Part 5 Summary

"The Towneley Cycle - The Wakefield Second Shepherds' Pageant" In his introduction, the editor comments on the history of this particular pageant and its specific relationship to a French pageant of three centuries before. He also comments on how it interpolates details from the Bible, local references, detailed characterizations of the shepherds, and what might be described as a sub-plot involving a stolen sheep.

The Pageant - On a cold clear night, three Shepherds watch their flocks and complain—the First about the weather, the Second about the miseries of his married life, the Third about both. They are joined by Mak, another shepherd, who echoes their complaints and then casts a "night spell" that sends them to sleep and enables him to steal a sheep. He takes the sheep home to his shrewish wife Gill, who is at first resentful of...