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?
THE CAT. He is!—And I am pleased to tell you, silent
nightwatchers, that some of the day-birds are likewise with
us.
THE TURKEY. [Coming forward surrounded by a number of the
barnyard constituents, obsequiously.] So it is settled for this
evening, dear Round Eyes? You will be there?
THE OWLS. We will be there! All the Round Eyes of the
neighbourhood will be there!
THE BLACKBIRD. That's a show I'd like to see!
PATOU. [In his sleep.] Grrrrrrr——
THE CAT. [To the startled NIGHT-BIRDS.] The dog is dreaming.
— He growls in his sleep.
CHANTECLER. [Inside the hen-house] Coa—
THE OWLS. [Frightened.] Himself!
THE TURKEY. Fly!
FIRST OWL. No need. The night is dark. We can vanish by
merely closing our eyes.
[They shut their luminous eyes. Darkness.
CHANTECLER appears at the top of the ladder.] CHANTECLER. [To the BLACKBIRD.] Did you hear anything,
Blackbird?
THE BLACKBIRD. I did, indeed, old chap.
THE OWLS. [Frightened.] What's this?
THE BLACKBIRD. A black conspiracy——
CHANTECLER. Ah?
THE BLACKBIRD. [With melodramatic emphasis.] Against you!—
Tremble!
CHANTECLER. [Going in again, unalarmed.] Joker!
THE OWLS. He has gone in.
THE BLACKBIRD. I have betrayed no one!
AN OWL. The Blackbird then is with us?
THE BLACKBIRD. No — but may I come and look on?
AN OWL. A Night-bird never eats a black bird. You can come.
THE BLACKBIRD. The password?
THE OWL. Terror and Talons!
THE PHEASANT-HEN. [Putting her head out of the dog-kennel.] I can't
breathe in that stifling, low-roofed little house, and——
[Catching sight of the NIGHT-BIRDS.] Oh!—
[She darts
aside, behind the kennel, and watches.] THE OWLS. Hush!
[They close their eyes. THE CAT does the same.
After a time, hearing no further sound, they open them
again.] It was nothing.-Let us be off.
THE GROUT or THE DISAFFECTED. [With fawning obsequiousness to the NIGHT-BIRDS.] Success to you, Owls,—success!
THE OWL. Thanks! But how is it that you are with us?
THE CAT. Ah, night brings out what daylight will not own to!
I do not like the Cock because the Dog does. — There
you have it!
THE TURKEY. I do not like him, for the reason that having known
him as a Chick I cannot admit him as a Cock!
A DUCK. I do not like the Cock because, not being web-footed,
he marks his passage by a track of stars!
A CHICKEN. I do not like the Cock because I'm such a homely
bird!
ANOTHER CHICKEN. I do not like the Cock because he has his picture
painted in purple on all the plates!
ANOTHER CHICKEN. I do not like the Cock because on all the steeples he
has his statue in gilt-bronze!
AN OWL. [To a big overgrown CHICKEN.] Well, well!—And
you, Capon?
THE CAPON. [Drily.] I do not like the Cock!
THE CUCKOO. [Beginning to strike eight inside the house] Cuckoo!
FIRST OWL. The hour!
CUCKOO. Cuckoo!
SECOND OWL. Let us go!
THE CUCKOO. Cuckoo!
FIRST OWL. The moon!
THE CUCKOO. Cuckoo!
FIRST OWL. Silently cleave the blue air——
THE CUCKOO. Cuckoo!
THE MOLE. [Suddenly pushing up through the ground] ——the
dark earth!
FIRST OWL. There comes the Mole!
THE CUCKOO. Cuckoo!
FIRST OWL. [To the MOLE.] And you, why do you hate him?
THE MOLE. I hate him because I have never seen him!
THE CUCKOO. Cuckoo!
FIRST OWL. And you, Cuckoo, do you know why you hate him?
THE CUCKOO. [On the last stroke] Because he does not have to be
wound up! Cuckoo!
FIRST OWL. And we do not love——
SECOND OWL. [Hurriedly] We are keeping the others waiting——
ALL. ——the Cock, because——
[They fly off. Silence.] THE PHEASANT-HEN. [Coming slowly from behind the kennel] I am
beginning to love him!
CURTAIN
