In her prologue, the Prioress offers a hymn of praise to the Virgin Mary. She extols Mary, the mother of Jesus and the "whitest Lily-flower." This hymn acts as a preview of the tale to follow.
In a Christian town in Asia, one fourth of the area is occupied by Jews. Because a school for young Christian children is at the far end of the street through the ghetto where the Jews are isolated, the children are free to walk through the street to and from school. One of the young Christian pupils hears the older children singing O Alma Redemptoris. Day after day, he draws near and listens carefully as the other students sing. In very little time, he memorizes the first verse. Learning that the song is in praise of the Virgin Mary, the child decides to learn the entire song so that, on Christmas day, he can pay reverence to Christ's mother. Every day, the child walks along the Jewish street, boldly and clearly singing the song. At about this time, Satan whispers to the Jews that this boy is a disgrace to them and that he sings to spite Jewish holy laws. The Jews, conspiring to rid themselves of this boy, hire a murderer. One day, as the child walks through the ghetto singing O Alma Redemptoris, the murderer grasps the child, slits his throat, and tosses his body into a cesspool.
