' These last three have no
share in the action proper, but appear in a kind of Epilogue,
accompanying a collection made by Beelzebub.
The Play is always performed at Christmas time, consequently Father
Christmas appears as stage-manager, and introduces the characters.
The action consists in a general challenge issued by Saint George, and
accepted by the Turkish Knight. A combat follows, in which the Turk
is slain. His mother rushes in, weeps over the body, and demands the
services of a Doctor, who appears accordingly, vaunts his skill in
lines interspersed with unintelligible gibberish, and restores the
Turk to life. In the version which used to be played throughout
Scotland at Hogmanay (New-Year-tide), the characters are Bol Bendo,
the King of France, the King of Spain, Doctor Beelzebub, Golishan, and
Sir Alexander.[23] The fight is between Bol Bendo (who represents the
Saint George of the English version), and Golishan. The latter is
killed, and, on the demand of Sir Alexander (who acts as
stage-manager), revived by the doctor, this character, as in the
English version, interlarding the recital of his feats of healing
skill with unintelligible phrases.[24] There is a general consensus
of opinion among Folk-lore authorities that in this rough drama, which
we find played in slightly modified form all over Europe (in
Scandinavia it is the Julbock, a man dressed in skins, who, after a
dramatic dance, is killed and revived),[25] we have a symbolic
representation of the death and re-birth of the year; a counterpart to
those ceremonies of driving out Winter, and bringing in Spring, which
we have already described.
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