Saint Joan

Scene 1

It is the spring of 1429 A.D. in the castle of Vaucoulers in France. Captain Robert De Baudricourt is yelling at his steward who has told him that there are no eggs. The chickens have stopped laying and the cows have stopped providing milk since a young girl named Joan arrived two days ago. The steward tells Captain Robert that he must see the girl or there will never be any more eggs. Robert agrees to see her, hoping to scare her away.

Joan enters, unafraid of the Captain, and asks that he give her a horse, some soldiers and send her to the Dauphin. She claims that they are direct orders from God. Joan also claims that the voices of St. Catherine, St. Margaret and the Archangel Michael tell her what to do. Captain Robert thinks she must be crazy, but Joan assures him that, in the end, he will give her what she needs. She tells him that a bunch of the soldiers have already agreed to go with her, among them a soldier named Polly. Robert dismisses Joan and calls Polly in to see