_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 night-watchers 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 GROUP OF 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
[_Dryly._] 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!