and that from gazing at a morning-glory I fell into the startled
admiration which has made my eye so round!

THE PHEASANT-HEN
[_Thoughtfully._] One feels that you have a soul.--A soul then may find
wherewithal to grow, so far from life and its drama, shut in by a
farmyard wall with a cat asleep on it?

CHANTECLER
With power to see, capacity to suffer, one may come Ito understand all
things. In an insect's death are hinted all disasters. Through a
knot-hole can be seen the sky and marching stars!

THE OLD HEN
[_Appearing._] None knows the heavens like the water in the well!

CHANTECLER
[_Presenting her to the _PHEASANT-HEN_ before the basket-lid drops._] My
foster-mother!

THE PHEASANT-HEN
[_Politely approaching._] Delighted!

THE OLD HEN
[_Slyly winking at her._] He's a fine Cock!

THE PHEASANT-HEN
He is a Cock, moreover, for whom that fact is not the only thing in the
world!