Chapter 7
THE GUINEA-HEN Your egg, I presume, was laid in the vibrating hollow of a guitar! Delighted and honored,--both!
THE MAGPIE Cock Langsham!
THE PEACOCK A Tartar!
ALL THE HENS [_Smitten with amazement at sight of the black giant._] A Tartar!
THE MAGPIE Gold-penciled Hamburg Cock!
ALL THE HENS [_At sight of the gold-laced_ COCK _in the cocked hat._] Gold-penciled Hamburg!
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 it is made of?
THE BLACKBIRD Of zebra!
THE GUINEA-HEN Zebra, you don’t say so! It will be the pride of my life, of my whole--
THE MAGPIE Cock--
THE GUINEA-HEN [_Jumping._] No, I can’t believe it!
THE MAGPIE --of Burma!
THE GUINEA-HEN Burma! [_Increasing general agitation._]
THE PEACOCK An East Indian.
THE GUINEA-HEN Oh, I can see his Hindu soul right in his eyes, the Hindu soul we hear so much about! [_Running to the newcomer, in an adoring voice._] Charmed, charmed! The Hindu soul--oh!
THE MAGPIE Padua Cocks--The Dutch Padua of Poland!
THE GUINEA-HEN Dutch of Poland! This is really more than I ever aspired to!
[_The_ PADUA COCKS _enter, shaking their plumes._]
THE MAGPIE The Gold Cock! The Silver Cock!
THE GUINEA-HEN [_In ecstasies of admiration before the flowing plume of the latter._] With a waterfall on his head!
THE BLACKBIRD And a suspension bridge!
THE GUINEA-HEN [_No longer conscious of what she is saying._] And a suspension bridge!
THE PHEASANT-HEN [_To_ PATOU.] Poor Guinea-hen, she will say anything after anybody!
THE MAGPIE [_Announcing in a louder and louder tone ever more extraordinary_ COCKS.] Bagdad Cock!
THE PEACOCK [_Dominating the tumult._] Consummately Arabian Nights.
THE GUINEA-HEN Did you hear? Consummately Arabian Nights!
ALL THE HENS To be sure! Awfully Arabian Nights!
THE PEACOCK Kamaralzaman himself is hardly more so.
THE MAGPIE Bantam Cock with ruffles!
THE GUINEA-HEN [_Transported._] How eighteenth century this is! Look, oh, look! A dwarf! A dwarf! Dwarfs! Little cunning bits of dwarfs!
THE YOUNG GUINEA-COCK [_Low._] Mamma, do control yourself!
THE GUINEA-HEN [_Screaming in the midst of the_ COCKS.] No, no, I can’t and won’t! That is Kamaralzaman! I don’t really know which I prefer, which I--
THE MAGPIE Guelder Cock!
THE GUINEA-HEN [_Rushing to the newcomer._] This is truly a treat! Another Belgian!
THE MAGPIE Serpent-necked Cock!
THE GUINEA-HEN [_Rattled._] To you, dear Seacock, I owe this Perpentneck!
THE MAGPIE Duck-sided Cock! Crow-billed Cock! Hawk-footed Cock!
THE GUINEA-HEN [_Who has fallen upon the new arrivals, bursts into shrill volubility before the last of them._] This surpasses all! An albino! Charmed, my dear sir, honoured, enchanted! Oh, on his head he wears a cheese!
A HEN So he does, a cheese!--A cream cheese, to be sure! A cream cheese!
ALL THE HENS A cream cheese!
THE MAGPIE CrËve Coeur Cock!
THE GUINEA-HEN [_Rushing to meet him._] Oh, he has horns on his head!
THE PEACOCK Satanic.
THE MAGPIE Ptarmigan Cock!
THE PEACOCK Aesthetic.
THE GUINEA-HEN [_Rushing up to him._] Oh, he wears on his head an Assyrian helmet!
THE MAGPIE White Pile--
THE GUINEA-HEN [_Rushing up to him._] He wears on his head--[_Stopping short at sight of his docked comb._] Nothing whatever. He wears nothing whatever on his head. How odd it looks!
THE CAT [_From his apple tree, to the_ BLACKBIRD, _indicating the_ WHITE PILE GAME-COCK.] There is the champion. The dust conceals a razor on his lean foot. [_The_ GAME-COCK _disappears among the throng of fancy_ COCKS, _who are surrounded by a swarm of cackling_ HENS.]
THE MAGPIE Negro Cock!
THE GUINEA-HEN [_Gone quite mad among the multitude of_ COCKS _now filling the kitchen-garden with their extraordinary head-gear aigrettes, and plumes and helmets, double and triple combs._] Charmed, honoured, enchanted--enchanted, honoured, charmed!
PATOU She has taken leave of her wits!
THE GUINEA-HEN [_To the empty air._] Charmed, charmed, enchanted, en--
THE MAGPIE Cock with Supernumerary Toe!--Naked-necked Cock!
THE GUINEA-HEN Naked?
THE MAGPIE Necked!
THE GUINEA-HEN [_To a_ HEN.] My dear, now we shall see something worth while!
THE MAGPIE Japanese Cocks--Cock Splendens!
THE GUINEA-HEN [_At sight of this_ COCK _whose tail is eight yards long._] Oh!--In a swallow tail!
THE MAGPIE Clump-backed--
THE BLACKBIRD [_Perceiving that this_ COCK _is absolutely flat at the back._] In a monkey-jacket!
THE MAGPIE [_Finishing._]--or Tailless Cock!
THE GUINEA-HEN [_Beside herself._] He has nothing whatever behind! This is the crowning moment of my career! [_To the newcomer, effusively._] Charmed! No tail! This is--
THE BLACKBIRD I like his cheek!
THE MAGPIE [_While more and more heterogeneous_ COCKS _appear._] Cock Walikikili, called Choki-kukullo! Pseudo-Chinese Cuculicolor!
THE GUINEA-HEN What a choice gathering!
THE PEACOCK Kaleidoscopically cosmopolitan.
THE MAGPIE Blue Java! White Java!
THE BLACKBIRD [_Losing all shame._] Won’t Java cup o’ coffee?
THE GUINEA-HEN [_Falling upon the_ JAVA COCKS.] Charmed, charmed!
THE MAGPIE Brahma Cock! Cochin Cock!
THE PEACOCK [_Proudly._] The great vicious Cocks, representatives of the corrupt East, the putrescent Orient!
THE GUINEA-HEN [_Intoxicated._] Putrescent!
THE PEACOCK Unwholesome, morbid grace!
THE GUINEA-HEN [_To the_ COCHIN COCK.] Charmed! Charmed!--Do notice his obscene eye!
THE MAGPIE [_Announcing wildly, infected with the general delirium._] Chili Cock, curled hindside fore! Antwerp Cock, curled inside out!
ALL THE HENS [_Fighting for the newcomers._] Oh, putrescent!--Oh, hindside fore!
THE GUINEA-HEN Inside out!
THE MAGPIE Shankless Jumping-cock!
A HEN [_Fainting with emotion._] I suppose he jumps with his stomach!
THE GUINEA-HEN An India-rubber Cock!
THE PHEASANT-HEN [_To_ PATOU, _who from his wheelbarrow is looking off into the distance._] And Chantecler?
PATOU Will be here soon.
THE PHEASANT-HEN Can you see him?
PATOU Yes, off there, scratching up the earth. Now he is on his way.
THE MAGPIE Ghoondook Cock with Umbrella Topknot!
CRY OF ENTHUSIASM Oh!
THE MAGPIE Iberian Cock with Lint Side Whiskers!
CRY OF ENTHUSIASM Oh!
THE MAGPIE Cock Bans Backin or Fat Cheek of Thuringia!
CRY OF ENTHUSIASM Oh!
THE MAGPIE Yankee Cochin of Plymouth Rock!
[_Sudden silence._ CHANTECLER _has appeared at the entrance, just behind the_ COCK _last announced._]
CHANTECLER [_To the_ MAGPIE.] Pray simply say, “The Cock!”
SCENE FOURTH
THE SAME, CHANTECLER, _later_ THE PIGEONS, _and_ THE SWAN.
THE MAGPIE [_After looking_ CHANTECLER _up and down, disdainfully._] The Cock!
CHANTECLER [_From the threshold, to the_ GUINEA-HEN.] Your pardon Madam,--my humble duty!--for venturing to present myself in this plumage--
THE GUINEA-HEN Come in, I pray!
CHANTECLER I hardly know whether I should. I have a limited number of toes--
THE GUINEA-HEN [_Indulgently._] Oh, never mind!
CHANTECLER I cannot claim to be a Carpathian, and--I hardly know how to conceal it from you--I have feet!
THE GUINEA-HEN Oh, let not that distress you!
CHANTECLER A plain red-pepper comb, an ordinary garlic clove ear--
THE GUINEA-HEN Of course, of course, we will excuse you. You came in your business suit!
CHANTECLER Nay, my best! Pardon if my best combines merely the green of all April with the gold of all October! I stand abashed. I am the Cock, just the Cock, without further addition. The Cock such as he is still found in some old-fashioned barnyard. A Cock shaped like a Cock, whose outline persists in the vane on the steeple-top in the artist’s eye, and the humble toy which a child’s hand finds among shavings in a little wooden box.
AN IRONICAL VOICE [_From among the group of gorgeous prodigies._] The Gallic Cock, in short?
CHANTECLER [_Gently, without even turning._] Sure as I am of my aboriginal claim to this soil, I make no point of assuming the name. But, now you mention it, I recognise that when one simply says the Cock, that is the Cock he means!
THE BLACKBIRD [_Low to_ CHANTECLER.] I have seen your adversary!
CHANTECLER [_Catching sight of the_ PHEASANT-HEN _approaching._] Be still! She must know nothing of this!
THE PHEASANT-HEN [_Coquettishly._] Did you come for the sake of seeing me?
CHANTECLER [_Bowing._] I am weak, you remember!
THE GUINEA-HEN [_Listening to the_ COCHIN-CHINA COCK, _who is talking in an undertone, thickly surrounded by_ HENS.] That Cock from Cochin China is simply awful!
CHANTECLER [_Turning._] Enough!
THE HENS [_Around the_ COCHIN COCK, _giving little scandalised cries._] Oh!--
THE GUINEA-HEN [_Tickled._] Oh, you naughty bird!--He is quite the most improper of our gallinacea!
CHANTECLER [_Louder._] Enough!
THE COCHIN-CHINA COCK [_Stops, and with mocking surprise._] Is it the Gallic Cock objecting?
CHANTECLER I am not Gallic if you give the word a base or ridiculous meaning. By Jove! Every Hen here knows whether my trumpet blast belongs to a soprano! But your perverse attempts to wring blushes from little baggages in convenient corners outrage my love of Love! It is true that I care more to retain love’s dream than these Cochin-Chinese, who, courting a giggle, use refinement in coarseness, research in vulgarity; true that my blood has swifter flow in a less ponderous body, and that I am not a feathered pig,--but a Cock!
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.
[_The company falls into groups of spectators, the outlandish_ COCKS _forming a wreath around their patron._]
THE PEACOCK [_Preparing to spread his tail._] I am, by precious natural gift, in addition to my multifarious accomplishments something of a--shall I say artist in firework?
THE GUINEA-HEN [_Effervescently._] Yes!
THE PEACOCK No. Pyrotechnist. For the choicest piece in urban gardens, where Catharine-wheels on festival nights spurt sidereal spray, and rockets shot into gold-riddled skies fall back in prismatic showers, is less sapphirine, smaragdine, cuprine--
CHANTECLER Zounds!
THE PEACOCK --than, I venture to say, ladies, am I--
THE PHEASANT-HEN Oh, I understood that last word!
THE PEACOCK --when I unfurl the union of fan, jewel-case, and screen, upon which I offer to the self-same sunbeams that redden the reed all the joyous gems you now may contemplate!
CHANTECLER What a silly bill!
[_The_ PEACOCK _has spread his tail._]
A COCK [_To the_ PEACOCK.] Master, which of us will you make the fashion?
THE PADUA COCK [_Quickly coming forward._] Me! I look like a palm-tree!
A CHINA COCK [_Pushing the_ PADUA COCK _aside._] I look like a pagoda!
A BIG FEATHER-FOOTED COCK [_Pushing the_ CHINA COCK _aside._] Me! I have cauliflowers sprouting at my heels!
CHANTECLER Each is in one the show and Mr. Barnum!
ALL [_Parading and filing past the_ PEACOCK.] See my beak! See my feet! See my feathers!
CHANTECLER [_Suddenly shouting at them._] Lo! While you hold your costume contest, a Scarecrow gives you his blessing!
[_Behind them, in fact, the wind has lifted the arms of the_ SCARECROW, _which loosely wave above the pageant._]
ALL [_Starting back._] What?
CHANTECLER Behold this dummy talking to that lay-figure! [_While the wind blows through the flapping rags._] What say the trousers, dancing their limp fandango? They say, “We were once the fashion!” And, terror of the titlark, what says the old hat which a beggar would none of? “I was the fashion!” And the coat? “I was the fashion!” And the tattered sleeves, that no one has care to mend, try to clasp the Wind, whom they take for the Fashion, and drop back empty--The Wind has passed, the Wind is far!
THE PEACOCK [_To the animals slightly dismayed by this address._] You poor-spirited creatures, that thing cannot talk!
CHANTECLER Man says the same of us.
THE PEACOCK [_To the birds nearest to him._] He is vexed because of those Cocks whom I introduced. [_To_ CHANTECLER, _ironically._] What, my dear sir, do you say to these resplendent gentlemen?
CHANTECLER I say, my dear sir, that these resplendent gentlemen are manufactured wares, the work of merchants with highly complex brains, who to fashion a ridiculous Chicken have taken a wing from that one, a topknot from this. I say that in such Cocks nothing remains of the true Cock. They are Cocks of shreds and patches, idle bric-a-brac, fit to figure in a catalogue, not in a barnyard with its decent dunghill and its dog. I say that those befrizzled, beruffled, bedeviled Cocks were never stroked and cherished by Nature’s maternal hand. I say that it’s all Aviculture, and Aviculture is flapdoodle! And I say that those preposterous parrots, without style, without beauty, without form, whose bodies have not even kept the pleasing oval of the egg they were hatched from, look like so many desperate fowls escaped from some hen-coop of the Apocalypse!
A COCK My dear sir--
CHANTECLER [_With rising spirit._] And I add that the whole duty of a Cock is to be an embodied crimson cry! And when a Cock is not that, it matters little that his comb be shaped like a toadstool, or his quills twisted like a screw, he will soon vanish and be heard of no more, having been nothing but a variety of a variety!
A COCK I protest--
CHANTECLER [_Going from one to the other._] Yes, Cocks affecting incongruous forms, Cocks crowned with cocoa-palm coiffures--Hear me talk like the Peacock! I lapse into alliteration! [_Finding his fun in bewildering them with cackling guttural volubility._] Yes, Cockerels cockaded with cockles, Cockatrice-headed Cockasters, cock-eyed Cockatoos! Not content to be common Cocks, your crotchet it was to be what but crack Cocks? Yes, Fashion, to be accounted of thy flock, these chuckle-headed Cocks craved to be Super-cocks. But know ye not, ye crazy Cocks, one cannot be so queer a Cock, but there may occur a queerer Cock? Let some Cock come whose coccyx boasts a more flamboyant shock, and you pass like childish measles, croup or chicken-pox! Consider that to-morrow, high Cockalorums, fancy Cocks, consider that day after to-morrow, cheese-capped goblet-crested Cocks, in spite of curly hackle and cauliflowered hocks, a more fantastic Cock than ever may creep out of a--box! For the Cock-fancier, to diversify his stock, may more fantastically still combine his Cutcutdaycuts and his Cocks, and you will be no more--sad Cuckoos made a mock!--but old rococo Cocks beside this more coquettish Cock!
A COCK And how, may one learn from you, can a Cock secure himself against becoming rococo?
CHANTECLER One royal way there is: to think only of crowing like a right and proper Cock!
A COCK [_Haughtily._] We are well known, I beg to state, for our exceptionally fine crowing!
CHANTECLER Known to whom?
SCENE FIFTH
THE SAME, _three_ CHICKENS, _noticeable among the rest for a certain jaunty pertness of gait and demeanour, who for a minute or so have been moving among the artificial_ COCKS.
FIRST CHICKEN To us, of course!
SECOND CHICKEN To us!
THIRD CHICKEN To us!
ALL THREE [_Bowing at once._] Good morning!
FIRST CHICKEN Your voice?
SECOND CHICKEN Tenor?
THIRD CHICKEN Bass?
SECOND CHICKEN Robusto?
THIRD CHICKEN Di cortesia?
CHANTECLER [_Bewildered, looking toward the_ PHEASANT-HEN.] What is this? An interlude?
THE PHEASANT-HEN An interview.
SECOND CHICKEN Do you take it in your chest?
THIRD CHICKEN Or in your head?
CHANTECLER Do I take what?
FIRST CHICKEN Pray talk without reserve. We represent the Board of Investigation into the Gallodoodle Movement.
CHANTECLER That’s all very well, but I--[_Attempting to pass._]
FIRST CHICKEN You will find it difficult, I think, to leave, until you have answered such questions as we are pleased to ask. Is your early meal a light one?
CHANTECLER But--
SECOND CHICKEN You have tendencies, no doubt--
CHANTECLER Hosts.
SECOND CHICKEN What do you feel most particularly drawn to?
CHANTECLER Hens.
FIRST CHICKEN [_Without smiling._] Have you nothing to communicate with regard to your song?
CHANTECLER I just sing.
SECOND CHICKEN And when you sing--?
CHANTECLER The heavens hear me.
THIRD CHICKEN Have you a special method?
CHANTECLER I--
FIRST CHICKEN You live--
CHANTECLER To sing!
SECOND CHICKEN And your song--?
CHANTECLER Is my life!
THIRD CHICKEN But how do you sing?
CHANTECLER I take pains.
FIRST CHICKEN But do you scan [_Beating furiously with his wing._] one-one-two One-three? Three-one? Or four? What is your dynamic theory?
THE BLACKBIRD [_Shouting._] Who has not his little pet dynamic theory?
CHANTECLER Dyna--?
SECOND CHICKEN Where do you place the accent? On the Cock--?
THIRD CHICKEN On the Doo?
CHANTECLER On the--
FIRST CHICKEN [_Impatiently._] What is your school?
CHANTECLER Schools of Cocks?
SECOND CHICKEN [_Rapidly._] Certainly. Some sing Cock-a-doodle-doo, and some Keek-a-deedle-dee!
CHANTECLER Cock--? Keek--?
THIRD CHICKEN Not to speak of those who--
A COCK [_Coming forward._] The correct and proper way to crow is Cowkerdowdledow!
CHANTECLER What Cock is that?
FIRST CHICKEN An Anglo-Indian.
SECOND CHICKEN And the Turk over there, whose comb suggests a cyst, crows Coocooroocoocoo!
THIRD CHICKEN [_Shouting in his ear._] Do you not upon occasions vary your Cockadoodledoo with Cackadaddledaa?
ANOTHER COCK [_Springing up at the right._] I, for one, entirely suppress the vowels: C-ck-d-dl-d!
CHANTECLER [_Trying to get away._] Is it a Welsh Rabbit dream?
ANOTHER COCK [_Springing up at the left._] O-a-oo-e-oo! Have you ever tried suppressing the consonants?
ANOTHER COCK [_Pushing aside all the others._] I mix the whole thing up--Cuck-o-deedle-daa!--in a free and supple song!
CHANTECLER My brain reels!
ALL THE COCKS [_Gathered about him, fighting._] No! Cuckodee--No, Cackadaa--No, Coocooroo--
THE COCK [_Who mixes all up._] The free Cockadoodle! The free crow is obligatory!
CHANTECLER Pray, who is that, speaking with such authority?
FIRST CHICKEN It is a wonderful Cock who has never sung at all.
CHANTECLER [_In humble despair._] And I am only a Cock who sings!
EVERYBODY [_Drawing away from him in disgust._] I wouldn’t mention it if I were you!
CHANTECLER I give my song as the rose-tree gives its Rose!
THE PEACOCK [_Sarcastically._] Ah, I was waiting for the Rose! [_Pitying laughter._]
CHANTECLER [_Low, nervously, to the_ BLACKBIRD.] Is my prospective slayer going to keep me waiting much longer?
EVERYONE [_Disgusted._] The Rose? Oh!
THE GUINEA-HEN If you must mention flowers, let them be rather less--
THE PEACOCK Elementary. [_With the most disdainful impertinence._] So you are still at the declension of _Rosa?_
CHANTECLER I am, you--Peacock! You, I suppose, may be forgiven for speaking slightingly of the Rose, being a rival candidate for the beauty prize. [_Looking around him._] But I summon these Cocks, from Dorking to Bantam, to defend with me--
A COCK [_Nonchalantly._] Pray whom?
CHANTECLER The Rose, _Rosam;_ to declare on the spot and forthwith--
THE BLACKBIRD [_Ironically._] You set yourself up as the champion--
CHANTECLER _Rosarum,_ of roses, I do!--To declare that worship is due--
A COCK To whom, pray?
CHANTECLER To roses, _rosis!_--in whose hearts sleep rain-drops like essences in fragrant vials, to declare that they are, and ever will be--
A VOICE [_Cold and cutting._] Painted jades, things of naught! [_All the fancy_ COCKS _draw aside, revealing the_ WHITE PILE GAME COCK, _who appears, tall and lean and sinister at the further end of their double row._]
CHANTECLER At last!
THE BLACKBIRD It’s time to climb up on the chairs!
CHANTECLER [_To the_ WHITE PILE.] Sir--
THE PHEASANT-HEN You are never going to challenge that giant?
CHANTECLER I am! To appear tall it is sufficient to talk on stilts! [_To the_ GAME COCK, _slowly crossing the stage toward him._] Know that such a remark is not to be endured, and permit me to tell you--[_Finding a_ CHICK _between himself and the_ GAME COCK, _he gently puts him aside, saying_] Run to your mother, tot! [_To the_ WHITE PILE, _looking insolently at his docked comb_]--that you look like a Fool who has mislaid his coxcomb!
THE WHITE PILE [_Astonished._] Fool? Coxcomb? What? What? What?
CHANTECLER [_Beak to beak with the_ GAME COCK.] What? What? What? [_A pause. They arch themselves, with bristling neck-hackle._]
THE WHITE PILE [_Emphatically._] In America, during my grand tour, I killed three Claybornes in a day. I have killed two Sherwoods, three Smoks, and one Sumatra. I have killed--let me advise anyone fighting me to take something beforehand to keep down his pulse!--three Red-game at Cambridge and ten Braekels at Bruges!
CHANTECLER [_Very simply._] I, my dear sir, have never killed anything. But as I have at different times succored, defended, protected, this one and that, I might perhaps be called, in my own fashion, brave. You need not take these mighty airs with me. I came here knowing that you would come. That rose was dangled to afford you the opportunity for brutal stupidity. You did not fail to nibble at its petals. Your name?
THE GAME COCK White Pile. And yours?
CHANTECLER Chantecler.
THE PHEASANT-HEN [_Running desperately to the_ DOG.] Patou!
CHANTECLER [_To_ PATOU, _who is growling between his teeth._] You, keep out of this!
PATOU So I will, but it’s rrrrrrrough!
THE PHEASANT-HEN [_To_ CHANTECLER.] A Cock does not risk his life for a Rose!
CHANTECLER A slur upon a flower is a slur upon the Sun!