_] Tio! Tio!
CHANTECLER
[_To the_ PHEASANT-HEN, _with pitying indulgence._] He goes on like
this: Tio! Tio! And I believe I need not scruple to accept--
A VOICE
[_In the tree above him breaks forth in a long note, limpid, and
heart-moving._] Tio! [_Silence._]
CHANTECLER
[_Startled, raising his head._] What was that?
THE BIG TOAD
[_Quickly, visibly embarrassed._] Nothing! It is he!
THE VOICE
[_Slowly and wonderfully, with the sigh of a soul in every note._] Tio!
Tio! Tio! Tio!
CHANTECLER
[_Turning upon the_ TOADS.] Scum of the earth!
THE TOADS
[_Backing away from him._] What--?
SCENE SIXTH
THE SAME, _the_ NIGHTINGALE _unseen, and little by little all the_
FOREST CREATURES.
THE NIGHTINGALE
[_From the tree, in his emotionally throbbing voice._] Tiny bird, lost
in the darkness of the tree, I feel myself turning into the heart-beat
of the infinite night!
CHANTECLER
[_To the_ TOADS.] And you have dared--
THE NIGHTINGALE
Hushed lies the ravine beneath the magic of the moon--
CHANTECLER
--to compare my rude singing with that divine voice? Scum of the earth!
Toads! And I never divined that they were doing to him here what was
done to me over yonder!
THE BIG TOAD
[_Suddenly swelling to a great size._] Toads! Yes, as it happens, we are
Toads!
THE NIGHTINGALE
Vapour of pearl wreathes the summits in an ethereal veil--
THE BIG TOAD
[_Self-appreciatively.
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