Act II - Scene VII

The bold Cadets of Gascony,
Of Carbon de Castel-Jaloux!
Brawling and swaggering boastfully,
The bold Cadets of Gascony!
Bragging of arms and heraldry,
Their veins brimming with blood so blue,
The bold Cadets of Gascony,
Of Carbon de Castel-Jaloux.
Eagle-eyed, and graceful as cats,
Fierce mustache and wolf-like grin,
They slash those before them as though they were gnats.
Eagle-eyed, and graceful as cats,
Haphazardly sporting their torn and worn hats,
With feathers to cover the holes there within,
Eagle-eyed and graceful as cats,
Fierce mustache and wolf-like grin.
Stab-Your-Belly and Slit-Your-Trunk
Are the gentlest nicknames they bear.
With fame and glory their soul is drunk!
Stab-Your-Belly and Slit-Your-Trunk,
In brawl and battle they show their spunk,
Doing things others would never dare,
Stab-Your-Belly and Slit-Your-Trunk
Are the gentlest nicknames they bear!
Behold the Cadets of Gascony!
All jealous lovers are sport for you!
Fair ladies will lose their purity!
Behold the Cadets of Gascony!
The ones all husbands fear to see,
For their wives the Cadets will woo!
Behold the Cadets of Gascony!
Husbands and lovers are game for you!

CYRANO, RAGUENEAU, the POETS, CARRBON DE CASTEL-JALOUX, the CADETS, a CROWD, then DE GUICHE.

[RAGUENEAU signals to his friends and they all come in. At the same time, by a door at the back, CARBON DE CASTEL-JALOUX enters, in Captain's uniform. He makes gestures of surprise upon seeing CYRANO.]

[There is a tumult outside. The noise of boots and swords is heard.]

[The cadets enter, shouting exclamations in the Gascon dialect.]

[Outside the street has filled with people. Carriages are stopping.]

[A CROWD rushes into the shop, pushing one another and cheering.]

[There is a movement in the CROWD. DE GUICHE appears, escorted by OFFICERS, including CUIGY, BRISSAILLE, and the officers who went with CYRANO the night before. CUIGY comes rapidly up to CYRANO.]

[A tense silence ensues.]

[DE GUICHE goes out and gets into his chair. The other LORDS go away whispering together. LE BRET goes to the door with them. The CROWD leaves.]

RAGUENEAU:
Can we come in?
CYRANO:
[motionless] Yes.
CARBON:
Here he is!
CYRANO:
[raising his head] Captain!
CARBON:
[delightedly] Our hero! We heard all about it! Thirty or more of my cadets are here!
CYRANO:
[shrinking back] But…
CARBON:
[trying to draw him away] Come with me! They will not rest until they see you!
CYRANO:
No!
CARBON:
They're just across the street, drinking at The Bear's Head.
CYRANO:
I—
CARBON:
[going to the door and calling across the street in a loud, booming voice] He won't come! The hero's in a bad mood!
A VOICE:
[outside] Sandious!
CARBON:
[rubbing his hands] They're running across the street!
RAGUENEAU:
[drawing back, startled] Gentlemen, are you all from Gascony?
THE CADETS:
Yes, all of us!
A CADET:
[to CYRANO] Bravo!
CYRANO:
[nodding] Baron!
ANOTHER:
[shaking his hands] Hurrah!
CYRANO:
Baron!
THIRD CADET:
Come! I must embrace you!
CYRANO:
Baron!
SEVERAL CADETS:
We'll all embrace him! All in turn!
CYRANO:
[not knowing whom to reply to] Baron—Baron—I beg you—
RAGUENEAU:
Are you all Barons, Sirs?
CADETS:
All of us!
RAGUENEAU:
Is it true?
FIRST CADET:
You could build a tower with nothing but our coronets!
LE BRET:
[entering, and running up to CYRANO] Everyone wants to see you! There's a wild mob led by the men who followed you last night!
CYRANO:
[alarmed] You haven't told them where to find me, have you?
LE BRET:
[rubbing his hands] Yes!
A BURGHER:
[entering, followed by a group of men] Sir, everyone in the Marais is coming here!
LE BRET:
[in a low voice, smiling, to CYRANO] What happened with Roxane?
CYRANO:
[quickly] Hush!
CROWD:
[calling from outside] Cyrano!
RAGUENEAU:
[standing on a table] My shop is being invaded! They're breaking everything! How magnificent!
CROWD:
[gathering around CYRANO] My friend! My friend!
CYRANO:
It seems that just yesterday I didn't have this many friends!
LE BRET:
[delighted] Success!
A YOUNG MARQUIS:
[hurrying up with his hands held out] My friend, if you only knew—
CYRANO:
Friend? How can you be my friend if I've never even seen you before?
ANOTHER:
Sir, please let me present to you some fair ladies who are waiting in my carriage.
CYRANO:
[coldly] Oh? And who will introduce me to you?
LE BRET:
[astonished] What's wrong with you?
CYRANO:
Hush!
A MAN OF LETTERS:
[with a writing-board] Sir, may I have a few details?
CYRANO:
No.
LE BRET:
[nudging his elbow] That's Théophraste Renaudot, editor of the “Gazette!”
CYRANO:
Who cares?
LE BRET:
But his paper is of great importance! They say it will be an immense success!
A POET:
[advancing] Sir—
CYRANO:
Another one!
POET:
Please permit me to make a pentacrostic out of your name.
A MAN:
[also advancing] Please, Sir—
CYRANO:
Enough! Enough!
CUIGY:
[to CYRANO] I present Monsieur de Guiche. [The CROWD murmurs and everyone gets out of the way.] He comes with a message from the Marshal of Gassion!
DE GUICHE:
[bowing to CYRANO] The Marshal expresses his admiration, Sir, for your exploit that everyone is talking about.
CROWD:
Bravo!
CYRANO:
[bowing] The Marshal is a judge of valor.
DE GUICHE:
He could not have believed it, unless these gentlemen had sworn they witnessed it.
CUIGY:
With our own eyes!
LE BRET:
[aside to CYRANO, who appears distracted] Aren't you going to say something?
CYRANO:
Hush!
LE BRET:
What is it? You seem to be suffering.
CYRANO:
[starting] Suffering? In front of this mob? [He draws himself up, twirls his mustache, and throws back his shoulders.] Wait! You shall see!
DE GUICHE:
[to whom CUIGY has spoken in a low voice] Your career is already filled with great exploits. And you also serve with those crazy Gascons?
CYRANO:
Yes, I'm with the Cadets.
A CADET:
[in a fierce tone] He's one of us!
DE GUICHE:
[looking at the CADETS, who all stand behind CYRANO] Ah! These proud and haughty gentlemen must be the famous warriors!
CARBON:
Cyrano!
CYRANO:
Yes, captain!
CARBON:
Since all my company is assembled here, please favor me and present them to the Count.
CYRANO:
[making two steps toward DE GUICHE and pointing to the CADETS] My Lord de Guiche, permit me to present my fellow cadets:
DE GUICHE:
[looking snobby and seated casually in an armchair brought quickly by RAGUENEAU] A poet! It's the latest fashion! Would you like to be my personal poet?
CYRANO:
No, Sir! I'm no man's poet!
DE GUICHE:
Your exploits last night pleased my uncle, Cardinal Richelieu. I'll gladly say a word to him for you.
LE BRET:
[overjoyed] My God!
DE GUICHE:
I believe you have written a play?
LE BRET:
[in CYRANO'S ear] Your play! Agrippine shall be performed at last!
DE GUICHE:
Take it to him.
CYRANO:
[beginning to be tempted and attracted] Well, I…
DE GUICHE:
He is a skilled critic. He may correct a line or two, at most.
CYRANO:
[whose face stiffens at once] Impossible! My blood freezes just to imagine that even one comma should be changed!
DE GUICHE:
But when he likes a piece of writing, he pays extremely well for it, good friend.
CYRANO:
He cannot pay as well as I do. For when a verse I've written pleases me, I pay the writer the highest reward by singing it to myself!
DE GUICHE:
You are proud.
CYRANO:
Really? Have you noticed that?
A CADET:
[entering, with a string of old battered plumed beaver hats, full of holes, slung on his word] Look, Cyrano! See the brightly-feathered game we found this morning out in the street!
CARBON:
The spoils of war!
ALL:
[laughing] Ha, ha, ha!
CUIGY:
Whoever hired those cowards must be cursing and swearing today!
BRISSAILLE:
Who was it?
DE GUICHE:
It was me. [The laughter stops.] The job was too dirty for my sword, so I hired them to punish that drunken sot of a poet.
CADET:
in a low voice, to CYRANO, showing him the hats] What should we do with them? They're all greasy. Maybe we should make a stew!
CYRANO:
[taking the sword and, with a salute, dropping the hats at DE GUICHE'S feet] Please, Sir, be good enough to return them to your friends.
DE GUICHE:
[rising, and speaking sharply] Bring me my chair at once! I'm leaving! [to CYRANO, angrily] As to you, Sir!
VOICE:
[in the street] Porters! Bring Count de Guiche's chair!
DE GUICHE:
[who has regained control of himself, smiling] Have you read Don Quixote?
CYRANO:
I have! And I take off my hat to that mad knight!
DE GUICHE:
I advise you study—
PORTER:
[appearing at the back] My lord's chair!
DE GUICHE:
—the windmill chapter!
CYRANO:
[bowing] Chapter thirteen.
DE GUICHE:
For when one attacks windmills, it may happen that—
CYRANO:
Are you saying that I attack those who change with every change of the breeze?
DE GUICHE:
—that the arms of windmills may catch you and sweep you down into the mud!
CYRANO:
Or upward to the stars!

Footnotes

  1. In another allusion to Don Quixote, de Guiche touches on the romantic notion of the story—how Quixote was willing to die and fight for a cause many found foolish.

    — Lori Steinbach
  2. Le Marais is a historic neighborhood in the 3rd and 4th arrondissements in Paris. It is still considered one of the most aristocratic areas in Paris today.

    — Owl Eyes Reader
  3. French physician and journalist Théophraste Renaudot (1586–1653) founded La Gazette, the first French newspaper, in 1631.

    — Owl Eyes Reader
  4. The word "pentacrostic" refers to a set of five lines of poetry in which a name or word occurs five times throughout.

    — Owl Eyes Reader
  5. In 1654, Cyrano de Bergerac wrote the play La Mort d'Agrippine.

    — Owl Eyes Reader
  6. In 1695, Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) wrote Don Quixote. Here, de Guiche refers to the moment in the novel where the hero, Don Quixote, fights windmills because he believes they are giants.

    — Owl Eyes Reader