Read the full text of Henry VI Part 2 Act 2 Scene 1 with a side-by-side translation HERE.
- At St. Albans, Henry, Margaret, Suffolk, Gloucester, and Beaufort talk about hunting falcons. The talk quickly turns to—what else?—the crown. Gloucester and Suffolk bicker with one another about how bad they are at politics—er, hunting.
- Henry asks the men to chill. It's all good in the neighborhood, so they should zip it. After all, peacemakers are blessed.
- Quietly (so that Henry can't hear), Cardinal Beaufort suggests that the best way to get peace would be to fight Gloucester. Um, right: Gloucester takes him up on the offer, and the two agree to meet behind the lunch tables after school—er, later that night, with their swords.
- Henry asks the men what they're gabbing about. They don't want to get in trouble, so Gloucester says they were talking about hawks and hunting, of course.
- At that moment, a man walks in shouting about a miracle. When Henry and company ask him what he's going on about, the man tells them that a blind man just got his sight back at St. Albans shrine.
- Henry praises God for this and wants to see the guy for himself. Simpcox is brought in, along with his wife and followers.
- But not everyone is celebrating: Gloucester wants to play 20 Questions with Simpcox to see if he's lying. He asks him how long he's been blind, and Simpcox says he was born that way.
- Beaufort wants to know why he can't walk, and it turns out he fell from a tree when he was young. His wife confirms all this.
- Then Gloucester wants to know what color a cloak and gown are that he points to. Simpcox answers that one is red, another black. Aha: Gloucester thinks he's proven that the man is a liar: if he'd never seen colors before, how would he know what they were called?
- Gloucester decides to have a little fun of his own. He asks Simpcox if he would like his legs cured, too—and, of course, the answer is yes. Gloucester asks the Mayor for a whip and a stool; he tells Simpcox to leap over the stool or get whipped.
- Simpcox tells everyone he can't stand alone, so it's not fair. Gloucester doesn't buy it: he instructs an attendant to whip Simpcox until he runs.
- After one whip, Simpcox gets up, leaps over the stool, and runs away. Well, that's settled, then.
- Everyone laughs, and Gloucester orders for Simpcox and his wife to be captured and whipped around town so everyone knows not to mess with them.
- Buckingham enters with news of Eleanor's arrest. Cardinal Beaufort tells Gloucester in an aside that this means he'll end up losing his title of Protector. Gloucester tells the king he didn't know that Eleanor was dabbling in witchcraft, and he banishes her from his bed—translation: he doesn't want to be married to her anymore.
- Henry says they'll go back to London now.