e it is as hard for you to understand why we
disbelieve as it is for us to believe. Oh! what have I said! You know
everything! Give me time to undo what I have done. Give me a year--a
month--a day--an hour! Give me to this hour's end, that I may undo what
I have done!

ANGEL. You cannot undo what you have done. Yet I have this power with
my message. If you can find one that believes before the hour's end,
you shall come to Heaven after the years of Purgatory. For, from one
fiery seed, watched over by those that sent me, the harvest can come
again to heap the golden threshing floor. But now farewell, for I am
weary of the weight of time.

WISE M. Blessed be the Father, blessed be the Son, blessed be the
Spirit, blessed be the Messenger They have sent!

ANGEL [_at the door and pointing at the hour-glass_]. In a little
while the uppermost glass will be empty. [_Goes out._]

WISE M. Everything will be well with me. I will call my pupils; they
only say they doubt. [_Pulls the bell._] They will be here in a moment.
They want to please me; they pretend that they disbelieve. Belief is
too old to be overcome all in a minute. Besides, I can prove what I
once disproved. [_Another pull at the bell._] They are coming now. I
will go to my desk. I will speak quietly, as if nothing had happened.

[_He stands at the desk with a fixed look in his eyes. The
voices of the pupils are heard outside singing these words._]

I was going the road one day,
O the brown and the yellow beer,
And I met with a man that was no right man
O my dear, O my dear.

[_The sound grows louder as they come nearer, but ceases on
the threshold._]

_Enter_ PUPILS _and the_ FOOL.

FOOL. Leave me alone. Leave me alone. Who is that pulling at my bag?
King's son, do not pull at my bag.

A YOUNG MAN. Did your friends the angels give you that bag? Why don't
they fill your bag for you?

FOOL. Give me pennies! Give me some pennies!

A YOUNG M. What do you want pennies for?--that great bag at your waist
is heavy.

FOOL. I want to buy bacon in the shops, and nuts in the market, and
strong drink for the time when the sun is weak, and snares to catch
rabbits and the squirrels that steal the nuts, and hares, and a great
pot to cook them in.

A YOUNG M. Why don't your friends tell you where buried treasures are?
Why don't they make you dream about treasures? If one dreams three
times there