Scene Sixth
The Same,except theWhite Pile
The Crowd[After seeing theWhite Pileoff, return tumultuously toChantecler,hailing him with acclamations.] Hurrah!
Chantecler[Drawing away from them, in a terrible voice.] Stand back! I know your worth! [The crowd hastily draws back.]
The Pheasant-hen[Close by his side.] Come away to the woods, where true-hearted animals live!
ChanteclerNo, I will stay here.
The Pheasant-henAfter finding them out?
ChanteclerAfter finding them out.
The Pheasant-henYou will stay here?
ChanteclerNot for their sakes, but the sake of my song. It might spring forth less clear from any other soil! But now, to inform the Day that it is sure to be called tomorrow I will sing! [Obsequious movement of the crowd, attempting to approach.] Back! All of you! I have nothing left but my song! [Alldraw away, and alone in his pride, he begins.] Co—[To himself, stiffening himself against pain.] Nothing left but my song, therefore let us sing well! [He tries again.] Co—Now, I wonder, shall I take it as a chest-note, or—Co—a head-note? Shall I count one-three, or—Co—And the accent? Since they filled my head with all that sort of thing, I Coocooroo—Keekee-ree—And the theory? The dynamic theory? Cock-a—I am all tangled up in schools and rules and rubbish! If he reduced his flight to a theory, what eagle would ever soar? Co—[Trying again, and ending in a raucous, abortive crow.] Co—I cannot sing any more, I whose method was not to know how, but be quite certain why! [In a cry, of despair.] I have nothing left! They have taken everything from me, my song and everything else. How shall I get it back?
The Pheasant-hen[Opening her wings.] Come away to the woods!
Chantecler[Falling upon her breast.] I love you!
The Pheasant-henTo the woods, where the simple birds sing their sweet unconscious songs!
ChanteclerLet us go! [Both go toward the back.Chanteclerturning.] But there is one thing I wish to say—
The Pheasant-hen[Trying to lead him away.] Come to the woods!
Chantecler—to all the Guineahennery gathered beneath these arbors. Let the garden—the Bees agree with me, I fancy!—let the garden work untroubled at changing its blossoms into fruit—
Buzzing of BeesWe agree—ee—ee!
ChanteclerNothing good is ever accomplished in the midst of noise. Noise prevents the bough—
Buzzing[Further off.]So say we—e—e! we—e—e!
Chantecler—from bringing its apple to perfection, prevents the grape—
Buzzing[Dying away among the foliage.]So say we—e—e!
Chantecler—from ripening on the vine. [Going toward the back with thePheasant-hen.] Let us go! [Turning and coming again angrily toward the front.] But I wish furthermore to say to theseH—[ThePheasant-henlays her wing across his beak.]—ens that those unnatural Cocks will lightly take themselves away, back to the gilded mangers of their sole affection, the moment they hear the cry of Chick-chick-chick-chick-chick! [Imitating a servant girl callingChickensto feed.] For all those charlatans are stalking appetites, and nothing more!
The Pheasant-hen[Trying to lead him off.] Come! Come!
A HenShe is eloping with him.
ChanteclerI am coming! But—[Coming forward again.] I must first say to this Peacock, in the presence of that Addlepate—[Indicating theGuinea-hen.]
The Guinea-henHe insults me in my own house. Sensational!
ChanteclerFalse hero whom Fashion has taken for leader, you walk in such terror of appearing behindhand to the eyes of your own tail that your throat is blue with it! But, urged forward, on and on, by every staring eye upon it, you will fall at last, breathless for good and all, and end in the false immortality bestowed, false artist, by the—[Imitating the manner of thePeacock.] shall I say bird-stuffer?
The Guinea-hen[Mechanically.] Yes!
ChanteclerNo. Taxidermist,—to use the word you would prefer. That, my dear Peacock, is what I wished to say.
The BlackbirdBang!
Chantecler[Turning toward him.] As for you—
The BlackbirdFire away!
ChanteclerI will! You became acquainted one grey morning with a city sparrow, did you not tell us so? That was your ruin. You have been possessed ever since with the desire to appear like one yourself.
The BlackbirdBut—
ChanteclerFrom that hour, unresting, acting the sparrow night and day, the sparrow even in sleep, self-condemned to play the sparrow without respite, you have appeared—famous jay!
The BlackbirdBut—
ChanteclerPathetic effort of a country birdkin, twisting his thick bill to talk with a city accent! Ah, you wish to bite off bits of slang? My friend, they are green! Every grape you pick breaks in your jaws, for city grapes are glass bubbles! Having taken from the sparrow only his make-up and grimace, you are just a clumsy understudy, a sort of vice-buffoon! And you serve up stale old cynicisms picked up with crumbs in fashionable club-rooms, poor little bird, and think to astonish us with your budget of scandalous news—
The BlackbirdBut—
ChanteclerI have not exhausted my ammunition! You wish to imitate the sparrow? But the sparrow does not, slyly and meanly mischievous, make a cult of sprightliness is not funny with authority, is not the pedant of flippancy! You percher among low bushes, who never care to fly, you wish to imitate—[Turning to one of the exoticCockscackling behind him.] Silence, Cock of Japan! or I shall spoil a picture!
The Japanese Cock[Hurriedly.] I beg your pardon!
Chantecler[Continuing to theBlackbird.] You wish to imitate the sparrow, who, rising on light wing, underlines his words with a telegraph wire! Very well, I hate to grieve you, but—you know I can hear the sparrows when they come to steal my corn!—you are not in it, you do not pull it off. Your lingo is a fake!
The BlackbirdA —?
ChanteclerAnd your performance is a shine!
The BlackbirdHe can talk slang?
ChanteclerI can talk anything!—It’s the Paris article made in Germany!
The BlackbirdBut—
ChanteclerFire away, I think you said. I hope you don’t mind my air-gun?
The BlackbirdI —
ChanteclerThe Grand Master of Illuminations is entirely at your service. What do you say?
The Blackbird[Hastily.] Nothing! [He tries to get away.]
ChanteclerYou wish to ape the sparrow of city streets! But his impudence is not a manner of prudence, an art of remaining vague, an elegant method of having no opinion. His eyes always express either wrath or delight. Do you care to know the secret by which the little beggar, with his “Chappie” and his “See” can steal away our hearts? It is that he is frank and fearless that he believes, that he loves, that the railings of a balcony where some child strews crumbs for him are the only cage he ever knew! It is that one can be sure of his gaiety of soul, since he is gay when he is hungry! But you who, void of gaiety because void of love, have imagined that evil wit can take the place of good humour, and that one can play the sparrow when he is a sleek and vulgar trimmer, sniggering behind his wing, what I say to you is, “Guess again, Mock-sparrow, guess again!”
The Guinea-hen[Always applauding everything that is said at her receptions.] Good! That was extremely good!
A Chicken[To the crestfallenBlackbird.] You will make him smart for this?
The Blackbird[Prudently.] No. I will take it out on the Turkey. [At this point aVoicecalls, “Chick-chick-chick-chick-chick!” and all theFancy Cocks,rushing toward the irresistible call to food, hurry out, tumbling over one another in their haste.]
The Guinea-hen[Running after them.] Are you going?
A Padua Cock[The last to leave.] I beg to be excused! [Disappears.]
The Guinea-hen[In the midst of the hubbub.] Are you going? Must you go? Oh, don’t go yet!
Chantecler[To thePheasant-hen.] Come, my golden Pheasant!
The Guinea-hen[Running toChantecler.] Are you running away?
ChanteclerTo save my song!
The Guinea-hen[Running to theYoung Guinea-cock.] My son, I am in such a state—I am in such—
A Hen[Calling afterChantecler.] And when shall we see you again?
Chantecler[Before going.] When you have grown teeth! [Off with thePheasant-hen.]
The Guinea-hen[To theYoung Guinea-cock.] This has been quite the finest affair of the season! [Darting madly about among the departing guests.] Au revoir! Mondays in August! Don’t forget!
The Magpie[Announcing.] The Tortoise!