THE VOICE
[Slowly and wonderfully, with the sigh of a soul in every note.] Tio! 
Tio!  Tio!  Tio!

CHANTECLER
[Turning upon the TOADS.] Scum of the earth!

THE TOADS
[Backing away from him.] What—?

SCENE SIXTH

THE SAME, the NIGHTINGALE unseen, and little by little all the
FOREST CREATURES.

THE NIGHTINGALE [From the tree, in his emotionally throbbing voice.] Tiny bird, lost in the darkness of the tree, I feel myself turning into the heart-beat of the infinite night!

CHANTECLER
[To the TOADS.] And you have dared—­

THE NIGHTINGALE
Hushed lies the ravine beneath the magic of the moon—­

CHANTECLER —­to compare my rude singing with that divine voice?  Scum of the earth!  Toads!  And I never divined that they were doing to him here what was done to me over yonder!

THE BIG TOAD
[Suddenly swelling to a great size.] Toads!  Yes, as it happens, we are
Toads!

THE NIGHTINGALE
Vapour of pearl wreathes the summits in an ethereal veil—­

THE BIG TOAD [Self-appreciatively.] We are Toads, certainly, magnificently embossed with warts! [All rear themselves up, swollen, standing between CHANTECLER and the tree.]

CHANTECLER
And I perceived not, I who have never known envy, to what venomous feast
I was bidden!

THE NIGHTINGALE What matter?  Sooner or later, you, the strong, and I, the tender, we were fated, despite all the Toads in the world, to understand each other!

CHANTECLER
[With religious fervour.] Sing!

A TOAD [Who has hastily dragged himself to the tree in which the NIGHTINGALE is singing.] Let us clasp the bark with our slimy little arms, and slaver upon the foot of the tree! [All crawl toward the tree.]

CHANTECLER [Trying to stop one of them who is clumsily hopping.] But are you not yourself gifted with a singing voice of exceptional purity?

THE TOAD [In a tone of sincerest suffering.] I am, but when I hear somebody else singing, I can’t help it,—­I see green! [He joins his companions.]

THE BIG TOAD [Working his jaws as if chewing something which foamed.] There foam up beneath our tongues I know not what strange soapsuds, and—­[To his neighbour.] Are you frothing?

THE OTHER
I am frothing.

ANOTHER
He is frothing.

ALL
We are frothing.

A TOAD [Tenderly laying his arm about the neck of a dilatory TOAD.] Come and froth!

CHANTECLER [To the NIGHTINGALE.] But will they not trouble and prevent your mellifluent song?

THE NIGHTINGALE
In no wise.  I will take their refrain into my song—­

THE BIG TOAD [Patting a little TOAD on the head to encourage him.] Don’t be afraid, go ahead,—­froth!