“Lordings, the signification Of this deed of devotion, An you will, it is shown, May turn you to much good. This deed you see done in this place, In example of Jesus done it was, That for to win mankind grace Was sacrificed on the rood. By Abraham you may understand The Father of heaven that can fand [find means] With His Son’s blood to break that band The devil had brought us to. By Isaac understand I may Jesus Who was obedient ay, His Father’s will to work alway, His death to undergo.” VII The Shepherds’ Play Many were the exclamations of wonder and delight at the performance, and many the congratulations to the parents of the little actor, when _The Sacrifice of Isaac_ passed on its way to the next halting-place. Indeed so excited and talkative were the guests at the house of Master Harpham, that the four following pageants received little attention from them. “The poor child will be worn out before evening comes!” declared the women again and again, and Giles’ mother agreed. “Though he so loves playing,” she said, “that I don’t think he feels the fatigue as much as one might imagine. I know who _will_ be worn out, though!” she exclaimed, turning to Mistress Short. “Your little ones ought to go and rest awhile. It’s altogether too long a day for them.” Colin and Margery protested, but their mother was firm, and they were obliged to follow her to Mistress Harpham’s guest-room, the grandest they had ever seen, where Margery was placed on the big four-posted bed of oak, and Colin, grumbling a great deal, was forced to lie down on a little truckle-bed at its foot. “You’ll be all the fresher, and enjoy the plays all the better for a bit of a sleep,” Mistress Harpham assured them. “And you shall be called in time for the Shepherds’ play—that I promise you.” Margery brightened at this, for she had heard that the Shepherds’ play was the most popular of all the pageants, and she had been afraid of missing it. Though she and Colin had laughed at the idea of “a bit of a sleep,” each found a strange feeling of drowsiness creeping nearer, and considering that they had been up since daybreak, and it was now past noon, this was not so surprising as they considered it. At any rate, when their mother softly entered the room an hour later, she roused both children from sleep. The Shepherds’ play, she told them, was expected in a few minutes; and they ran eagerly into the front room to take their old places at the window. “Do tell us what they’ve been acting!” begged Margery, as their friend Master Gyseburn welcomed them with a smile.