2nd Wrenboy:  We will hardly be there before the moon rises.

1st Prince:  Are you afraid in the night time?

2nd Wrenboy:  I am not.  But I’ve seen a great deal of strange things at that time.

2nd Prince:  What sort of things?

2nd Wrenboy:  Fairies you’d see.

3rd Prince:  Are there such things?

2nd Wrenboy:  One night I was attending a pot-still, roasting oats for to make still-whiskey, and I seen hares coming out of the wood, by fours and by sixes, and they as thin as thin....

3rd Wrenboy:  Hares are the biggest fairies of all.

4th Wrenboy:  And down by the sea I met a weasel bringing up a fish in his mouth from the tide.  And I often seen seals there, seals that are enchanted and look like humans, and will hold up a hand the same as a Christian.

5th Wrenboy:  I that saw a hedgehog running up the side of a mountain as swift as a racehorse.

1st Wrenboy:  It’s the moonlight is the only time!

1st Prince:  I never saw the moon but through a window.

1st Wrenboy:  That’s the time to go ramble. (He chants.) You’ll see the crane in the water standing, And never landing a fish, for fright, For he can but shiver seeing in the river His shadow shaking in the bright moonlight.

2nd Wrenboy:  Or you may listen to the plover’s whistle, When high above him the wild geese screech; Or the mallard flying, as the night is dying, His neck out-stretched towards the salt sea beach.

3rd Wrenboy:  When dawn discloses the oak and shows us The wide sky whitening through the scanty ash, High in the beeches the furry creatures, Squirrel and marten lightly pass.

4th Wrenboy:  The badger scurries to find his burrow The rabbit hurries to hide underground.

5th Wrenboy:  The pigeon rouses the thrush that drowses, The woods awaken and the world goes round!

1st Wrenboy:  Come now, it’s time to be taking the road.  Thank you, noble Gentlemen!  That you may be doing the same thing this day fifty years! (They go off playing fife and beating drum.)

1st Prince:  I would nearly wish to be in their place to go through the world at large.

2nd Prince:  They can go visit strange cities, sailing in white-sailed ships.

3rd Prince:  They have no lessons to learn.

4th Prince:  No hours to keep.  No clocks to strike.

5th Prince:  No Lady Messengers coming to show off to.

1st Prince:  They should be as merry as midges.

2nd Prince:  As free as the March wind.

3rd Prince:  I don’t know how we stopped so long shut up in this place.

4th Prince:  I would be nearly ready to change places with them if such a thing were possible.