THE PHEASANT-HEN
Come, come away to the woods,—­I love you!

CHANTECLER [Looking around him.] Oh, to see a real being appear!  Someone simple, someone—­

THE MAGPIE
[Announcing.] Two Pigeons!

CHANTECLER [Drawing a breath of relief.] At last,—­pigeons! [He runs eagerly to the entrance.]

THE PIGEONS
[Entering with a series of somersaults.] Hop!

CHANTECLER
[Falling back in amazement.] What is this?

THE PIGEONS
[Introducing themselves between two springs.] The Tumblers!  English
Clowns!

CHANTECLER
Where am I?

THE GUINEA-HEN [Running after the TUMBLERS who disappear among the throng of guests.] Hop!  Hop!

CHANTECLER
Pigeons turning acrobats!—­Oh, the joy of seeing something true,
something unblemished—­

THE MAGPIE
[Announcing.] The Swan!

CHANTECLER [Coming forward delighted.] Good!  A Swan! [Shrinking away.] He is black!

THE BLACK SWAN [With swaggering satisfaction.] I have discarded the whiteness while preserving the outline!

CHANTECLER The real Swan’s shadow does no less! [Thrusting the SWAN aside to hop up on a bench whence, through a gap in the hedge, he can see the distant meadows.] Let me climb up on this bench.  I need to make sure that Nature still exists—­though so far away!  Ah, yes!  The grass is green, a cow is grazing, a calf sucking—­And Heaven be praised, the calf has a single head! [Coming down again beside the PHEASANT-HEN.]

THE PHEASANT-HEN Oh, come away to the innocent woods, sincere and dewy, where we will love each other!

THE BLACKBIRD [Pointing at CHANTECLER and the PHEASANT-HEN, who are standing close and talking low.] We are getting on!

THE GUINEA-HEN [Intensely interested.] Do you think so? [She spreads her wings to screen them.] Oh, I am so fond of helping along a clandestine love affair!

THE BLACKBIRD [Sticking his bill under the GUINEA-HEN’S wing so as to keep the pair in sight.] I believe she has thoughts of annexing his comb.

THE PHEASANT-HEN
[To CHANTECLER.] Come, dearest, come away!

CHANTECLER [Resisting.] No, I must sing where Destiny placed me.  I am useful here, I am beloved—­

THE PHEASANT-HEN [Remembering what she overheard the night before in the farmyard.] Are you so sure?—­Come away to the woods, where we shall hear real pigeons cooing tenderly to each other!

THE TURKEY
[At the back.] Ladies, the great Peacock—­

THE PEACOCK
[Modestly.] The Super-peacock—­who supervenes, and supersedes—­

THE GUINEA-HEN
Will spread his tail for us!  He has expressed his amiable willingness so
far to favour us.