Chapter 3 and 4 Summary

In Cock-A-Doodle-Doo! or, the Crowing of the Noble Cock Beneventano, the narrator is a man of some wealth who finds himself in middle age, of indifferent health, and burdened by financial debts because of poor management and a life of dissipation. He criticizes the world and humanity and finds existence rather pointless. Then one day he hears a distant cock crowing with such a beautiful song that he is revitalized entirely. Over the next weeks, the narrator resumes an active life, enjoys eating and socializing, and diligently searches for the cock with the magnificent crow. From time to time he hears the cock crowing in the distance and is continually revitalized by it, even as he speculates about what type of cock it might or might not be. He finally locates the owner, a man named Merrymusk. Merrymusk is old and...