University of Virginia Library

Scene Fourth.

—A deeper part of the Wood.
Enter Prince Felix, meeting the Ambassador.
Amb.
Prince Felix!

Prince.
Ha! that voice! that face! Count Klever!

Amb.
The same, my lord, and your poor servant ever.

Prince.
What wind has blown you into this strange wood?

Amb.
Alas! an ill wind, sir, that blows no good.

Prince.
I would not hear your enemy say so,
For better friend than you it could not blow.

Amb.
It took me up and whirl'd me heav'n knows whither!

Prince.
Just such a wind it was that blew me hither,
And having lost entirely my track,
I'm through this forest hunting my way back.
But where's my bride? by the same favouring gale,
Did she come too?

Amb.
What tongue shall tell her tale?

Prince.
Dead!

Amb.
Worse!

Prince.
False!

Amb.
Worser! if the dreadful rumour
Be true, her Highness has become—

Prince.
A Bloomer!

Amb.
No, but as much unlike to womankind,
Whate'er she was afore, she's now a hind!

Prince.
A hind!—a female of the genus Cervus!

Amb.
White as the driven snow!

Prince.
Your words unnerve us!
F. stands for Felix! then it was no fib!
I've sent an arrow clean through my own rib!

Amb.
Shot the Princess!

Prince.
Too sure I am I hit her!

Amb.
Ah, see, they bring her wounded on a litter.

Music—Hunters enter, bearing the White Fawn on a litter, made of branches of trees; an arrow is through its ear and fore foot.
Prince.
(rushing to the Fawn)
Oh! pardon me, thou bleeding lump of doe!
That you were some one else, how could I know?

Enter Floretta.
Flor.
Yes, you're a nice young man, see what you've done!
You a crack shot, why you're not half an one.
You said you'd pin her ear but to a tree,
You've pinned it to her foot, you monster, see!

Prince.
That was no fault of mine, indeed! 'tis clear
She must have raised her foot to scratch her ear.

Amb.
I cannot draw the arrow from the wound!

Flor.
With loss of blood already she has swoon'd!

Amb.
Have you some salts?

Flor.
No, but in such a quarter
There can't be lack of hartshorn or of water!

Prince.
She's better! see, she opes her fawn-like eyes!
I trust 'tis not a case of “Doe demise!”

Flor.
Oh, yes! I never nursed a young gazelle,
But just as it began to know me well,
And love me, it was sure to—

Amb.
Pray no more—
We really have heard that so oft before.

Flor.
The envoy! no one else would have the face.
My grief was blind—I did not see your grace;
What can you now say to excuse your master?
This wound cannot be healed by your Court plaster.

Music—Enter Grand Duke and Suite.
Duke.
Where is the fellow who has shot a deer,
Despite our proclamation?

Flor.
Sir, he's here!

Duke.
Have you a license taken out, or no?

Prince.
I have no license.

Duke.
Seize him!—take his bow!
I'll teach his young idea how to shoot
In my preserves!

Prince.
Your power I do dispute!
I am a Sovereign Prince as well as you—
Felix of Happy Land!

Duke.
Can this be true?

Flor.
As true, sir, as that here your daughter lies,
By this fool's bolt soon shot!

Prince.
In that disguise,
How could I guess—

Duke.
My daughter!—this—distraction!
Oh! I'll have sanguinary satisfaction!
Prince, or no Prince!

Prince.
But where's the proof 'tis she?

Flor.
The sun is setting and you'll shortly see!

Amb.
If we see shortly, we shall be short sighted!

Prince.
The sun has set, and we're the more benighted.

Music—The stage grows dark, the Fawn disappears, and Desiderata is seen seated on the litter, with an arrow through her wrist and ear.
Flor.
There, there she is! and see, oh, sight of fear!
The fatal arrow through her wrist and ear!

Duke.
Desiderata!

Desi.
Father! I've heard all!
On Felix wherefore should your vengeance fall?
Ladies have had their ears pierced oft before—
His well-aimed arrow would have done no more,
But, by ill-luck, just at the very minute,
I raised my hand—

Flor.
(pathetically)
And so put your foot in it!

Desi.
Forgive him, sir, as I do!

Prince.
Generous fair,
I never shall forgive myself, I swear!

Duke.
And will you still consent to be his wife?

Desi.
Sir, has he not secured my hand for life?

Duke.
Secured it! skewered it, I should say.

Prince.
Sweetheart,
A skilful surgeon will extract the dart.

Flor.
You must make haste, then, for, I grieve to say,
She'll be a fawn again, at break of day;
And though to-night she wants but two feet merely,
On three to-morrow she'll go very queerly.

Duke.
What, change again?

Desi.
Alas, 'tis but too true.
Enter Carabossa and Nigretta.
Therefore, sweet Prince, I am no wife for you,
One so much given to change must never marry.

(music—Carabossa and Nigretta come forward)
Cara.
Certainly not!

Duke.
The Crab, and with old Harry!

Cara.
Here is a bride will suit Prince Felix better.
She'll never change!

Flor.
(aside)
Colour I grant.

Prince.
Nigretta!

Nig.
Yes, faithless Prince, whose hand you sued for.

Prince.
Never,
As I'm a gentleman! Bear witness, Klever,
Was't not my father's act, unknown to me?

Amb.
It was, and to object he left you free.

Duke.
And you objected?

Prince.
Certainly.

Nig.
And still
Object?

Prince.
Decidedly, and ever will.

Amb.
(to Floretta)
Though he can't wash her white, he might soft soap her.

Flor.
(to Ambassador)
He's sadly wounded her black-amoor propre

Cara.
Beware! her rival's fate is in my hands,
Consent, or I destroy her where she stands!

Prince.
Mercy! spare her and take my wretched life!

Cara.
Felix! accept Nigretta for your wife,
And I Desiderata's friend will be.

Prince.
You will, then—

Desi.
Hold! no sacrifice for me,
Whatever fears may shake my woman's frame,
I've been a deer, and trust me, I'll die game!

Duke.
Heroic girl! she cannot be my daughter!

Prince.
We'll die together, then!

Amb.
Is there no quarter
From whence some power may to their rescue spring?

Flor.
Ha! how could I forget! The ring! the ring!

(music—Rubs the ring on her finger rapidly)
Enter Fairy Pine-Apple and advances between the lovers and Carabossa.
Fairy Pine-Apple waves her wand, and the scene changes to