She was created to incite to sin, To lure, seduce, corrupt, drop poison in,-- To murder, without being once suspected. [_Tickling_ LULU’S _chin_.] My pretty beast, only be =unaffected=, Not vain, not artificial, not perverse, Even if the critics therefore turn adverse. Thou hast no right to spoil the shape most fitting, Most =true=, of =woman=, with meows and spitting! Nor with buffoonery and wry device To foul the =childish simpleness= of =Vice= Thou shouldst--to-day I speak emphatically-- Speak =naturally= and not unnaturally, For the first principle, of earliest force In every art, has been Be matter-of-course! [_To the public._] There’s nothing special now to see in her, But wait and watch what later will occur! She coils about the Tiger stricter--stricter-- He roars and groans!--Who’ll be the final victor?-- Hop, Charlie, march! Carry her to her cage, [_The stage-hand picks up_ LULU _slantwise in his arms; the animal-tamer pats her on the hips_.] Sweet innocence--my dearest appanage! [_The stage-hand carries_ LULU _back into the tent_.] And now the best thing yet remains to say: My poll between the teeth of a beast of prey! Walk in! The show’s not new, yet every heart Takes pleasure in it still! I’ll wrench apart This wild beast’s jaws--I dare--and he’ll not dare To close and bite! Let him be ne’er so fair, So wild and brightly flecked, he feels respect For my poor poll! I offer it him direct: One =joke=, and my two temples crack!--but, lo, The lightning of my eyes I will forego, Staking my =life= against a =joke=! and throw My whip, my weapons, down. I am in my skin! I yield me to this beast!--His name do ye know? --The honored public! that has just walked in! [_The animal-tamer steps back into the tent, accompanied by cymbals and kettledrums._] ACT I SCENE--_A roomy studio. Entrance door at the rear, left. Another door at lower left to the bedroom. At centre, a platform for the model, with a Spanish screen behind it, shielding it from the rear door, and a Smyrna rug in front. Two easels at lower right. On the upper one is the picture of a young girl’s head and shoulders. Against the other leans a reversed canvas. Below these, toward centre, an ottoman, with a tiger-skin on it. Two chairs along the left wall. In the background, right, a step-ladder._ SCHÖN _sits on the foot of the ottoman, inspecting critically the picture on the further easel_. SCHWARZ _stands behind the ottoman, his palette and brushes in his hands_. SCHÖN--Do you know, I’m getting acquainted with a brand-new side of the lady. SCHWARZ--I have never painted anyone whose expression changed so continuously. I could hardly keep a single feature the same two days running. SCHÖN--[_Pointing to the picture and observing him._] Do you find that in it?