CHANTECLER
[_Eagerly._] Keep watch! They are going to talk with me from home.
THE WOODPECKER
[_Interested._] Who?
CHANTECLER
The Blackbird.
THE WOODPECKER
I thought he hated you.
CHANTECLER
He came near it, but the Blackbird cast of mind admits of compromise,
and it amuses him to keep me informed.
THE WOODPECKER
Is he coming?
CHANTECLER
[_Who is a different bird since the_ PHEASANT-HEN’S _exit,
light-hearted, boyishly cheerful._] No, but the blue morning-glory
opening in his cage amid the wistaria, communicates by subterranean
filaments with this white convolvulus trembling above the pool. [_Going
to the convolvulus._] So that by talking into its chalice--[_He plunges
his bill into one of the trembling milky trumpets._] Hello!
THE WOODPECKER
[_Nodding to himself._] From the Greek, _allos_, another.
He talks with another.
CHANTECLER
Hello! The Blackbird, please!
THE WOODPECKER
[_Keeping watch._] Most imprudent, this is! To choose among the
convolvuli exactly the one which--
CHANTECLER
[_Lighter and lighter of mood, returning to the_ WOODPECKER.] But it’s
the only one open all night! When the Blackbird answers, the Bee who
sleeps in the flower wakes up and we--
THE BEE
[_Inside the convolvulus._] Vrrrrrrrrr!
CHANTECLER
[_Briskly running to the flower and listening at the horn-shaped
receiver._] Ah? This morning, did you say?
THE WOODPECKER
[_Filled with curiosity._] What is it?
CHANTECLER
[_In a voice of sudden emotion._] Thirty chicks have been
born! [_Listening again._] Briffaut, the hunting-dog, is ill?
[_As if something interfered with his hearing._] I believe it
is the Dragon-flies, deafening us with the crackling of their
wings--[_Shouting._] Will you be so kind, young ladies, as not to cut
us off? [_Listening._] And big Julius obliges Patou to go with him on
his hunting expeditions? [_To the_ WOODPECKER.] Ah, you ought to know
my friend Patou! [_Burying his bill again in the flower._] So? Without
me everything goes wrong? Yes! [_With satisfaction._] Yes! Waste and
carelessness naturally!
THE WOODPECKER
[_Who has been keeping watch, warns him suddenly under breath._] Here
she comes!
CHANTECLER
[_With his bill in the flower._] Indeed?
THE WOODPECKER
[_Fluttering desperately._] Hush!
CHANTECLER
The Ducks spent the night under the cart, did they?
THE WOODPECKER
Pst!