The Sonorous Island

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SCENE II.

DURBIN, ZERBIN.

Ah! Lord Chevalier! I have learned more than I can say: one could tell me all the wonders one wishes now, both of the Island of the Maragons and the Laestrygonians, and of the Patagonians, I will believe everything, I will believe everything. It is not only the King & his entire court that sings here, it is the entire body of the people; everything sings, everything hums, trills, cadences; ports of voice a vocal technique of sliding between notes, rhythmic hammering: an entire city, imagine an entire city, it makes such a great noise that many people would find it admirable.

And our ship?

Your ship? Ah! by golly your ship, it is at anchor; they have had the whole crew come down, Captain, Officers, Sailors; but as they could only express themselves in prose, they were immediately put in a prison far outside the city, as dangerous people, corruptors, innovators, & bad-sounding ones.

Is what you are telling me really true?

How so, Lord, would I dare to lie? And did I not want to hazard a few words of prose? They threatened me with twenty strokes of the stick on the soles of my feet: they say that teaches one to keep time; so I expressed myself in Vaudevilles popular songs with recurring melodies, which I twist as best I can to give them a local air.