A VOICE Let us go to sleep-- THE TURKEY [_On his roost, solemnly._] _Quandoque dormitat_-- THE BLACKBIRD [_In his cage._] Dormittimus! CHANTECLER [_Very firmly to the_ PHEASANT-HEN.] I will not go. Good night. THE PHEASANT-HEN [_Slightly offended._] Good night! [_With a curt hop she enters the dog-kennel._] PATOU [_Falling asleep, stretched in front of his kennel._] Let us sleep until the sky grows pink--pink as--as--a puppy’s tummy-- THE GUINEA-HEN [_Dropping off._] From five to six-- THE BLACKBIRD [_Likewise dropping off._] Tew--tew--[_He nods._] tew-- CHANTECLER [_Still at the top of the ladder._] All sleeps.--[_He spies a_ CHICK _stealing out._] Is that a chick I see?--[_Springing after him and driving him in._] Let me catch you!--[_In driving back the_ CHICK, _he finds himself near the kennel. He calls very softly._] Pheasant-hen! THE PHEASANT-HEN [_Lost among the straw, sleepily._] What do you want? CHANTECLER [_After a moment’s hesitation._] Nothing.--Nothing! [_He goes back to the top of his ladder._] THE PHEASANT-HEN Shall I be able to sleep, I wonder-- PATOU [_Falling sound asleep._] A puppy’s tum-- THE PHEASANT-HEN [_Indistinctly, overcome by slumber._] To sleep under a roof?--I, with my gypsy tastes? CHANTECLER I am going in. [_He disappears in the hen-house. He is heard saying in a dreamy voice._] It is time to shut my--my-- THE PHEASANT-HEN [_In a last effort._]--gyp--sy--tastes.--[_Her head nods and disappears among the straw._] CHANTECLER [_His voice, sleepier and fainter._]--to shut my eyes--[_Silence. He sleeps. Two green eyes are seen suddenly kindling at the top of the wall._] THE CAT And to open mine! [_Immediately two more yellow eyes shine forth from the darkness above the hay-cock._] A VOICE And mine! [_Two more yellow eyes on the wall._] ANOTHER VOICE And mine! [_Two more yellow eyes._] ANOTHER VOICE And mine! SCENE EIGHTH _The_ POULTRY-YARD _asleep. The_ CAT _awake. Three_ SCREECH-OWLS, _later the_ MOLE _and the_ VOICE _of the_ CUCKOO. FIRST VOICE Two green eyes? THE CAT [_Sitting up on the wall, and looking at the other phosphorescent eyes._] Six golden eyes? FIRST VOICE On the wall? THE CAT On the rick?--[_He calls._] Owls! THE OWLS Cat! THE BLACKBIRD [_Waking up._] What’s this? THE SCREECH-OWL [_To the_ CAT.] Great plot against him! THE CAT To-night? THE THREE OWLS To-night, too-whit! THE CAT Pfitt!--Where? THE OWLS The hollies, too-whoo! THE CAT What o’clock? THE OWLS Eight, too-whit! too-whoo! FIRST OWL Bats weaving soft black snares of flight-- THE CAT Are they with us? THE THREE OWLS They are! FIRST OWL Mole, burrowing from nether to upper night-- THE CAT Is she with us? THE THREE OWLS She is! THE CAT [_Talking toward the house-door._] You, strike your eight strokes bravely, Cuckoo of the little clock! THE SCREECH-OWL Is he with us?