Comic Tragedies

WRITTEN BY "JO" AND "MEG"

and acted by

THE "LITTLE WOMEN"

BOSTON

ROBERTS BROTHERS

1893

Copyright, 1893,

By Anna B. Pratt.

University Press:

John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U.S.A

CONTENTS.

•    Page
• A Foreword, by Meg 7
• Norna; or, The Witch's Curse 17
• The Captive of Castile; or, The Moorish Maiden's Vow 97
• The Greek Slave 149
• Ion 211
• Bianca: an Operatic Tragedy 261
• The Unloved Wife; or, Woman's Faith 279

A FOREWORD BY MEG.

In the good old times, when "Little Women" worked and played together, the big garret was the scene of many dramatic revels. After a long day of teaching, sewing, and "helping mother," the greatest delight of the girls was to transform themselves into queens, knights, and cavaliers of high degree, and ascend into a world of fancy and romance. Cinderella's godmother waved her wand, and the dismal room became a fairy-land. Flowers bloomed, forests arose, music sounded, and lovers exchanged their vows by moonlight. Nothing was too ambitious to attempt; armor, gondolas, harps, towers, and palaces grew as if by magic, and wonderful scenes of valor and devotion were enacted before admiring audiences.

Jo, of course, played the villains, ghosts, bandits, and disdainful queens; for her tragedy-loving soul delighted in the lurid parts, and no drama was perfect in her eyes without a touch of the demonic or supernatural. Meg loved the sentimental rôles, the tender maiden with the airy robes and flowing locks, who made impossible sacrifices for ideal lovers, or the cavalier, singing soft serenades and performing lofty acts of gallantry and prowess. Amy was the fairy sprite, while Beth enacted the page or messenger when the scene required their aid.

But the most surprising part of the performance was the length of the cast and the size of the company; for Jo and Meg usually acted the whole play, each often assuming five or six characters, and with rapid