658
MADAME BUTTERFLY
Nakodo. (Salaaming.) Nizer as you.
Madame Butterfly. (Salaaming.) Nizer as me.
Sharpless. (Looking from one to the other.) Couldn't be nicer! . . .
(He salaams profoundly—then all salaam.)
Madame Butterfly. Then Nakodo say—
Nakodo. I say—I don' lig him account he 'Merica—jin.
Madame Butterfly. He also remark with me that he is barbarian an' beas'. But aeveryone say: "Yaes, take him—take him beas'—he's got moaneys." So I say for jus' liddle while, perhaps I can stan'. So Nakodo bring him. . . .
Nakodo. . . . For look-at meeting.
Madame Butterfly. (Laughing.) Me? Well, I thing that day Lef-ten-ant B. F. Pik-ker-ton is jus' a god! Gold button—lace on his unicorn. At firs', I frightened—he hoi' my hans' so close—like—(she illustrates by giving both hands to Sharpless) and kizz. Japanese girl no lig' kizz; but when Lef-ten- ant B. F. Pik-ker-ton kizz me, I like ver' much. . . . What's use lie? It's not inside of me. (Noticing that her hands are still in Sharpless'.) O, I beg your honorable pardon. (She tucks her hands in her sleeves.) So we's gettin' marry and then his ship order away an' me—I am jus' waitin'—sometimes cryin', sometimes watchin', but always waitin'.
Nakodo. (In the doorway—bowing with servility.) My client, the prosperous Yamadori, approaches for the third time today.
Madame Butterfly. Now I have my liddle joke again. You watch, he comes all time to make smash with me.
Sharpless. Pinkerton's slang.
(Yamadori enters attended by two servants. Sharpless rises and bows ceremoniously. Madame Butterfly does not rise, but bends her head and fans herself coquettishly. The two servants squat.)
Yamadori. Mr. Shaipless: always a pleasure to meet you here or in New York.
Sharpless. Thanks, Mr. Yamadori.
Madame Butterfly. (Coquettishly.) You have somethin' nize say to me again today?
Yamadori. Perseverance shall be the religion of my life until the capricious Butterfly deigns to believe me.
Madame Butterfly. You goin' tell me 'gain you kill yourself I don' make kizz with you?
Yamadori. (Very much embarrassed—looking at consul.) O!
Madame Butterfly. You can speak—consul know—I been tellin' him 'bout your liddle foolishness.
Yamadori. Such treatment, Mr. Sharpless, is one of the penalties we incur when madly in love with a charming woman.
Madame Butterfly. Tha's ver' nize. Haha!
(Winks behind her fan at Sharpless.)
Sharpless. Heavens! Pinkerton's very wink.
(Madame Butterfly gives a cup of tea to Yamadori who drinks it and rolls a cigarette.)
Yamadori. (To Sharpless.) I am in Japan for two months—a pleasure trip. Do you blame me?
(Pointing to Madame Butterfly.)
Madame Butterfly. Aevery time he come home, get 'nother woman: must have mor'en eight now.
Yamadori. But I married them all. . . .
Madame Butterfly. O he! He jus' marry whenaever he thing 'bout it.
Yamadori. You shall be different. I will bury you with my ancestors. (To Sharpless.) I offered her a thousand servants.
Nakodo. (Stunned.) Thousan'!
Madame Butterfly. Ha! (Fans.)
Yamadori. And a palace to live in.
(The Nakodo is overcome by such generosity.)
Madame Butterfly. He!
Yamadori. Everything her heart can wish.
Madame Butterfly. Ha! Ha!
Yamadori. Is that not enough? (She shakes her head.) Then in the presence of this statesman of integrity, I will give you a solemn writing. (Sharpless gives him a quizzical glance.) Is that enough?
Madame Butterfly. Wha's good of that to married womans?
(Pointing to herself.)
Yamadori. According to the laws of Japan, when a woman is deserted, she is divorced. (Madame Butterfly stops fanning and listens.) Though I have travelled much abroad, I know the laws of my own country.
Madame Butterfly. An' I know laws of my husban's country.
