STREPH.Mighty protectress, hasten to my aid!
(Enter Fairies, tripping, headed by Celia, Leila, and Fleta, and followed by Queen.)CHORUSTripping hither, tripping thither.
OF Nobody knows why or whither;
FAIRIES Why you want us we don't know, But you've summoned us, and so Enter all the little fairies To their usual tripping measure!
To oblige you all our care is--
Tell us, pray, what is your pleasure!
STREPH.The lady of my love has caught me talking to another--PEERS.Oh, fie! young Strephon is a rogue!
STREPH.I tell her very plainly that the lady is my mother--PEERS.Taradiddle, taradiddle, tol lol lay!
STREPH.She won't believe my statement, and declares we must be parted, Because on a career of double-dealing I have started, Then gives her hand to one of these, and leaves me broken-hearted--PEERS.Taradiddle, taradiddle, tol lol lay!
QUEEN.Ah, cruel ones, to separate two lovers from each other!
FAIRIES.Oh, fie! our Strephon's not a rogue!
QUEEN.You've done him an injustice, for the lady is his mother!
FAIRIES.Taradiddle, taradiddle, tol lol lay!
LORD CH.That fable perhaps may serve his turn as well as any other.
(Aside.) I didn't see her face, but if they fondled one another, And she's but seventeen--I don't believe it was his mother!
Taradiddle, taradiddle.
ALL.Tol lol lay!
LORD TOLL.I have often had a use For a thorough-bred excuse Of a sudden (which is English for "repente"), But of all I ever heard This is much the most absurd, For she's seventeen, and he is five-and-twenty!
ALL.Though she is seventeen, and he is four or five-and-twenty!
Oh, fie! our Strephon is a rogue!
LORD MOUNT.Now, listen, pray to me, For this paradox will be Carried, nobody at all contradicente.
Her age, upon the date Of his birth, was minus eight, If she's seventeen, and he is five-and-twenty!
PEERS and FAIRIES.If she is seventeen, and he is only five-and-twenty.
ALL.To say she is his mother is an utter bit of folly!
Oh, fie! our Strephon is a rogue!
Perhaps his brain is addled, and it's very melancholy!
Taradiddle, taradiddle, tol lol lay!
I wouldn't say a word that could be reckoned as injurious, But to find a mother younger than her son is very curious, And that's a kind of mother that is usually spurious.
Taradiddle, taradiddle, tol lol lay!
LORD CH.Go away, madam;
I should say, madam, You display, madam, Shocking taste.
It is rude, madam, To intrude, madam, With your brood, madam, Brazen-faced!
You come here, madam, Interfere, madam, With a peer, madam.
(I am one.)
You're aware, madam, What you dare, madam, So take care, madam, And begone!
ENSEMBLE
FAIRIES (to QUEEN).PEERSLet us stay, madam;Go away, madam;I should say, madam, I should say, madam, They display, madam, You display, madam, Shocking taste.Shocking taste.
It is rude, madam, It is rude, madam, To allude, madam, To intrude, madam, To your brood, madam, With your brood, madam, Brazen-faced! Brazen-faced!
We don't fear, madam, You come here, madam, Any peer, madam, Interfere, madam, Though, my dear madam, With a peer, madam, This is one.(I am one.)They will stare, madam,You're aware, madam, When aware, madam, What you dare, madam, What they dare, madam--So take care, madam, What they've done! And begone!
QUEEN.Bearded by these puny mortals!
(furious).I will launch from fairy portals All the most terrific thunders In my armoury of wonders!
PHYL.(aside).Should they launch terrific wonders, All would then repent their blunders.
Surely these must be immortals.
(Exit Phyllis.)
QUEEN.Oh! Chancellor unwary It's highly necessary Your tongue to teach Respectful speech--Your attitude to vary!
Your badinage so airy, Your manner arbitrary, Are out of place When face to face With an influential Fairy.
ALL THE PEERS We never knew (aside).We were talking to An influential Fairy!
LORD CH.A plague on this vagary, I'm in a nice quandary!
Of hasty tone With dames unknown I ought to be more chary;It seems that she's a fairy From Andersen's library, And I took her for The proprietor Of a Ladies' Seminary!
PEERS.We took her for The proprietor Of a Ladies' Seminary!
QUEEN.When next your Houses do assemble, You may tremble!
CELIA.Our wrath, when gentlemen offend us, Is tremendous!
LEILA.They meet, who underrate our calling, Doom appalling!
QUEEN.Take down our sentence as we speak it, And he shall wreak it!
(Indicating Strephon.)
PEERS.Oh, spare us!
QUEEN.Henceforth, Strephon, cast away Crooks and pipes and ribbons so gay--Flocks and herds that bleat and low;Into Parliament you shall go!
ALL.Into Parliament he shall go!
Backed by our supreme authority, He'll command a large majority!
Into Parliament he shall go!
QUEEN.In the Parliamentary hive, Liberal or Conservative--Whig or Tory--I don't know--But into Parliament you shall go!
ALL.Into Parliament, etc.
QUEEN (speaking through music).
Every bill and every measure That may gratify his pleasure, Though your fury it arouses, Shall be passed by both your Houses!
PEERS.Oh!
QUEEN.You shall sit, if he sees reason, Through the grouse and salmon season;PEERS.No!
QUEEN.He shall end the cherished rights You enjoy on Friday nights:
PEERS.No!
QUEEN.He shall prick that annual blister, Marriage with deceased wife's sister:
PEERS.Mercy!
QUEEN.Titles shall ennoble, then, All the Common Councilmen:
PEERS.Spare us!
QUEEN.Peers shall teem in Christendom, And a Duke's exalted station Be attainable by Com-Petitive Examination!
PEERS.FAIRIES and PHYLLIS.
Oh, horror! Their horror They can't dissemble Nor hide the fear that makes them tremble!
ENSEMBLE.
PEERSFAIRIES, PHYLLIS, and STREPHON.
Young Strephon is the kind of lout With Strephon for your foe, no doubt, We do not care a fig about!A fearful prospect opens out, We cannot say And who shall say What evils mayWhat evils may Result in consequence.Result in consequence?