Chapter V: Noah’s Ark

It paused, as usual, just beneath Master Harpham’s window.

“Why, there’s no ark!” exclaimed Margery, in a disappointed tone.

“Wait a bit!” Colin warned her. “It’s behind those curtains at the back, I expect. Noah has first to be told to build it, you see.”

Colin was right, for the play began with God’s announcement to Noah that the Deluge was approaching, and His command that a ship should be built.

Then Noah, a venerable old man with a long white beard, praised God for the warning, and spoke as follows:

“O Lorde, I thank Thee lowde and still,
That to me arte in suche will,
And spares me and my howse to spill,
As I now southly [truly] fynde.
Thy byddinge, Lorde, I shall fulfill,
And never more Thee greve nor grill [provoke]
That such grace hath sent me till,
Amongst all mankinde.”

Noah’s sons and their wives now entered, and the old man turned to them and told them of the flood that was coming:

“Have done, you men and women all,
Hye you, lest this watter fall
To worche [work] this shippe chamber and hall
As God hath bidden us doe,”

he said.

For the first time now, Noah’s wife came in, and her appearance was greeted by a roar of laughter from the crowd in the market-place and at the windows. The people understood that she was meant to be a very bad-tempered lady, and both her dress and her face were meant to make them laugh. The part was of course acted by a man (no woman ever acted in those days), and the player was a good actor whom every one knew.

At first the wife did not speak, though all the time her behaviour was amusing. Meanwhile the sons declared themselves ready to help with the ark.

“Father” (said Shem), “I am already bowne [prepared],
An axe I have, by my croune!
As sharp as any in all this toun
For to go thereto.”

Then Ham spoke:

“I have a hatchet, wonder keen
To bite well, as may be seen,
A better ground one, as I ween,
Is not in all this toun.”

Japhet also intended to do his best:

“And I can well make a pin,
And with this hammer knock it in,
Go and work without more din,
And I am ready bowne [prepared].”

But Noah’s wife at once showed by her grumbling speech that she was obstinate, and did not intend to do much work:

“And we shall bring timber too,
For women nothing else to do;
Women be weak to undergo
Any great travail,”

she declared.

At last, to the children’s delight, the curtains at the back of the stage parted, and they saw the ark. It was already very substantially built, for of course in the few minutes at the actors’ disposal they could do no more than _pretend_ to hammer and plane and saw. Indeed all the time that it was not in use, this ark hung in one of the churches in York, slung to the beams across the nave, from which place of safety it was every year taken down to do duty in the pageant.

Margery and Colin gazed with admiration upon the big ship, which was very much like the Noah’s arks we see nowadays in the toy-shops, only of course enormously larger. It was roofed in at the top, and gaily painted. There were little windows along the sides that opened and showed glimpses of rooms within. A mast with sails and rigging appeared above the roof, and altogether a more satisfactory and interesting ark can scarcely be imagined.

Noah and his sons began at once to work very busily, as though they were really building, Noah in these words explaining all there was to do:

“Now in the Name of God I will begin
To make the ship that we shall in,
That we be ready for to swim
At the coming of the flood.
These boards I join together,
To keep us safe from the weather,
That we may roam both hither and thither,
And safe be from this flood.
Of this tree will I have the mast,
Tied with cables that will last.
With a sail-yard for each blast,
And each thing in its kind.
With topmast high and bowsprit,
With cords and ropes I hold all fit
To sail forth at the next weete [tide]
This ship is at an end.”

The ark, now finished by the pretended labours of the men, Noah turned to his wife and family.

“Wife” (he said), “in this castle we shall be kept;
My children and thou I would in leaped.”

But Noah’s wife immediately began to show her temper. She had been looking all the time with scorn upon the building of the ship, and laughing with her neighbours, or “gossips,” as she called them, to see her husband and her sons working, as she considered, so foolishly; and when Noah begged her to come into safety, this was her contemptuous answer:

“In faith, Noe, I had as lief thou had slept,
For all thy frankishfare [nonsense],
For I will not do after thy rede [advice].”

“Good wife, do as I thee bid,”

said Noah, coaxingly.

“By Christ not, or I see more need,
Though thou stand all the day and rave,”

she replied, while the crowd broke into roars of laughter to see the husband and wife quarrelling.

“Lord, that women be crabbed ay!”

exclaimed Noah, amid fresh laughter,

“And never are meek, that I dare say.
This is well seen of me to-day,
In witness of you each one.
Good wife, let all this beere [noise]
That thou makest in this place here;
For they all ween thou art master,
And so thou art, by St. John!”

But here, in order to attend to the various animals which had to be taken into the ark, Noah was obliged to cease arguing for a time; and the way in which this difficult business of the animals was represented, greatly amused and interested the children.

Each of Noah’s sons and daughters-in-law mentioned the names of many birds and beasts, and as they named them, they held up great figures painted on parchment, and cut out to represent the various creatures of which they spoke.

_Shem_ began the list:

“Sir, here are lions, leopards in,
Horses, mares, oxen, and swine,
Goats, calves, sheep, and kine
Here sitten [settled] may you see.”

“Oh, look at the lion!” exclaimed Margery. “Isn’t he beautiful? And the pig, Colin! Did you ever see such a fat pig in your life?”

_Ham_ had now begun to show the animals in his charge:

“Camels, asses, men may find;
Buck, doe, hart, and hind,”

he chanted, holding up the figure of each beast before putting it in the ark.

“Take here cats and dogs too (said _Japhet_),
Otter, fox, fulmart also;
Hares hopping gaily, can ye
Have kail here for to eat.”

Presently also Noah’s wife, very scornfully laughing, showed _her_ animals:

“And here are bears, wolves set,
Apes, owls, marmoset;
Weasels, squirrels, and ferret,
Here they eat their meat,”

she said.

Shem’s wife then went on with the list of creatures, first exclaiming at their number:

“Yet more beasts are in this house!
Here cats come in full crowse [comfort],
Here a rat and here a mouse,
They stand nigh together.”

Margery wondered how the cats would get on with the rats and mice, but Shem’s wife offered no explanation, and immediately after her followed the wife of Ham:

“And here are fowls, less and more (she declared),
Herons, cranes, and bittern;
Swans, peacocks, have them before! [in front]
Meat for this weather.”

“Here are cocks, kites, crows (said Japhet’s wife),
Rooks, ravens, many rows;
Cuckoos, curlews, whoso knows,
Each one in his kind.
And here are doves, ducks, drakes,
Redshanks, running through the lakes—
And each fowl that language makes
In this ship men may find.”

At length, after the animals had all gone safely into the ark, Noah, to the huge delight of the crowd, turned again to his wife, and once more began to urge her to enter.

“Wife, come in, why standest thou there? (he entreated).
Thou art ever forward, that I dare swear;
Come on God’s half [behalf], time it were,
For fear lest that we drown.”

But the foolish woman could not be persuaded. Nothing would induce her to enter the ark, she declared, unless her “gossips” were allowed to come too; and that, as we know from the story of the Flood, was forbidden, since only Noah and his family were allowed to embark.

“Yes, sir; set up your sail (said she),
And row forth with evil heale,
For without any fail
I will not out of this town;
But I have my gossips every one,
One foot further I will not go.
They shall not drown, by S. John!
If I may save their life.
They loved me full well, by Christ!
But thou wilt let them in thy chest,
Else row forth, Noah, whither thou list,
And get thee a new wife.”

“It’s rather nice of her to want to save her friends, though—isn’t it?” exclaimed Margery, who was breathlessly interested.

“I don’t believe she cares a bit about them, really,” said Colin. “She only wants to be obstinate, and to make a fuss.”

“Now what are they doing? Will she be left behind?” asked Margery, anxiously.

“No,” said Master Gyseburn. “You see, Noah is sending his sons to make her go in. Listen to what Japhet says. He is just going to speak to her.”

“Mother (begged Japhet), we pray you altogether,
For we are here, your children;
Come into the ship for fear of the weather.”

“She won’t go! she won’t go!” cried Margery.

“Noah’s sending Shem to her again! There! he’s lifted her right in!” Colin exclaimed. “Oh, isn’t she angry!”

The people all round were laughing so much by this time, that the children could only just hear Shem’s words as he carried his mother up the plank into the ark:

“In faith, mother, yet you shall,
Whether you will or not!”

“Welcome, wife, into this boat!” (cried Noah.)

“And have, then, that for thy note!” [trouble]

she returned, boxing her husband’s ears.

At this outbreak the crowd again shouted with laughter, and went on laughing still more when Noah put his hands to his ears, moaning and complaining. By degrees, however, as the flood was supposed to rise higher and higher, he and his wife were quieted.

“Over the land the water spreads! (Noah explained.)
Now all this world is in a flood,
As I see well in sight,
This window will I close anon,
And into my chamber will I gone.”

The children eagerly watched him as, one after one, he closed the windows of the ark, shutting in all the little company of people and all the beasts and birds that were to be saved.

“Now you must imagine that the ark is floating on the water!” said Master Gyseburn, smiling at Colin and Margery, who found no difficulty at all in doing so. “The windows will be shut for a little while, and we have to pretend that forty days have passed before Noah opens them again. Soon we shall hear him singing, and then we shall see him once more.”

In a few moments, indeed, voices were heard within the ark, upraised in a psalm of praise; and when it was ended the windows were slowly slipped back, and at one of them stood Noah, a leaden weight fastened to a long cord in his hand.

“What’s that for?” asked Colin. “What is he going to do?”

“Ah! he’s going to ‘cast the lead’ in proper fashion, just as sailors do when they want to find out how deep the sea is,” explained Master Gyseburn. “Don’t forget that this is the Shipwrights’ pageant, and they are learned in all seafaring business, as you may imagine.”

“Yes! he’s unwinding the line!” cried Colin; “and I suppose he finds that the water has gone down? He can see the tops of the mountains now—can’t he?”

“The _whole_ of the mountains, I should think!” returned Master Gyseburn, laughing. “Listen! he’s going to speak.”

“Now forty days are fully gone (Noah began),
Send a raven I will anon;
If aught were earth, tree, or stone,
Be dry in any place.
And, if this fowl come not again,
It is a sign, sooth to say,
That dry it is, on hill and plain,
And God hath done some grace.”

“Oh! he’s going to let out a _real_ raven!” said Margery joyfully. “What a big black thing! Look, how he’s clapping his wings!”

“There!—now he’s flown!” exclaimed Colin. “He’s gone right over the roofs of those houses opposite. See how the people are staring after him. _He’ll_ never come back again!”

“But the dove will!” declared Margery excitedly. “Noah’s going to let a dove fly now. He’s talking to him—see!”

“Thou wilt turn again to me,
For of all fowls that may fly
Thou art most meek and hend [kind],”

said Noah, as he threw the bird up into the air.

“It won’t be the _same_ bird that comes back—will it?” asked Colin, looking up at Master Gyseburn, who smiled again.

“No—there’s another dove already fastened with a cord from the top of the stage. We shall see it in a minute!” And, sure enough, while he was speaking, the bird came fluttering down, almost into Noah’s hands.

“Oh! it’s got the olive-branch in its beak!” exclaimed Margery. “That shows that the trees are out of the water—doesn’t it?”

“Yes; listen—then you will hear Noah saying that the flood has gone down.”

“By this sight I well may say,
This flood begins to cease (Noah was declaring).
My sweet dove to me brought has
A branch of olive from some place;
This betokeneth God has done us some grace,
And is a sign of peace.”

By this time all the windows in the ark were open, disclosing the whole family, including Noah’s wife, who looked much subdued.

“She’s glad she’s saved now!” Margery remarked. “Look!—they’re all coming out, and God is talking to them.”

“He is promising that the rainbow shall be a sign from heaven that the earth shall never more be drowned,” said Master Gyseburn. “It’s all over now. Look!—the men are dragging the pageant away to the next halting-place.”

“And _now_ it’s Abraham and Isaac!” said Margery joyfully.