The quail is such a
canny bird, that he lies low lest he make his last appearance on toast.
And so, in lack of quail--
PATOU
Does the great stag delight any the less in his green forest for turning
over among the grass at evening some bit of a rusty cartridge?
THE BLACKBIRD
No, old chap--but the stag, you see, is just another kind of a hat-rack!
PATOU
Oh, but freedom, freedom, with violets looking on! Love!--
THE BLACKBIRD
Antediluvian pastimes! not nearly such good fun as my nice new wooden
trapeze. Oh, my cage, let us sign a joyful three-six-nine years' lease!
I live like a Duke, I have filtered drinking-water--[_At_ PATOU'S
_significant start and growl, he springs aside, finishing._] You can
sling mud upon me, I have a porcelain bath!
CHANTECLER
[_Slightly out of patience._] Why not make a practice of talking simply
and to the point?
THE BLACKBIRD
I like to make you sit up, and watch you blinking.
PATOU
Grrrrr--in the plain interest of public decency, I say it behooves us--
THE BLACKBIRD
Don't say behooves, say it's up to you, old chap!
CHANTECLER
What's all this juggling with words?
THE BLACKBIRD
The thing, Chantecler, quite the thing! I knew a city sparrow once, and
it's the way they talk in fashionable circles.
CHANTECLER
I was well acquainted with a little red-breast, who lived beneath a city
poet's eaves; he did not talk like you.
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