Quem Quaeritis

Quem Quaeritis: The Quem Quaeritis? was an exchange of one question, one answer, and one command between the Angels at Christ's tomb and the three Marys, the Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene, and Mary, the sister of Lazarus. The specific question "Quem quaeritis?" "Whom do you seek?" is not in fact in Luke 24, where it is implied but omitted: "Why seek ye the living among the dead?." The actual question is directly expressed only in the non-canonical Gospel of Peter. Although short, this excerpt of text would later snowball into a huge body of religious medieval plays, and evolve into various genres, such as liturgical drama and mystery plays. (Quoted from Wikipedia.)


An Example from Literature: John Gassner, editor, Medieval and Tudor Drama

Question [by the Angels]: Whom do ye seek in the sepulcher, O followers of Christ?

Answer [by the Marys]: Jesus of Nazareth, the Crucified, O heavenly ones.

The Angels: He is not here; he is risen, just as he foretold. Go, announce that he is risen from the sepulchre.

My Try: [Obviously, I'm not going to suddenly change course today and write a medieval drama or liturgical play. But I'm going to use the inspiration for that body of work, the Quem Quaeritis, to inspire today's scene in Netty's drama.]

AnnaBelle Mae hurried up the stairs to Netty's room. She and Mr. Duggan had managed to drag Netty into the safety of the stairwell the night before. That's when he saw the letter in her hand. AnnaBelle Mae didn't know what to do when he started trying to pry open Netty's fingers. To her that old envelope with rain-washed ink didn't seem so important as getting Netty upstairs into a hot bath and then to bed.

Entering Netty's room, AnnaBelle Mae stopped short in the doorway. Mr. Duggan was sitting on the bed with a crumpled paper in his hand. Sunlight streamed in the windows, denying that there had ever been a storm.

"Who are you looking for, AnnaBelle Mae?" Charlie Duggan's voice had a strange timbre of calm.

"Miss Netty. Your daughter, Mr. Duggan," answered AnnaBelle Mae.

"She isn't here. You knew she wouldn't be. Go on downstairs and call Lou Ellen and tell her." Charlie Duggan closed his eyes.

How did I do? Do you think this is an appropriate interpretation of Quem Quaeritis? How would you have done this differently? Any and all comments are welcome.

(This blog post is brought to you as a part of the April A to Z Challenge.)

April 21st - Regional Dialect