(WHEN EMMY DESTINN SANG IN THE LION CAGE)
First Lion: I'm nervous. Aren't you?
Second Lion: Not in the least.
First Lion: Then why do you keep your tail between your legs?
Second Lion: I always do that when I'm thinking.
First Lion: What I want to know is, what do they want to go and put her
in the cage for? The place is crowded as it is and there isn't enough
raw beef to go around.
Second Lion: Maybe she is a new kind of beef.
First Lion: I wouldn't touch it for the world-- Now what are you doing?
Are you afraid?
Second Lion: Who's afraid?
First Lion: What made you back into me like that and growl when she
waved her upper limbs and stepped forward?
Second Lion: Purely reflex action. Do you think she's hungry?
First Lion: For heaven's sake, don't say that. What makes you think so?
Second Lion: She has her mouth wide open and she emits prolonged howls.
I wish she wouldn't move forward so abruptly.
First Lion: And I wish you wouldn't back into me like that without
warning.
Second Lion: Perhaps she howls because she's afraid.
First Lion: Whom would she be afraid of?
Second Lion: The man outside who is turning the handle of the
picture-machine.
First Lion: He has a red face.
Second Lion: He must be juicy. I could fetch him in two leaps if I were
feeling just right.
First Lion: There you go again. You'll be backing me against the bars
before you know it.
Second Lion: Can't one stretch when one feels bored?
First Lion: The red-faced man must be the new keeper.
Second Lion: Probably, and she is howling for something to eat. I wonder
how long this will last.
First Lion: I wonder. This is worse than the circus with nothing between
you and a crowd. What is it now?
Second Lion: She's come nearer again and she is stretching out her upper
limbs in our direction. Suppose she's hungry and the red-faced man
refuses to let her have anything.
First Lion: For heaven's sake, don't speak like that.