“Well! we’ve had _Moses lifting up the Serpent in the Wilderness_. That was the Hosiers’ pageant. Then came the Grocers with the _Salutation of Mary to Elisabeth_. Next came _Mary and Joseph with an angel commanding them to go to Bethlehem_, acted by the Pewterers; and the last one was the Tylers’ (Thatchers’) pageant of the _Stable at Bethlehem, with the Child Jesus in the Manger_.” “Oh! we wanted to see that!” exclaimed both the children, very disappointed. “You will,” Master Gyseburn assured them. “After this pageant, the Shepherds go to the stable to worship the Child, so the manger scene appears again; in fact it appears several times.” By the stir and noise in the crowd below, it was evident that the Shepherds’ play was awaited with great eagerness. There was a pushing and scrambling in the throng, which had greatly increased in numbers. Many people who had strolled away to get something to eat and drink had returned, and were trying to recover their lost places. “Is this a funny play?” asked Colin. “Yes,” said Master Gyseburn. “The Shepherds’ play, or at any rate the first part of it, is always expected to be amusing. It is an old custom, and the people would be very disappointed, and perhaps angry, if it were changed. This particular play is one that is always acted at Wakefield, but our Chandlers have borrowed it this year, because it is such a good one.” “Oh! this is the Chandlers’ pageant, then?” asked Margery. Master Gyseburn nodded. “Here it comes,” said he. “You will find that it has very little to do with the Bible story about the Shepherds.” “Just a made-up play, I suppose?” said Colin. “That’s it. Just a funny story to make people laugh.” By this time the pageant stood in its place before the Harphams’ window, and the children noticed that the big stage was divided into two parts. One part represented a field, in which three shepherds were seated with their sheep huddled round them; and next to this scene, on a line with it, there was a sort of separate compartment, at present covered by curtains. The shepherds began at once to grumble about the weather. They complained of the cold, which one of them said made his legs cramped, and his hands all chapped.