The curate

The curate
The curate

Death to the curate

.............
.............
.............
.............
..........ghetyde beden
..........de treden

...
...
...
...
............... pray hours(1)
................ step

The curate

.........n ghehauen
..........lauen
......dodde wnder ghan
............bestan
..........e gheuen
..........leuen

...
...
...
.............. endure
.............. give
.............. live

Lübke / Schick: The start of the dance was in bad shape before the renovation.
The start of the dance of death in Berlin

Prüfer's lithograph from 1883 at the top of this page was made following a ham-fisted renovation of the painting. As Lübke's lithograph from 1861 (to the right) shows, the reality was that the curate and the official and "their" Death's were all but obliterated.

In fact it's only a guess that the second dancer was a curate, and this guess is based on the fact that in Lübeck the curate comes before the parish clerk.

Footnotes: (1)

Example of a book of hours.
Book of hours
pray hours . . .: This sounds like another reference to the prayers and psalms for the canonical hours.

There's a separate section about books of hours.