Chantecler | Page 9

your voice?
PATOU You see?--If we speak of stars nowadays we must do it in a
whisper! [_He lays his head on his paws in deep dejection._]
CHANTECLER [Comforting him.] Be not downcast!
PATOU [Lifting his head again.] No, it is too silly and too weak! I'll

shout it if I please! [He howls with the whole power of his lungs.]
Stars!--[Then in a tone of relief.] There, I feel better!
CHICKENS [Passing at the back, mocking.] Stars!--Ho! Stars for ours!
Stars! [They go off, fooling and giggling.]
PATOU Hear them! Our pullets will be whistling soon like blackbirds!
CHANTECLER [Proudly strutting up and down.] What care I? I sing,
and have on my side the Hens.
PATOU Trust not to the hearts of Hens--or of crowds. You are too
willing to take the price of your singing in lip-service.
CHANTECLER But love--love is glory awarded in kisses!
PATOU Ah! I, too, was young once, I had my wilding devil's
beauty,--an inflammatory eye, an inflammable heart. Well, I was
deceived. For a handsomer dog?--No, they deceived me for a miserable
cur!--[_Roaring in sudden wrath._] For whom?--For whom, do you
suppose?
CHANTECLER [Retreating.] You alarm me!
PATOU For a low-down dachshund who trod on his own ears!
THE BLACKBIRD [Who has overheard PATOU'S _last words,
sticking his head between the bars of his cage._] Still harping on the
dachshund, is he? What's the odds, old chappie? You were the
goat!--How does being the goat matter?
PATOU But you up there, scoffing at everything, who are you, may
one ask?
BLACKBIRD I'm the pet of the poultry yard!
PATOU Bad luck is what you'll bring them!
BLACKBIRD A prophecy-sharp?--Say, wisteria, we are twisted up

with laughter! [_He comes out of his cage and hops to the ground._]
PATOU [As he approaches] Grrrrrrr--
CHANTECLER Hush! He's a friend!
PATOU A false one.
CHANTECLER [To BLACKBIRD.] Fine things we learn when the
talk is of you!
THE OLD HEN [Her head protruding from the basket.] Strike rotten
wood, and see the wood-lice scatter! [The basket-lid drops.]
PATOU [To CHANTECLER.] He laughs at you behind your back!
BLACKBIRD [To PATOU.] Ha, retriever, you retrieve?
PATOU When you pour forth your heart in your ardent cry, giving it
over and over, he calls it the same old saw that your jag-toothed red
crest stands for!
CHANTECLER So that's what you say?
BLACKBIRD [Affecting simplicity.] You surely don't mind? How can
it affect you? And a joke about you is always so sure of success!
PATOU [To the BLACKBIRD.] Point-blank, do you admire or despise
the Cock?
BLACKBIRD I make fun of him in spots, but admire him in lump!
PATOU You always peck two kinds of seed.
THE BLACKBIRD My cage has two seed-cups, you see.
PATOU I am single-minded and downright!
THE BLACKBIRD You--are an old poodle of the year 48! I am an

up-to-date bird!
PATOU [Gruffly.] Out of my way! lest I give your black coat red tails!
[The BLACKBIRD nimbly gets out of the way, PATOU _goes into his
kennel grumbling._] I'll show him some up-to-date jaws!
CHANTECLER Be quiet! It's his way. The truth is that if once he stood
in the presence of beauty, this very Blackbird would applaud!
PATOU Not with both wings! What can you expect of a bird who, with
woodbine and juniper full in sight, prefers to go inside and peck at a
musty biscuit?
BLACKBIRD He never seems to suspect that the poacher is a
blackguardly sort of brute!
PATOU What I know is that the underbrush is all a delicate golden
gloom--
THE BLACKBIRD Yes, but leaden shot can cleave your delicate gold.
The quail is such a canny bird, that he lies low lest he make his last
appearance on toast. And so, in lack of quail--
PATOU Does the great stag delight any the less in his green forest for
turning over among the grass at evening some bit of a rusty cartridge?
THE BLACKBIRD No, old chap--but the stag, you see, is just another
kind of a hat-rack!
PATOU Oh, but freedom, freedom, with violets looking on! Love!--
THE BLACKBIRD Antediluvian pastimes! not nearly such good fun
as my nice new wooden trapeze. Oh, my cage, let us sign a joyful
three-six-nine years' lease! I live like a Duke, I have filtered
drinking-water--[At PATOU'S significant start and growl, he springs
aside, finishing.] You can sling mud upon me, I have a porcelain bath!
CHANTECLER [Slightly out of patience.] Why not make a practice of
talking simply and to the point?

THE BLACKBIRD I like to make you sit up, and watch you blinking.
PATOU Grrrrr--in the plain interest of public decency, I say it
behooves us--
THE BLACKBIRD Don't say behooves, say it's up to you, old chap!
CHANTECLER What's all this juggling with words?