Page:The grandmother; a story of country life in Bohemia.pdf/229

Rh their fill of skating, rolling, and tumbling over one another. Then they entered the house, where the dogs met them with a terrible barking; but the children welcomed them with the greatest delight. They remained near the door, where they laid down their bags and put themselves in order for the play. Their clothes were quite simple. The maid Dorothea had on her brother's boots, a white dress that Manchinka had lent her, and beneath her paper crown she wore her mother's white kerchief. The boys wore paper caps, and to complete their costumes they had white shirts over their other clothes, fastened around the waist with bright colored handkerchiefs. King Diocletian also had a crown, and the beautiful cloak that hung so gracefully from his shoulders was his mother's best Sunday apron, which she had lent him as a special favor. As soon as they had warmed themselves by the fire, they took their stand in the middle of the room to recite their parts; the children heard it every year but never got tired of it. When the heathen king, Diocletian, condemns the Christian maid Dorothea to death, the assistants take her by the arms and lead her to the block, where the headsman stands with his sword raised up high, and says with terrible pathos:

Dorothea kneels, bends her head, the headsman cuts off her crown, and the assistant raises it in the air. Then all bow, Dorothea picks up her crown