Chantecler
Page 12
THE PHEASANT-HEN
Oh, cruel!
THE BLACKBIRD
Chantecler's Light o' Love!
A VOICE
A nickname for the Cock!
ALL
Yes! Yes!
THE BLACKBIRD
Grand Master of Illuminations!
ANOTHER VOICE
Purveyor of Sunny Beams!
CHANTECLER
[_Defending himself foot to foot._] Thanks! Another quip, for I can
still fight with my feet!
A VOICE
The Alarm-Cock!
CHANTECLER
[_Who seems upheld by their insults._] Another pun! And I who know no
more of fighting than can be learned on a peaceful farm--
A VOICE
Thresh out his hayseed!
CHANTECLER
Thanks! I--[_His torn feathers fly around him._]
CRY OF JOY
See his fur fly!
CHANTECLER
I feel--Another pleasantry!
A VOICE
Lay on, Macfluff!
CHANTECLER
Thanks! I feel that the more I am mocked, insulted, flouted, and denied--
AN ASS
[_Stretching his neck over the hedge._] Hee-haw!
CHANTECLER
Thanks!--the better I shall fight!
THE WHITE PILE
[_Chuckling._] He is game, but he's giving out.
THE PHEASANT-HEN
Enough. Enough. Oh, stop!
A VOICE
On White Pile, twenty to one!
THE PHEASANT-HEN
[_Seeing_ CHANTECLER'S _bleeding neck._] He bleeds, oh!
A HEN
[_Rising on tiptoe behind the_ GOLDEN PADUA COCK.] I should like to see
the blood!
THE WHITE PILE
[_Increasing the fury of his onset._] I'll have your gizzard!
THE HEN
[_Trying to see._] The Padua Cock's hat shuts off my view!
THE BLACKBIRD
Hats off!
A VOICE
That was a stinger! On his comb!
SHRILL CRIES
[_From the crowd._] Land him one! Do him up! Lay him out! Have his gore!
PATOU
[_Standing up in his wheelbarrow._] Will you stop behaving like human
beings?
CRIES
[_Furiously keeping time with the blows showering upon_ CHANTECLER.] In
the neck! On the nut! On the wing! On the--[_Sudden silence._]
CHANTECLER
[_Amazed._] What is this? The ring breaks up, the shouting dies--[_He
looks around. The_ WHITE PILE _has drawn away and backed against the
hedge. A strange commotion agitates the crowd._ CHANTECLER, _exhausted,
bleeding, tottering, does not understand, and murmurs._] What joke are
they preparing against my end? [_And suddenly._] Joy, Patou, joy!
PATOU
What?
CHANTECLER
I have done them an injustice. All of them, ceasing to insult and mock
me, look, gather round me, closer and closer--look!
PATOU
[_Seeing them all, in fact, crowding around_ CHANTECLER, _and gazing
anxiously at the sky, looks up too, and says simply._] It is the hawk!
CHANTECLER
Ah! [_A dark shadow slowly sweeps over the motley crowd, who crouch and
cower._]
PATOU
When that great shadow falls, it is not the fine, strange Cocks we trust
to keep off the bird of prey!
CHANTECLER
[_Suddenly grown great of size, his wounds forgotten, stands in the
midst of them, and in an authoritative tone._] Yes, close around me, all
of you, all! [_All, huddled in their feathers, their heads drawn in
between their wings, press against him._]
THE PHEASANT-HEN
Dear, brave, and gentle heart!
CHANTECLER
[_The shadow sweeps over the crowd a second time. The_ GAME COCK _makes
himself small._ CHANTECLER _alone remains standing, in the midst of a
heap of ruffled, trembling feathers._]
A HEN
[_Looking up at the_ HAWK.] Twice the black shadow has swept over us!
CHANTECLER
[_Calling to the_ CHICKS, _who come madly running._] Chicks, come here
to me!
THE PHEASANT-HEN
You take them under your wing?
CHANTECLER
I must. Their mother is a box!
THE PHEASANT-HEN
[_Looking upward._] He hovers over us--[_The shadow of the_ HAWK,
_circling lower and lower, passes for the third time, darker
than ever._]
ALL
[_In a moan of fear._] Ah!
CHANTECLER
[_Shouting toward the sky._] I am here!
PATOU
He has heard your trumpet cry!
THE PHEASANT-HEN
He flies further.
[_All rise with a joyous cry of deliverance, "Ah!" and go back to their
places to watch the end of the combat._]
PATOU
Without loss of a moment they form the ring again.
CHANTECLER
[_With a start._] What did you say? [_He looks. It is true, the ring has
immediately formed._]
THE PHEASANT-HEN
Now they want you killed to be revenged for their fine scare.
CHANTECLER
But now I shall not be killed! I felt my strength come back when the
common enemy flew across the sky. [_Striding boldly up to the_ WHITE
PILE.] I got back my courage, fearing for the others.
THE WHITE PILE
[_Amazed at being smartly attacked._] Whence has he drawn new strength?
CHANTECLER
I am thrice stronger now than you. Black excites me, you see, as red
excites the bull, and thrice I have stared at night in the form of a
bird's shadow!
THE WHITE PILE
[_Driven to bay, against the hedge, prepares to use his razors._]
THE PHEASANT-HEN
[_Screaming._] Look out! He has two sharp razors at his heels, the beast!
CHANTECLER
I knew it!
THE CAT
[_From his tree, to the_ GAME COCK.] Use your knives!
PATOU
[_Ready to spring from his wheelbarrow._] If he uses those, I'll
strangle him, that's all!
THE CROWD
Oh!
PATOU
I will! Howl you never so loud!
THE WHITE PILE
[_Feeling himself lost._] No help for it!
THE PHEASANT-HEN
[_Closely watching him._] He is getting one of his razors ready!
THE WHITE PILE
[_Striking with his sharp spur._] Take that! Die! [_He utters a terrible
cry, while_ CHANTECLER, _avoiding the blow, springs aside._] Ah! [_He
drops to the ground. Cry of amazement._]
SEVERAL VOICES
What is it?
THE BLACKBIRD
[_Who has hopped up to the fallen_ COCK _and examined him._] Nothing!
Merely he has dexterously slashed his left claw with his right!
THE CROWD
[_Following and hooting the_ WHITE PILE, _who, having picked himself up,
limps off._] Hoo! Hoo!
PATOU _and the_ PHEASANT-HEN
[_Laughing and weeping and talking, all in one, beside_ CHANTECLER,
_who stands motionless, utterly spent, with closed eyes._] Chantecler!
It is we! The Pheasant-hen! The Dog! Speak to us, speak!
CHANTECLER
[_Opening his eyes, looks at them and says gently._] The day will rise
to-m
orrow!
SCENE SIXTH
THE SAME, _except the_ WHITE PILE
THE CROWD
[_After seeing the_ WHITE PILE _off, return tumultuously to_ CHANTECLER,
_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!
CHANTECLER
No, I will stay here.
THE PHEASANT-HEN
After finding them out?
CHANTECLER
After finding them out.
THE PHEASANT-HEN
You will stay here?
CHANTECLER
Not 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! [ALL _draw 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-HEN
To the woods, where the simple birds sing their sweet unconscious songs!
CHANTECLER
Let us go! [_Both go toward the back._ CHANTECLER _turning._] 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 BEES
_We agree--ee--ee_!
CHANTECLER
Nothing 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 the_
PHEASANT-HEN.] Let us go! [_Turning and coming again angrily toward the
front._] But I wish furthermore to say to these H--[_The_ PHEASANT-HEN
_lays 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 calling_ CHICKENS _to feed._] For all those
charlatans are stalking appetites, and nothing more!
THE PHEASANT-HEN
[_Trying to lead him off._] Come! Come!
A HEN
She is eloping with him.
CHANTECLER
I am coming! But--[_Coming forward again._] I must first say to this
Peacock, in the presence of that Addlepate--[_Indicating the_
GUINEA-HEN.]
THE GUINEA-HEN
He insults me in my own house. Sensational!
CHANTECLER
False 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 the_ PEACOCK.] shall I say bird-stuffer?
THE GUINEA-HEN
[_Mechanically._] Yes!
CHANTECLER
No. Taxidermist,--to use the word you would prefer. That, my dear
Peacock, is what I wished to say.
THE BLACKBIRD
Bang!
CHANTECLER
[_Turning toward him._] As for you--
THE BLACKBIRD
Fire away!
CHANTECLER
I 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 BLACKBIRD
But--
CHANTECLER
From 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 BLACKBIRD
But--
CHANTECLER
Pathetic 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 BLACKBIRD
But--
CHANTECLER
I 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 exotic_ COCKS _cackling behind
him._] Silence, Cock of Japan! or I shall spoil a picture!
THE JAPANESE COCK
[_Hurriedly._] I beg your pardon!
CHANTECLER
[_Continuing to the_ BLACKBIRD.] 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 BLACKBIRD
A--?
CHANTECLER
And your performance is a shine!
THE BLACKBIRD
He can talk slang?
CHANTECLER
I can talk anything!--It's the Paris article made in Germany!
THE BLACKBIRD
But--
CHANTECLER
Fire away, I think you said. I hope you don't mind my air-gun?
THE BLACKBIRD
I--
CHANTECLER
The Grand Master of Illuminations is entirely at your service. What do
you say?
THE BLACKBIRD
[_Hastily._] Nothing! [_He tries to get away._]
CHANTECLER
You 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 crestfallen_ BLACKBIRD.] You will make him smart for this?
THE BLACKBIRD
[_Prudently._] No. I will take it out on the Turkey. [_At this point a_
VOICE _calls, "Chick-chick-chick-chick-chick!" and all the_ FANCY 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 the_ PHEASANT-HEN.] Come, my golden Pheasant!
THE GUINEA-HEN
[_Running to_ CHANTECLER.] Are you running away?
CHANTECLER
To save my song!
THE GUINEA-HEN
[_Running to the_ YOUNG GUINEA-COCK.] My son, I am in such a state--I am
in such--
A HEN
[_Calling after_ CHANTECLER.] And when shall we see you again?
CHANTECLER
[_Before going._] When you have grown teeth! [_Off with the_
PHEASANT-HEN.]
THE GUINEA-HEN
[_To the_ YOUNG 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!
ACT FOURTH
THE NIGHT OF THE NIGHTINGALE
_In the Forest. Evening. Huge trees with thick gnarled roots. At the
base of one of the trees, Time or a lightning stroke has hollowed a sort
of chamber. Rising slopes carpeted with heather. Rabbit holes. Mosses.
Toadstools. Stretched between two ferns, a great cobweb, spangled with
water-drops. At the rise of the curtain_, RABBITS _are discovered on
every side among the underbrush, peacefully inhaling the evening air. A
time of serene silence and coolness._
SCENE FIRST
_A_ RABBIT _in front of his burrow_, CHOIR OF UNSEEN BIRDS.
A RABBIT
It is the hour when with sweet and solemn voices the two warblers,
Black-cap of the Gardens, and Red-wing of the Woods, intone the
evening prayer.
A VOICE
[_Among the branches._] O God of Birds!
ANOTHER VOICE
O God of Birds! or, rather, for the Hawk
Has surely not the same God as the Wren,
O God of Little Birds!
A THOUSAND VOICES
[_Among the leaves._] O God of Little Birds!
FIRST VOICE
Who breathed into our wings to make us light,
And painted them with colours of His sky,
All thanks for this fair day, for meat and drink--
Sweet sky-born water caught in cups of stone,
Sweet hedgerow berries washed of dust with dew,
And thanks for these good little eyes of ours
That spy the unseen enemies of man,
And thanks for the good tools by Thee bestowed
To aid our work of little gardeners,
Trowels and pruning-hooks of living horn.
THE SECOND VOICE
To-morrow we will fight borer and blight,
Forgive Thy birds to-night their trespasses,
The stripping of a currant-bush or two!
THE FIRST VOICE