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above the manger, and saw that the stands were close to being filled. Not only
that, but Carolinus's red robe was conspicuous in the middle of them; and the
Earl, Agatha Falon and the Prince were also there to the magician's right. Jim
came back to Angie.
"The Earl's here already," he said. "He's used to things starting the moment
he arrives. It's almost twilight. We better not delay. Do you want to go out
and start now?"
"Any time," said Angie cheerfully. "But Jim, there is something wrong!"
"No. No, actually there isn't," said Jim. "I get a little worn down by being
here in the fourteenth century, sometimes, that's all. Pay no attention."
Angie hugged him, kissed him and went around the corner of the wall out in
front of the audience.
Feeling better, and thoroughly angry with himself for feeling better after
being consoled, Jim went back to the crack between the two planks he had
located before.
I'm not four years old, he growled to himself& but perhaps in some corner of
him he was. The crack gave him a view out over the manger from which he could
see Angie and nearly all the audience in the stands. He had told Angie to
speak just in an ordinary voice; and he would make sure everybody could hear
her.
Now he concentrated on visualizing her voice being not so much amplified as
simply reaching out to everyone in the stands; as if she was speaking just a
few feet in front of each one of them. Hastily, at the last minute, he
remembered to also have her voice come to his ears in the same way, so he
could check on whether the magic was working or not.
He was reassured it had been wise to make things work that way, once she
began to speak. Her voice came as easily and clearly to his own ears as if she
was standing beside him.
"My Lord Prince ofEngland , my Lord Earl, my Lord Bishop, and all other
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lords, gentlemen and ladies here assembled," she said.
She was doing a marvelous job of it, Jim thought admiringly, peering between
the two planks. That stage training of hers was standing her in good stead.
Angie went on.
" On this last eve of our gathering this Christmas, by the gracious
permission of our Lord Prince, my Lord Earl, and my Lord Bishop, I wish to
present to you all a famous legend of our Lord Jesus Christ, fitting to this
holy time and place. After I have told what took place, you will see it acted,
taking place again here, before your eyes."
She paused.
"I will now begin," she said.
She paused again.
"As the writings of a holy man tell us, there came a time in the early life
of Christ, our Lord, when word came to Herod, King over all the land at that
time, that there was a child born who would himself come to be King.
"At this Herod was suddenly fearful that the child so spoken of would rise to
take his place as King. Therefore, he, Herod, made an order that all the
children under four years of age should be slain forthwith, that none should
survive and whoever among them was the child who might be King would also be
slain."
She paused but this time because of the angry growl from the stands. Once it
had died away, she went on.
"Word of this came to Mary and Joseph, and they resolved to take our young
Lord Christ toEgypt , where he would be safely out of the way of the men sent
forth by Herod to kill all the children.
"So they went forth; and with them went representatives of all the animals;
the lion, the ox, the ass, the horse, the camel, all the many animals went
with them to guard them along the way; and after they had been traveling some
days, it happened that they were out without shelter when night fell. So
Joseph built a fire, and set up a shelter for Mary and the Child; and the
animals lay all around to guard.
"And so they slept the night."
She paused.
"But when the morning came, and the sun rose, they awoke, they and the beasts
that had lain about to guard them, they all Mary, Joseph and the Lord Christ,
himself saw, by the early light of the sun, a little ways away to their right,
a place of rocks with trees thick among them. And from those trees in that
same light they saw all at once huge dragons coming toward them.
"The animals and the beasts were afraid and drew away. Joseph was afraid.
"But Christ spoke from the place where he lay to his father, saying:
" 'Fear not, Joseph, for remember what the Prophet David hath said: "Praise
the Lord from the earth, Ye dragons, and all deeps." These dragons have only
come to be blessed. Let them approach, that I may bless them.' "
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She waited a moment to let the words linger in the minds of the audience; and
then went on.
"Then Joseph was no longer afraid. He stood aside, and the dragons came
forward quietly and meekly to the place where the Holy Child lay. And the Lord
Christ blessed them and they were glad and went forth, harming nothing."
There was a drawn-out murmur of general pleasure and awe from the stands.
"Watch now, therefore," said Angie, "and you will see all this happen, from
its very beginning."
She turned and went back around the corner of the set to where Jim was, out
of sight with him behind it.
"Ready?" she said to him. He nodded. "Have you any idea of what you're going
to say?" Angie went on.
"Oh, yes," said Jim, taking his eyes from the crack, "I don't worry about
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