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THE WORLD’S BEST PLAYS
BY CELEBRATED EUROPEAN AUTHORS

BARRETT H. CLARK
GENERAL EDITOR

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A Christmas Tale: in
One Act: by Maurice
Bouchor: Translated by
Barrett H. Clark

Samuel French: Publisher
28-30 West Thirty-eighth Street: New York

LONDON
Samuel French, Ltd.
26 Southampton Street, Strand

Copyright, 1915,
by SAMUEL FRENCH

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MAURICE BOUCHOR.

Maurice Bouchor was born at Paris in 1855.

Bouchor is a dramatic poet of rare inspiration andtragic depth. His best-known long plays, “Tobie,”“Noël,” and “Les Mystères d’Eleusis,” are, in thewords of an eminent French critic, “among the mostbeautiful works of our time.” “Conte de Noël”—“AChristmas Tale,” here translated for the firsttime into English—is a charming little dramaticepisode. It was first performed at the ComédieFrançaise, in Paris, in 1895.

This play may be elaborately staged, but the detailedstage-directions need not be faithfully adheredto. The simplest of interiors and costumes may beused.

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A CHRISTMAS TALE

PERSONS REPRESENTED.

Scene:—A room in the homeof Pierre Coeur, Paris.

Time:—The Fifteenth Century.

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A CHRISTMAS TALE

Scene:—A room of considerable size, serving atonce as living-room and studio. Everything issimple, clean, and neat. To the right arewooden statues of various kinds, some paintedin bright colors, but most of them unfinished.Strewn about the floor are pieces of wood, largeblocks, and the like, together with chiselsand other implements. The statues of SaintNicholas and Saint Rose—actors dressed torepresent them—stand down-stage to the right,close to each other. Saint Nicholas is an oldman with a white beard, who wears the richcostume of a bishop; Saint Rose, little morethan a child, with roses in her hair, is dressedlike a saint of Fra Angelico. There is adoor to the right, just behind these statues. Tothe left is a large fire-place, in which are dyingembers; two children’s shoes lie on the hearthstone.Nearby is the cradle—hung with curtains—inwhich little Rose is sleeping. At thecenter of the stage is a table, with a meal seton it, and a chair on either side. Through abay-window at the back are seen the silhouetteof the cathedral of Notre Dame and the roofsof houses covered with snow. It is night, anda few stars are out. On the mantel above thefire-place burns