_] We are Toads, certainly, magnificently embossed
with warts! [_All rear themselves up, swollen, standing between_
CHANTECLER _and the tree._]
CHANTECLER
And I perceived not, I who have never known envy, to what venomous feast
I was bidden!
THE NIGHTINGALE
What matter? Sooner or later, you, the strong, and I, the tender, we
were fated, despite all the Toads in the world, to understand
each other!
CHANTECLER
[_With religious fervour._] Sing!
A TOAD
[_Who has hastily dragged himself to the tree in which the_ NIGHTINGALE
_is singing._] Let us clasp the bark with our slimy little arms, and
slaver upon the foot of the tree! [_All crawl toward the tree._]
CHANTECLER
[_Trying to stop one of them who is clumsily hopping._] But are you not
yourself gifted with a singing voice of exceptional purity?
THE TOAD
[_In a tone of sincerest suffering._] I am, but when I hear somebody
else singing, I can't help it,--I see green! [_He joins his
companions._]
THE BIG TOAD
[_Working his jaws as if chewing something which foamed._] There foam up
beneath our tongues I know not what strange soapsuds, and--[_To his
neighbour._] Are you frothing?
THE OTHER
I am frothing.
ANOTHER
He is frothing.
ALL
We are frothing.
A TOAD
[_Tenderly laying his arm about the neck of a dilatory_ TOAD.] Come and
froth!
CHANTECLER
[_To the_ NIGHTINGALE.] But will they not trouble and prevent your
mellifluent song?
THE NIGHTINGALE
In no wise.
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