You might find it difficult to understand their conversation if you could hear it now, for though these country people of course spoke English, it was not the English of to-day. Though many of the words were those we know well, there were others which have since fallen out of use, or are pronounced differently; so if I put their talk into the language to which we are accustomed, you must remember that though the sense of it is the same, it was not spoken in just this way. “Whereabouts does the first play begin?” asked Farmer Short, who had not been to the city for a whole year. “At the gates of the priory in Mikelgate,” said the man who rode next to him. Master Brigg was a townsman on a visit to his country relations, with whom he was journeying. “Next, at the door of Robert Harpham,” he went on. “Then at Skeldergate End. After that, I don’t know. I’ve forgotten.” Colin pricked up his ears. “We shan’t have to wait long,” he whispered, leaning across to Margery. “Aunt Harpham lives close to Mikelgate.” “And who plays the _Creation_ this year?” his father was asking. “The Plasterers,” replied Master Brigg. “And _Adam and Eve_?” “That I forget. But the Glovers have charge of _Cain and Abel_, and the Shipwrights this year are giving _The Building of the Ark_.” “A good thought! ’Tis the best play for shipwrights!” declared the farmer, laughing. “I’ll be bound they’ll see it built well and truly. What of _The Shepherds’ Play_?” “The Chandlers have the care of that, and the Goldsmiths of _The Coming of the Three Kings to Herod_.” “That’s the man I told you about,” cried Colin. “The man that stamped, and talked loud, and had a sword.” “Oh, look!” interrupted Margery, excitedly. “We are coming quite close! We shall soon be there!” And indeed, while they talked, the little company had drawn near to the city, whose walls and frowning gates rose up before them. In a very few minutes they had clattered under the archway of Petergate, and the children found themselves in the city. III The Creation of the Angels, and the Fall of Lucifer