Pulpcutters’ Nativity / Two For Christmas

A Word about TWO FOR CHRISTMAS

Note: This short essay is usually printed as an insert in the program

T he Second Shepherds’ Play is one in a cycle of thirty-two Biblical plays, from creation to apocalypse, written and performed in and around Wakefield, England, in the middle of the 15th Century. The church created these plays in order to teach the peasantry the literature of the Bible. Members of the various medieval guilds wrote, produced and performed most of these plays communally.

The Second Shepherds’ Play however is so distinctive, has about it so much the stamp of an individual author, that the play has come down to us as written by a particular person known only as “The Wakefield Master.” Miracle plays are devout, often humorous, and always entertaining. The Second Shepherds’ Play is that and more. The whole play except for a short and orthodox scene at the very end is an outrageous and warm-hearted parody of the nativity in which a sheep thief, his cantankerous wife and a stolen lamb comprise the unholy family.

For his play The Wakefield Master invented a complex and daunting stanza full of internal as well as end rhymes. The form, by the way, is similar to the stanza in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the second, after Beowulf, great work in English literature. Here are two examples of the original, each stanza followed by my translation; the first somewhat free, the second more literal.

III PASTOR
Sich servandys as I, that swettys and swynkys,
Etys oure brede full dry, and that me forthynkys;
We ar oft weytt and wery when master-men wynkys;
Yit commys full lately both dyners and drynkys,
Bot nately.
Both oure dame and our syre,
When we have ryn in the myre,
Thay can nyp at oure hyre,
And pay us full lately.

THIRD SHEPHERD
Such a servant as I who works and who sweats
Yet must eat his bread dry is aggrieved and bereft.
Still at work and bone tired while the rich are asleep
I come home tardy and weary to my dinner and drink–
Such as it is.
Should perhaps I blunder or miss even one day
The Sire will be happy to interrupt his play
To upbraid me, insult me and dock me my pay–
Such as it is.

III PASTOR:
Hayll, derlyng dere, full of Godhede!
I pray the be nere when that I have nede.
Hayll, swete is thy chere! My hart wold blede
To se the sitt here in so poore wede,
With no pennys.
Hayll, put furth thy dall!
I bring the bot a ball:
Have and play the with all,
And go to the tenys.

THIRD SHEPHERD
Hail, darling dear full of God’s seed.
I pray Thee be near when I have need.
Hail! Hail! sweet is Thy cheer! But my heart bleeds
To see Thee lie here so much in need,
With no pennies.
Put forth Thy hand so small!
The gift I bring is but a ball:
Have it and play Thee withal
At the tennis.

It is clear that the Wakefield Master had a well developed political and social conscience; he understood the nature of his society’s injustices. He knew the poor man’s condition, and he was not afraid to let his characters speak of it acrimoniously. But in addition to his sharp tongue, the writer also had a bubbling and irrepressible sense of humor. Although the play is a parody and has ironic moments, it is never bitter; it is lighthearted, joyful and extremely funny. The Wakefield Master was a good-natured fellow and it was impossible for him to speak critically without at the same time seeing the human warmth and humor inherent in the situation.

Sitting at my desk making my translation of The Second Shepherds’ Play and again in the rehearsal hall as I saw the play come to life, I have been awed by its greatness. The characters are real people, finely drawn, distinct from each other; the author is in absolute control of the mood shifts; the scenes develop carefully and subtly, and the author’s heartfelt and committed engagement with his subject is obvious.

A Pulp Cutters’ Nativity follows the original play very closely, almost speech for speech, and within those speeches there is great similarity in content; in fact, in a number of places, where it worked, I used direct translations of the original lines–”My feet froze to my shoes.” “If I had the money I’d buy her a funeral.”

I have, however, tampered with the original in a few places. I altered slightly the personalities of some of the characters. I gave the angel the nativity narrative as she has it in the original, then added a portion of Jesus’ first public speech, the declaration of the jubilee year, because I think it is the penultimate message of the Christian gospel. I’ve moved the shepherds’ final singing forward a bit and written new lyrics. And I changed the mood of the end. My version ends with fear and foreboding; this is the modern age. I made up my own jokes, inserted an outburst about racism, because I think it is one of the most pressing issues of our time, added a second–more positive–view of marriage, and changed time, place, characters and dialect.

What amazed me as I wrote A Pulp Cutters’ Nativity was how easily and simply the original transferred from 15th Century England to 20th Century New England, which must be, I am afraid, a commentary on the changelessness of the human condition.

The central message of the Christian gospel is, in my opinion, that Christ came to give people hope. This gift was given originally, and must remain a special gift, to the poor, because to be poor, especially in America, is to be told every time you turn around that you should be ashamed, that you are hope-less.

The message of the Christian gospel is a denial of all that; it is an affirmation of self-respect and that is something the poor have never, nor will they ever, get from the societies of Caesar.

David Budbill
Advent 1996