The Jane deLacey Chronicles - Chapter Twelve

THE MAY DAY PAGEANT

Jane was sitting in the library, reading Little Women, a book declared mandatory for her cultural education by the other girls.  Jane had been supratemporally transmigrated from 1594 to 1904, and she had a lot of catching up to do.

All at once, Samantha came hurrying in.

            “Jane!” she exclaimed, “Guess what?”

            Jane had been doing her best to learn modern, colloquial English.  “I haven’t the mistiest notion,” was her reply.

            “There’s going to be a May Day Pageant again this year, and the theme is going to be ‘Merry Olde England!’ They’re going to pretend it’s the Elizabethan days!”

           

Jane perked up.  “You mean they are going to hold May Games like I used to see when I was at home?  Humdinger!”

            “Now don’t get your hopes up,” Samantha said, “They are more interested in festive pageantry than they are with historical accuracy.  Remember last year, the theme was ‘The Golden Age of Greece.’ If anyone from Ancient Greece had seen it they would have been completely confused.”

            “What will it be like?”

            “There will be a Maypole, and a Queen of the May, and two people are going to dress up like Queen Elizabeth and Sir Walter Raleigh.”

            “I have ne’er heard of this bigwig; Father would not chew the fat about affairs of state with me.  But I am in a tizzy to take a gander at how they do play the Queen.”

            “There will be milkmaids, and chimney sweeps, and a Jack-in-the-Green!”

           

“What have they to do with May Day?  I have never heard of a Jack whatsis.  Will there be sports and games?  Playing at cudgels?  Cock fighting?  Bear baiting?  Lots of strong ale?”

            Samantha looked alarmed.  “No, there won’t be anything like that, I can assure you.”

            “Hmph!  Not much of a May Day then. Will there be Robin Hood and Maid Marian?   There jolly-well had better be Morris Dancers.  T’wouldn’t be May Day without Morris Dancers.  Remember, last year I had to dance all by my lonesome.”

           

“I didn’t hear anything about them.  But we could go see the ladies that are organizing the pageant, I’m sure they would welcome some suggestions from someone who knows what an Elizabethan May Day was like. . . Only we can’t tell them you’re from 1594 or they’ll think we’re crazy.  And whatever you do, don’t mention cudgels and bear-baiting.” 

           

       So they put on their hats and went across the park to the elegant home of Mme. Bleuette, ballet instructor, and Chairwoman of the Kisco Hills Terpsichorean Society, which was organizing the May Day Pageant.  They were ushered into the parlor where the May Day Pageant Committee was holding a planning meeting.

“Miss Parkington, how good to see you,” said Mme. Bleuette, “What can we do for you?”

“We have come to talk with you about the May Day Pageant,” said Samantha, “This is my friend Jane deLacey, who is from England, and she has seen May Day Pageants which hadn’t changed since the early 1590s.  She has some ideas for making your pageant more authentically Elizabethan.”

            The ladies of the planning committee were immediately interested, and began asking eager questions.  Jane was glad to answer them.

             “One of the things they always had was a Robin Hood play, with Maid Marian and Friar Tuck, and all his Merry Men,” said Jane.

            “We could have them be Queen Elizabeth’s guard of honor!” said one lady, and the others agreed.

            “Then there were sports and games of all sorts,” Jane went on.

            “We could have foot races for the children,” was one suggestion.

            “Robin Hood’s Merry Men could hold an archery contest!” said another.

            “There was always lots of food and drink,” Jane said.

            “A refreshment tent!” cried two ladies at once.

            “But the most important part of the festivities were the Morris Dancers.”

            Mme. Bleuette frowned. “We’ve read about Morris Dancing, but none of us know what it is like.”

            “I know all about it,” said Jane, “and could easily teach a dance to my friends and dance it in the pageant.”

            “If you could do that, Miss deLacey,” said Mme. Bleuette, “we would be very pleased.  We have some shepherdess costumes from when the theme was ‘An Arcadian Pastoral’ which you may wear.”

Jane was about to ask how historically accurate they would be when Samantha cut her off.  “That would be splendid, Madame.  Thank you very much for giving us this opportunity.”

            “And thank you, Miss Parkington and Miss deLacey, for your wonderful suggestions,” said Mme. Bleuette.

            The girls hurried home to make plans.

           

Jane got Gila, Julia, and Bailey to join her as dancers, with Nellie as musician on pipe and tabor.  Samantha was asked to join them but she politely declined since dancing was not her special talent.  Jane demonstrated the steps and arm movements and described the various figures of a Morris Dance called “The Friar in the Well.” 

The early practices were not all she would have hoped for; the girls took awhile to get the hang of it. 

But at last, after much effort, they had mastered the dance and were ready for an audience.

           

 

The First of May was bright and clear and mild.  The girls were nervous, putting on their costumes and getting ready to go to the Pageant. 

There were only four shepherdess costumes for the dancers, so Jane let Nellie wear the dress she had been wearing when she first came from 1594.  It fit Nellie perfectly, and Jane was pleased that there would be one thing accurate about the pageant at least.

           

 

In the park, the crowd had gathered, the performers were ready, and “Merry Olde England” came to life.  The actors playing Queen Elizabeth and Sir Walter Raleigh were costumed splendidly, but Jane winced every time they had lines.

            “This actress is the spittin’ image of the Queen,” she muttered to the girls, “but, by golly, she ne’er spoke like that!”

            After the milkmaids’ garland dance (which Jane had never seen anything like), Sir Walter, acting as master of ceremonies, announced the Young Ladies’ Morris, and the girls strode boldly onto the playing area.

           

“From the village tradition of Poppets Revel,” Jane shouted, “The Friar in the Well!  Musician, at your leisure!” 

Nellie struck up the tune and played it through once. 

“This time . . .” Jane shouted as the tune came around to the beginning again . . .

“Foot up!”

            The girls “footed it lustily upon the greensward!”  Jane called each figure and the different choruses.

           

“First Chorus, Side Steps!”

           

“Dos-a-Dos!”

           

 

“Second Chorus, Caprioles!”

            “Threedling!”

        “Third Chorus, Caprioles Forey!”

            “Whole Rounds!”

            “Fourth Chorus, Caprioles Grand!”

“All in!”  The girls capered into the middle and all shouted, “Hey!”

The crowd cheered. Queen Elizabeth departed from the script and rose from her throne to declare the Young Ladies’ Morris the most charming part of the pageant. The girls, tired and glowing, basked in all the attention.  Jane was thrilled to have brought to her new home a special part of her life from her old.  For her it was the Merriest May in over three hundred years!