queen to sleep with in the straw! Ha, ha! It makes me laugh!