I want to invite you all to return with me on a late

summer day to the great city of Suzail in the Kingdom of Cormyr

as it was five hundred years ago in the year 987. It will mean arising early in the
imagination only and taking a walk on the city wall above
what is now a large palazzo. This is the highest
point of the wall, since the land rises to a slight eminence
on the west side of the river, and we can see from our
point of vantage over the whole city. In the center of it
rises the great Temple which still forms a landmark of
the city and the whole surrounding countryside.

Around the Temple are a huddle of streets, very narrow, very colorful, with houses and numerous churches
whose spires and towers we can see rising above them.
From these churches we can also hear the sound of
innumerable bells, for it is the great feast of Tymora ,
recently instituted to honor Tymora in the doctrine
of the Brilliant Gem, and everyone in the city must go to
Ceremony. There is another and more special reason why they
should do so, for on this day the Mystery Plays are given
and many of the citizens of Suzail are taking part in one of
the forty-eight which form the cycle of plays given from
dawn until dusk.

Outside the wall of the city we see a scene of great

animation. Where the forecourt of the Temple
now stands there is a rough grassy sward. It is called
"Pageant Green." On it hundreds of men are running
hither and thither with great verve and purpose; and into
it a series of great carts, all of them with different super-

structure, some one storey high, some two, all elaborately

decorated, are being pulled from sheds that surround its
edge. These are the "pageants" on which the plays will be
performed, for each play is a one-act representing a single
scene in the history of the world. Each play has its own
stage, its own moving stage on wheels, and they follow
one another round the city to twelve stations or stopping
places at which the plays are given in order. The first
performance is due to begin at four-thirty A.M., and the
last will be lighted by torches as dusk falls in the evening.

Most of the men to be seen are wearing the ordinary

clothes of their stature, but among them are a large number
who have special costume for their plays. We can
concentrate our attention on one wagon which seems to
be further advanced in its preparations than the rest. This
is a two-storey wagon, evidently representing Afterlife
above and the abyss beneath. Ready to move with it are a figure
in a majestic costume topped with a triple crown, angels
and devils. As it seems to be moving off, we can walk
round the wall to the nearest gate into the city,
and see this pageant as it enters.

The bar is called Middegate Bar and it still stands at the

point where the road from York leaves the city to go to
Leeds. The pageant lumbers round the corner up the hill,
followed by its actors in procession. As it passes through
the gate it has a tight squeeze to negotiate the top of the
arch and then, moving along the street, comes to rest
in front of the statue of the Holy Goddess, in Middegate. A considerable

crowd is already gathered and people are hanging out

of all the windows.