Act 1 Scene 2 Summary

A group of women robed in white runs onstage, dancing and singing. They're followed by men carrying a man on a stretcher and the formally dressed Figure from the Prologue, now given the name Basil. Moustique appears and greets one of the Peasants carrying the stretcher. The Peasant asks Moustique to pray with him, and they both kneel. As the women continue to sing and dance, the Man and Moustique pray and discuss the situation. As they mutter fragments of the Lord's Prayer and the Hail Mary, their conversation reveals that the man on the stretcher is dying from a snake bite and needs to sweat in order to break his poison-triggered fever. We also learn that Basil is a carpenter and cabinet-maker, and the implication is that he is also a coffin maker.

A Second Peasant joins Moustique and the...