The_ WIFE _touches the keys by
accident_. ALL _jump at the sound._)
JUNIOR. What do you want to sing?
PRIORESS. (_slightly affected_)
Alas, I cannot sing without my notes.
WIFE. Surely that is a line each reader quotes!
JUNIOR. Do you know the _Yama-Yama Girl_? (_substitute any popular
song_)
(_The_ PRIORESS _looks blank_.)
JUNIOR. Nor even the _Merry Widow_?
PRIORESS. Why 'tis a thing that Chaucer never had,
In his day seemly widows all were sad.
You speak of folk of whom I have no ken.
FIRST NUN. One song, Madame, you know.
SECOND NUN. O, try it then!
(_The_ PRIORESS _sings to the tune of the Old English Ballad,
"Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes_.")
Oh! We are Chaucer's children here,
And well we love his name
We live in hearts that hold him dear,
Are nourished by his fame.
Oh, listen now, while thus we sing
Our songs of olden days,
When court and king and common folk
United, voiced his praise.
When I was once a little lasse
At Stratford-on-the-Bowe
I hastened daily to my classe,
My one dream was to know.
I studied there, full seemly deep,
With ne'er the smallest hint
That other maids would some day weep,
At seeing me in print.
I thought of nothing but my booke,
To make my mind grow fair
So I'm afraid I never took
The pains to do my hair!
(_She looks at the_ JUNIOR'S _hair_.
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