THE OWL
Thanks!  But how is it that you are with us?

THE CAT
Ah, night brings out what daylight will not own to!  I do not like the
Cock because the Dog does.—­There you have it!

THE TURKEY
I do not like him, for the reason that having known him as a Chick I
cannot admit him as a Cock!

A DUCK
I do not like the Cock because, not being web-footed, he marks his
passage by a track of stars!

A CHICKEN
I do not like the Cock because I’m such a homely bird!

ANOTHER CHICKEN
I do not like the Cock because he has his picture painted in purple on
all the plates!

ANOTHER CHICKEN
I do not like the Cock because on all the steeples he has his statue in
gilt-bronze!

AN OWL
[To a big overgrown CHICKEN.] Well, well!—­And you, Capon?

THE CAPON
[Dryly.] I do not like the Cock!

THE CUCKOO
[Beginning to strike eight inside the house.] Cuckoo!

FIRST OWL
The hour!

CUCKOO
Cuckoo!

SECOND OWL
Let us go!

THE CUCKOO
Cuckoo!

FIRST OWL
The moon!

THE CUCKOO
Cuckoo!

FIRST OWL
Silently cleave the blue air—­

THE CUCKOO
Cuckoo!

THE MOLE
[Suddenly pushing up through the ground.]—­the dark earth!

FIRST OWL
There comes the Mole!

THE CUCKOO
Cuckoo!

FIRST OWL
[To the MOLE.] And you, why do you hate him?

THE MOLE
I hate him because I have never seen him!

THE CUCKOO
Cuckoo!

FIRST OWL
And you, Cuckoo, do you know why you hate him?

THE CUCKOO
[On the last stroke.] Because he does not have to be wound up!  Cuckoo!

FIRST OWL
And we do not love—­

SECOND OWL
[Hurriedly.] We are keeping the others waiting—­

ALL
—­the Cock, because—­[They fly off.  Silence.]

THE PHEASANT-HEN
[Coming slowly from behind the kennel.] I am beginning to love him!

CURTAIN

ACT SECOND

THE MORNING OF THE COCK

Wild hillside, moss-grown and ferny, overlooking a valley with scattered villages and winding river.  Ruined wall, fragment of some vanished terrace.  Gigantic chestnut tree, rank hollies and foxgloves.  Litter suggesting neglected corner of a park:  gardening implements lying on the ground, fagots, broken flower-pots.

SCENE FIRST

The NIGHT-BIRDS, of all sorts and sizes, form a great circle, perching in tiers on the branches, the briers, the stones; the CAT crouches in the grass; the BLACKBIRD hops hither and thither on a fagot.