Chantecler: Play in Four Acts

CHANTECLER I never thought much of that story. Who knows whether the coach would have reached the top of the hill without the Fly? Do you believe that rude shouts “Gee up! Ge’ l...

CHANTECLER Yes, I feel that I shall tell, and I know I shall do ill in telling. And it’s all because of the gold on her dainty little head! [_Going brusquely nearer to her._] Sh...

CHANTECLER PATOU THE BLACKBIRD THE PEACOCK THE NIGHTINGALE THE GRAND-DUKE THE SCREECH-OWL LITTLE SCOPS THE GAME-COCK THE HUNTING DOG A CARRIER-PIGEON THE WOOD-PECKER THE TURKEY...

THE GUINEA-HEN [_Giving loud cries of despair._] Horrible! Oh, horrible A five-o’clock tea at which guests kill each other! How dreadful--[_To her son._] that the Tortoise shoul...

_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, ran...

PATOU Neither! But I have within me several dogs, and there is conflict amidst me. My hunter’s nostril twitches at a shot, but, directly, my house-dog’s memory raises before me...

THE PHEASANT-HEN For, you know, the birds when they say their prayers speak the common language, but when they chat together in private they use a twittering dialect, wholly ono...

THE GUINEA-HEN My kitchen-garden party will be famous! [_To the_ HAMBURG COCK, _whose breast is striped with black and yellow._] Oh, what a wonderful waistcoat! May I ask what i...

THE BLACKBIRD Wiped out! My satirical whistling, as the Dog called it, now expresses pure admiration. Listen, like this: [_He whistles admiringly._] Tew!--How is that?--Tew-tew...

CHANTECLER Their fate to seethe in the cauldron of a witch! But you, the creatures of the forest come to slake the thirst of their hearts at your song. See them creeping to the...