_] Well?--A rebellious,
self-freed slave I am--even as that dog was saying! But of great
lineage, and proud as I am free--A pheasant of the woods!
THE BLACKBIRD
Whew! We hate ourself, don't we!
THE PHEASANT-HEN
In the forest where I live there comes a-poaching--
CHANTECLER
That madman who would have given to vile lead a jewel for setting!
THE PHEASANT-HEN
Beneath foliage--not so thick but a sunbeam may glide in!--I make my
home. I am descended, however, from elsewhere. From whence? From Persia?
China? None can tell! But of one thing we may be certain: that I was
meant to shimmer in the blue among the fragrant gum-trees of the East,
and not to be chased through brambles by a hound!--Am I the ancient
Phoenix? or the sacred Chinese hen? Whence was I brought to this land?
And how brought? And by whom? History is not explicit on the point, and
leaves us a splendid choice. Wherefore I choose to have been born in
Colchis, from whence I came on Jason's fist. I am all gold. Perhaps I
was the Fleece!
PATOU
You?
THE PHEASANT-HEN
The Pheasant!
PATOU
[_Politely correcting her._] Pheasant-hen.
THE PHEASANT-HEN
I refer to my race, for which I stand, by token of my crimson shield.
Yes, my ancient fate of being a dead leaf beside a ruby, having appeared
to me one day too distinctly dull a lot, I stole his dazzling plumage
from the male. A good thing, too, for it becomes me so much better! The
golden tippet, as I wear it, curves and shimmers.
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