sing strange;
Last week I was a child, but now I am not.
And I begin my womanhood with weeping;
I know not why.--La, what a fool I am!
'Tis over. Sing, Fidelio.

FID. Would you a gay song, My Princess?

BEA. Ay.--And yet--nay, not so gay.
A simple song, such as a country-boy
Might sing his country-sweetheart.--Is it the moon
Hath struck me, do you think? I swear by the moon
I am most melancholy soft, and most
Outrageous sentimental! Sing, dear fool.

FID. [Singing.]
"Butterflies are white and blue
In this field we wander through.
Suffer me to take your hand.
Death comes in a day or two.
All the things we ever knew
Will be ashes in that hour.
Mark the transient butterfly,
How he hangs upon the flower.
Suffer me to take your hand.
Suffer me to cherish you
Till the dawn is in the sky.
Whether I be false or true,
Death comes in a day or two."

CURTAIN

ACT III

Scene 1--The following summer,

[A field or meadow near Fiori. As the curtain rises voices are heard
off-stage singing a bridal song.]

SONG: Strew we flowers on their pathway!
Bride and bride-groom, go you sweetly.
There are roses on your pathway.
Bride and bride-groom, go you sweetly.
Sweetly live together.

[Enter Viola, Lilina, Lela, Arianna and Claudia, laden with
garlands, flowering boughs and baskets of flowers. They met
Anselmo coming from another direction, also bearing flowers.]

VIO. How beautiful, Anselmo! Where did you find them?

ANS. Close by the brook.

LIL. You gathered all there were?

ANS. Not by one hundredth part.

LEL. Nay, is it true?
We must have more of them!

ARI. And are they fragrant
As well?

ANS. Ay, by my heart, they are so sweet
I near to fainted climbing the bank with them.

[The ladies cluster about Anselmo and smell the flowers.]

LIL. Oh!

VIO. Ah!

CLA. How drowsily sweet!

LEL. Oh, sweet!

ARI. What fragrance!

[Enter Laura and Giovanna, followed by Carlotta and Raffaele.]

LAU. La, by my lung! I am as out of breath
As a babe new-born! Whew! Let me catch the air!

[She drops her flowers and seats herself beside them.]

CAR. [to the younger ladies and Anselmo, by way of greeting.]
How hot the sun is getting.

ANS. 'Tis nigh noon, I think.

GIO. 'Tis noon.

CLA. We must be starting back.

LAU. Not till I get my bre