CHANTECLER Light, the universal goddess! That geranium planted by the farmer’s wife is never twice the same red! And that old wooden shoe, spurting straw, what a sight, what a beautiful sight! And the wooden comb hanging among the farmer’s smocks, with the green hair of the sward caught in its teeth! The pitchfork, stood in the corner, like a misbehaving child, dozing as he stands and dreaming of the hay-fields! And the bowl and skittles there,--the trim-waisted skittles, shapely maids, whose orderly quadrilles Patou in his gambols clumsily upsets! The great worm-eaten bowl whose curved expanse some ant is always crossing, travelling with no less pride than famed explorers,--around her ball in 80 seconds!--Nothing, I tell you, is two instants quite the same!--And I, sweet lady, have been so susceptible ever, that a garden-rake in a corner, a flower in a pot, cast me long since into a helpless ecstasy, and that from gazing at a morning-glory I fell into the startled admiration which has made my eye so round! THE PHEASANT-HEN [_Thoughtfully._] One feels that you have a soul.--A soul then may find wherewithal to grow, so far from life and its drama, shut in by a farmyard wall with a cat asleep on it? CHANTECLER With power to see, capacity to suffer, one may come to understand all things. In an insect’s death are hinted all disasters. Through a knot-hole can be seen the sky and marching stars! THE OLD HEN [_Appearing._] None knows the heavens like the water in the well! CHANTECLER [_Presenting her to the _PHEASANT-HEN_ before the basket-lid drops._] My foster-mother! THE PHEASANT-HEN [_Politely approaching._] Delighted! THE OLD HEN [_Slyly winking at her._] He’s a fine Cock! THE PHEASANT-HEN He is a Cock, moreover, for whom that fact is not the only thing in the world! CHANTECLER [_Who has gone toward_ PATOU.] There, my dear boy, is a Hen with whom one can have a bit of solid conversation. SCENE SEVENTH THE SAME, _the_ GUINEA-HEN, _and the whole_ POULTRY-YARD _Cries outside, nearer and nearer,_ “Ah!--” _Enter all the_ HENS _in tumult, preceded by the agitated_ GUINEA-HEN. THE BLACKBIRD [_In his cage._] The next course will be Guinea-hen! THE GUINEA-HEN [_Running to the_ PHEASANT-HEN.] Ah, my dear, my dear, my dear!--A beauty, a very beauty!--We have come to make your acquaintance, my dear! [_General admiration,_ “Ah!--” _The_ PHEASANT-HEN _is surrounded. Conversation, cries, clucking._] CHANTECLER [_Watching the_ PHEASANT-HEN, _aside._] How well she walks, with free and graceful gait!--[_He looks at the_ HENS.] So differently from my Hens! [_Irritably, to the_ HENS.] Ladies, you walk as if you had blisters! You walk as if you trod on your own eggs! PATOU No mistaking the symptoms! He is very much in love. THE GUINEA-HEN [_Presenting her son to the_ PHEASANT-HEN.] The Guinea-cock, my son. THE YOUNG GUINEA-COCK [_Looking admiringly at the_ PHEASANT-HEN.] What a jolly shade of blond!