THE GROWTH OF THE PASSION-PLAY 301 



not ended when the two or three Maries l return to the 

 choir. There they announced the resurrection to two 

 of ' the older and more worthy canons/ who represent 

 Peter and John. These two elders, while the choir 

 chant John xx. 4, run to the grave, sed junior citius 

 senior e, and receiving from the angels the burial linen, 

 exhibit it to the congregation. They return to the 

 choir chanting, Behold, comrades, the linen and 

 the napkin, the body is not to be found in the 

 sepulchre. 2 



Still further development was attained by increasing 

 the lamentations of the three Maries, by a dialogue 

 between Peter and John ; and then by the introduction 

 of an entirely new scene between Mary Magdalen 

 and Christ as the gardener. 3 With this it might be 

 thought that the gospel narrative, so far as it could be 

 used in a scenic ritual, had been exhausted. But this 

 is by no means the case. Pilate can be introduced 

 sending soldiers to the sepulchre, and then bribing them 

 to conceal the fact of the resurrection. Jesus, having 

 once been introduced as the gardener, and no longer 

 merely represented by the rood or host, can have his 

 part widely extended ; we can have his appearance to 

 the Twelve, and the scene with the unbelieving Thomas. 

 Nay, the playwright, for so we must now call him, 

 remembering the verse which states that the three 

 Maries had bought sweet spices (Mark xiv. 1), soon 

 inserted a colloquy between the women and the 

 dealer in spices. All these elements have already 



1 Mary Magdalen, Mary Salome, and Mary the mother of James (Maria 

 JacoU}. ' 2 See G, p. 51. 3 G, pp. 66, 71, 75. 



