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Everyman is a morality play in 921 lines, almost certainly derived from its Dutch close counterpart Elckerlijc. Everyman is summoned by death and, in the last hour of his life, he discovers that his friends Fellowship, Kindred, Cousin, and Goods will not go with him. He is dependent on the support of Good Deeds whom he has previously neglected. As Everyman comes to understand the remedies offered by Knowledge and Good Deeds, his progress clarifies, step by step, the complexities of Church teaching on what a man must do to be saved. His previous fall into despair is balanced by a rising action carrying him to spiritual rebirth; and, in the process of parting with his gifts of fortune and nature, he is illumined within by his gifts of grace. The lines of Knowledge have become legendary serving, for instance, as the motto of Everyman's Library:

Everyman, I will go with thee and be thy guide,
In thy most need to go by thy side

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