NANK. If it wasn't for the law. YUM. As it is, of course we couldn't do anything of the kind. NANK. Not for worlds! YUM. Being engaged to Ko-Ko, you know! NANK. Being engaged to Ko-Ko! DUET—YUM-YUM and NANKI-POO. NANK. Were you not to Ko-Ko plighted, I would say in tender tone, "Loved one, let us be united— Let us be each other's own!" I would merge all rank and station, Worldly sneers are nought to us, And, to mark my admiration, I would kiss you fondly thus— (Kisses her.) BOTH. I/He would kiss you/me fondly thus— (Kiss.) YUM. But as I'm engaged to Ko-Ko, To embrace you thus, con fuoco, Would distinctly be no giuoco, And for yam I should get toko— BOTH. Toko, toko, toko, toko! NANK. So, In spite of all temptation, Such a theme I'll not discuss, And on no consideration Will I kiss you fondly thus— (Kissing her.) Let me make it clear to you, This is what I'll never do! This, oh, this, oh, this, oh, this,—(Kissing her.) TOGETHER. This, oh, this, etc. [Exeunt in opposite directions. Enter Ko-Ko. KO. (looking after Yum-Yum). There she goes! To think how entirely my future happiness is wrapped up in that little parcel! Really, it hardly seems worth while! Oh, matrimony!— (Enter Pooh-Bah and Pish-Tush.) Now then, what is it? Can't you see I'm soliloquizing? You have interrupted an apostrophe, sir! PISH. I am the bearer of a letter from his Majesty the Mikado. KO. (taking it from him reverentially). A letter from the Mikado! What in the world can he have to say to me? (Reads letter.) Ah, here it is at last! I thought it would come sooner or later! The Mikado is struck by the fact that no executions have taken place in Titipu for a year, and decrees that unless somebody is beheaded within one month the post of Lord High Executioner shall be abolished, and the city reduced to the rank of a village! PISH. But that will involve us all in irretrievable ruin! KO. Yes. There is no help for it, I shall have to execute somebody at once. The only question is, who shall it be? POOH. Well, it seems unkind to say so, but as you're already under sentence of death for flirting, everything seems to point to you. KO. To me? What are you talking about? I can't execute myself. POOH. Why not? KO. Why not? Because, in the first place, self decapitation is an extremely difficult, not to say dangerous, thing to attempt; and, in the second, it's suicide, and suicide is a capital offence. POOH.