_] Tick-tock!--who sets all hearts
a-beating, tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock!
A HEN
Our Cock!
THE BLACKBIRD
[_Thrusting his head between the bars of his cage._] My, thy, his, her,
our, your, and their Cock!
THE TURKEY
[_To the_ PIGEON.] He will soon be coming in from his usual round in the
fields.
THE PIGEON
You have the honour of his acquaintance, sir?
THE TURKEY
[_Importantly._] I have known him from a baby. This chick--for to me he
is still a chick!--used to come to me for his bugle lesson.
THE PIGEON
Ah, indeed? You give lessons in--
THE TURKEY
Certainly. A bird who can gobble is qualified to teach crowing.
THE PIGEON
Where was he born?
THE TURKEY
[_Indicating an old covered basket, badly battered and broken._] In that
old basket.
THE PIGEON
And is the hen who brooded him still living?
THE TURKEY
[_Again indicating the basket._] She is there.
THE PIGEON
Where?
THE TURKEY
In that old basket.
THE PIGEON
[_More and more interested._] Of what breed is she?
THE TURKEY
She is just a good old-fashioned Gascon hen, born in the neighbourhood
of Pau.
THE BLACKBIRD
[_Thrusting out his head._] She is the one Henry the Fourth wished to
see cooking in every Frenchman's pot!
THE PIGEON
How proud she must be of having hatched such a Cock!
THE TURKEY
Yes, proud with a lowly foster-mother's pride. Her beloved chick is
coming to his inches, that is all she seems to understand or care about.
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