SCENE IV. Same as Scene I.

FATHER, MOTHER, TOM (_lying on a couch_).

M.--How are you, my dear boy? Feeling better?

T.--A little better. I think I could eat a jam puff now, and some almonds and raisins.

M.--You shall have them at once.

F.--In the meanwhile, I hope Jack is cutting more wood than you did, or I don't know what will happen.

M.--It's very unlikely that Jack should do anything better than Tom. If he has, it will be the first time it has ever happened.

_Enter_ JACK.

F.--I think I hear him. Well, have you brought us back any wood?

J.--Indeed, I have. But first, I must show you this glorious bird--my golden goose!

M.--A golden goose! Where did you find it?

J.--It was sitting at the root of a tree I cut down.

M.--Why, Tom, how was it you didn't find it?

T.--Because of my accident, of course. If I hadn't hurt my hand I certainly should have found it in another minute.

J.--It was a little grey man with a pointed cap who told me where to look for it.

T.--(_Aside._) Horrid little creature! I wish I had offered him some luncheon! (_Aloud._) He told me all about it. He intended it for me, so you had better hand it over.

(TOM _grasps at the goose_. JACK _pulls it away_. TOM _gets up with it_.)

T.--What has happened to the thing? I can't get away from it!

M.--Oh, my dear boy, what can have happened!

(_Tries to drag_ TOM _away, but sticks_.)

T.--Go away, Mother. Don't hold on to me any more.

M.--I can't get away. (FATHER _tries to drag them away_.)

M.--Go away, Father!

F.--I can't, I'm stuck fast.

M.--I knew something stupid would happen if Jack went into the wood! bringing birds you stick to like fly-paper instead of proper faggots.

J.--(_Smiling._) You shouldn't have tried to take my goose away from me.

T.--Well, now, you have had your joke, call your goose off, please.

J.--I can't call it off! I don't know how.

(_Enter_ GREY MAN.)

G. M.--I am the only person who can do it, because I am a powerful magician, and that golden goose is mine.

M.--Yours!

G. M.--Yes, and I gave it to Jack to reward him for a good, hard-working, generous boy, instead of being a lazy, selfish, unmannerly one like his brother yonder.

T.--Of course, if I had known who you were, I should have been civil to you.

G. M.--I daresay, yes, but you will find it more useful as you go through life to be civil to strangers, even when you don't know who they are. And now Jack, come with me and you shall live in a beautiful palace, where you shall marry a princess. As for you, you may let go the golden goose for ever (_they all fall back_), for you will remain humble wood-cutters all your lives. And, remember, it is only the deserving--especially the polite--who find the Golden Goose.

CURTAIN.

CINDERELLA.

A PLAY IN FOUR SCENES.

CHARACTERS.

THE MOTHER. THE FAIRY GODMOTHER. MABEL. THE PRINCE. LUCY. HERALD. PEGGY (called CINDERELLA). LORDS and LADIES at BALL, etc.

CINDERELLA.