Excerpt from The Hour Glass Fourth PU pil Down on your knees. Hunch up your back. Spread your arms out now, and look like a golden eagle in a church. Keep still, Keep still. Fool Give me a penny. Third pupil Is that the right cry for an eagle flock? Second pupil I'll turn the pages you close your eyes and your finger down. Third PU pil That's it, and then he cannot blame us for choice. First pupil There, I have chosen. Fool, keep still and if what's wise is strange and sounds like nonsense, we've made a good choice. Fifth PU pil The Master has come. Fool Will anybody give a penny to a fool? (one of the pupils draws back the stage curtain showing the Master sitting at his desk. One pupil puts the book before him) first PU pil We have chosen the passage for the lesson, master.'there are two living countries, one visible and one invisible, and when it is summer there, it is winter here, and when it is November with us, it is lamb ing-time there.' wise man That passage, that passage What mischief has there been since yesterday? First pupil None, Master. Wise man Oh, yes, there has; some craziness has fallen from the wind, or risen from the graves of old men, and made you choose that subject. Fourth PU pil I knew that it was folly, but they would have it. Third PU pil Had we not better say we picked it by chance? Second PU pil N 0, he would say we were children still. First pupil I have found a sentence under that one that says as though to show it had a hidden meaning a beggar wrote it upon the walls of Babylon. Wise man Then find some beggar and ask him what it means, for I will have nothing to do with it. Fourth pupil Come, Teigne, what is the old book's meaning when it says that there are sheep that drop their lambs in November? About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.