Sure, 't was a rotten parchment!

JACOBUS
This is a base,
Conniving miser!

PIPER
[turning proudly]
Stand forth, Cheat-the-Devil!
[Up steps the DEVIL in red. PEOPLE shrink, and then come closer.
Be not afeard. He pleased you all, of late.
He hath no sting.--So, boy! Do off thy head.--

[CHEAT-THE-DEVIL doffs his red head-dress and stands forth,
a pale and timorous youth, gentle and half-witted.

Michael, stand forth!
[MICHAEL comes down, bear-head in hand.

BARBARA
[regarding him sadly]
That goodly sword-eater!

PIPER
[defiantly]
So, Michael, so.--These be two friends of mine.
Pay now an even third to each of us.
Or, to content your doubts, to each of these
Do you pay here and now, five hundred guilders.
Who gets it matters little, for us friends.