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    Pygmalion
    Pygmalion
    Pygmalion
    Ebook136 pages2 hours

    Pygmalion

    By George Bernard Shaw

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    „Englezii nu au nici un respect față de limba lor și nu sunt interesați să-și învețe copiii s-o vorbească. Ortografia lor este atât de oribilă, încât nici nu om nu poate învăța să pronunțe după ea.“ – G. Bernard Shaw

    „Pentru opera sa care este marcată de idealism și umanitate, pentru satira sa stimulatoare, plină de multe ori de o singulară frumusețe poetică.“ – Comitetul Nobel

    „Cei mai mulți oameni spun că îi dau dreptate lui Bernard Shaw sau că nu-l înțeleg. Eu sunt singurul care-l înțelege și nu-i dau dreptate. – C.K. Chesterton

    „Cu privirea sa pătrunzătoare, dramaturgul vede că, de cele mai multe ori, o serie de achiziții superficiale – îmbrăcămintea, limbajul, purtările, stilul de viață – sunt cele care acordă de fapt individului statutul social considerat cu mândrie un drept al posesorului: și își râde de asta, ca democrat și socialist, cam la fel cum Molière își râde de una sau de alta dintre profesiile liberale.“ – R.E. Burton

    LanguageRomână
    PublisherGrup Editorial Litera
    Release dateNov 19, 2015
    ISBN9786063302923
    Pygmalion
    Author

    George Bernard Shaw

    George Bernard Shaw was born in Dublin in 1856 and moved to London in 1876. He initially wrote novels then went on to achieve fame through his career as a journalist, critic and public speaker. A committed and active socialist, he was one of the leaders of the Fabian Society. He was a prolific and much lauded playwright and was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. He died in 1950.

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    Reviews for Pygmalion

    4/5

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    • 4/5
      This is the original play version much better known as the musical My Fair Lady. As such, this lacks the variety of scenes of the latter, with the Ambassador's ball taking place off-stage and no Ascot race day. The hilarious scenes of Eliza's elocution lessons ("the rain in Spain is mainly in the plain" etc. are missing here). Aside from that, the dialogue is nearly identical and sparkles and flows like quicksilver though, as when I saw the musical a few days ago, I was irritated by the way Eliza is treated not only by Higgins, but perhaps even more so by the housekeeper Mrs Pearce, as though she is little more than an object with no feelings. In any case, the play/musical are both well worth reading/watching.
    • 4/5
      I went into this warily because My Fair Lady has been a favorite movie. The preface sets the tone for the sharp commentary on Britain's class system. The play itself will be very familiar to anyone who has seen My Fair Lady. What wasn't familiar was the ending and here's where I found the most delight. My Fair Lady would have been a very different and much more interesting movie had it ended the way Shaw wanted.
    • 4/5
      For those of us who are familiar only with the movie version titled My Fair Lady, the real story of this play might come as something of a surprise. It did to me! I don't want to spoil anything, but it's fascinating to see how the version starring Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn was changed to please its audience in 1964. Apparently the end of the play has been a tug-of-war between George Bernard Shaw and the public (and some critics) since its first performance in 1912. I have to say I'm with the public... sorry, George.This LA Theatre production is a live play that was recorded to create an audio performance. So along with the excitement and energy of a live recording, you also get the flaws: different volume levels as the actors move toward or away from the microphones, audience applause, etc. But, taking it for what it is, I enjoyed it very much. It is brilliantly acted; Shannon Cochran as Eliza is especially good. I also liked the actor who plays Mr. Doolittle, and really everyone performs well. It was fun to imagine the actors on a stage rather than in front of a microphone in a recording studio. The play is very witty and nonsensical, abounding in comic misunderstandings and hilarious reversals of cultural norms. It is, in a word, George Bernard Shaw. And yet for all its fun, it does address serious issues such as women's independence and the strict social class system that based so much of its value judgments on external accoutrements (like a person's accent). Very little is safe from Shaw's satirical eye, but somehow his characters escape being cardboard cutouts displaying particular vices. They're attractive and fun, even the selfish ones. It's the good humor behind everything that does it.Though this is certainly no studio production, it was very enjoyable. I'm not really one for reading plays; they are designed to be experienced as a performance, not a silent reading. If you can't see a play, the next-best thing is to hear it. I recommend it!
    • 5/5
      Although he based the tales in Metamorphoses on existing stories, Ovid presents them with a freshness and originality that made them uniquely his own. His writing is vivid, elegant, and succinct, with the stories including "Pygmalion"generally moving swiftly from beginning to end without tedious digressions or inflated language. Metamorphoses was highly popular with readers of the Augustan age (27 BC to AD 14, when Caesar Augustus ruled the Roman Empire) and became one of the best read books of the Renaissance, influencing Shakespeare and other prominent writers. The themes and motifs are as timely today as they were 2,000 years ago. In ancient Greek mythology, Pygmalion fell in love with one of his sculptures that came to life and was a popular subject for Victorian era English playwrights, including one of Shaw's influences, W. S. Gilbert, who wrote a successful play based on the story in 1871, called Pygmalion and Galatea. Shaw also would have been familiar with the burlesque version, Galatea, or Pygmalion Reversed. It is with this background that George Bernard Shaw took up this myth and made it his own with the first performance occurring in April, 1914. Professor of phonetics Henry Higgins makes a bet that he can train a bedraggled Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, to pass for a duchess at an ambassador's garden party by teaching her to assume a veneer of gentility, the most important element of which, he believes, is impeccable speech. The play is a sharp lampoon of the rigid British class system of the day and a commentary on women's independence.Like all of Shaw's plays the wordplay is a delight rivaling Shakespeare in that realm.
    • 3/5
      I didn't like the attached ending in the book. There was no real need to go into what happens to Eliza after the play ends.
    • 4/5
      A lovely, lovely story well-written, amusing, wonderful characters. A modern classic.
    • 4/5
      Here is the play that "My Fair Lady" was based on. Written by George Bernard Shaw in 1916, this is story of a bet between to bachelor linguists - on if they can make a flower girl sound like Duchess, and pass her off as one at an important party.This book mostly focuses on Professor Henry Higgins. While Liza, the flower girl, is present and finally becomes a much larger character by the end, Mr. Higgins really doesn't get why he is an ass, even his mother thinks so. There are certainly funny bits, especially with Clara spouting very crass slang, thinking its "in style". I especially liked the "sequel", which explains what happens to the main characters- the Bachelor Henry Higgins stays a bachelor in this story, but I found the ending to be very enlightening in what Shaw saw in his characters. This book is rather more satirical and dark than the musical it inspired. Its an easy fun read.
    • 4/5
      I loved this play but I found the ending so very unsatisfying. It is so abrupt and unfinished. It feels like he simply stopped writing in the middle of a thought and just walked away.
    • 5/5
      Man, I loved this play. Reminded me of Oscar Wilde - so much, actually, that I was surprised when I looked Shaw up and he apparently wasn't gay. It's really, really funny. And smart. Awesome shit, man. Awesome shit.
    • 5/5
      This play has been a favourite of mine, and, somehow, I identified with the heroine. Having learnt English as a foreign language was an interesting experience, and, like her, I could not unlearn what I had taken great pains to learn. So when she decided to take action against her tutors, she was on an equal footing, because she had really become a 'lady', but in one of her tutor's eyes, she was still a flower-selling girl. It was wrong of them to think that their teaching would have for sole consequence a change of language and behaviour, as the transformation had gone deeper than that. The musical movie based on it is 'My fair lady', but is more American than English. Nonetheless, to read and see both is quite a good way to see how the play was understood. The play is highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      Well done ensemble recording of this famous play. I particularly appreciated the fact that Shaw's commentary (both before and after the play) and stage directions (for the most part) were included.I was a little surprised by Shaw's exposition explaining that Eliza does NOT end up marrying Higgins but Freddy!!! His description of what results from this marriage is satirical in tone but he is quite definite in this sequel to the events of the play.
    • 4/5
      A geniunely funny and charming play, with a fascinating message about the function of manners with regards to a class-based society. The characters are lovable and entertaining, even if some of them are more human than others. Higgins will always be amusing to watch, no matter how you slice it: he is an immature, overly-cultured little boy whose intellect so eclipses emotion that, to him, intellectual pursuits are passion. Eliza is also fun, after she somehow develops a sharp mind with Higgins' cultivation.However, I had one major criticism that almost ruined the entire play for me. Call me a swooning, hormonal romantic, but I really wanted Eliza and Higgins to get together in the end! I perfectly understand Shaw's explanation at the end about how they could never have married because not only is Higgins not the marrying type due to the admiration he holds for his mother, but because Eliza refuses to submit herself to him, to be the Galatea to his Pygmalion. But still, all that chemistry seems like so much of waste when she goes and marries Freddy, that love-struck milquetoast. I couldn't help but write a mental fanfiction about Eliza's private fantasy about Higgins comes true, in which they are stuck on a remote island together and she seduces him into "making love like any other man." Guess that's just the hopeless romance-whore in me.
    • 5/5
      Utterly fantastic - one of my favourite plays. Though really...Eliza should have married Henry.
    • 3/5
      I wasn't crazy about Pygmalion, but I liked it well enough, so it gets a solid three stars from me. I was expecting the story to be more about the process of Liza's transformation from flower girl to lady, but in actually it focused on the way she was treated by others.

      That being said, I think it's fascinating to look at how Liza views herself and her worth, and that she's so conscious of the importance of how others view her. She flat-out says as much to Pickering towards the end of the play. So often women are portrayed as self-deprecating and humble to the point of shaming themselves, but not so with Liza. From the very beginning she holds herself in high esteem, and gives Higgins the what-for when he doesn't see her as worth much.

      I am bothered by the fact that Higgins never apologizes for the way he objectifies and uses Liza, but I'm bothered even more so by his lack of even really seeing the problem. Liza explains how she feels to Higgins, but he just doesn't get it, saying that he treats everyone the same, so what does it matter? He has a deeply ingrained sense of self-importance and righteousness that got under my skin for the entire story and left me fuming when he never seemed to feel bad about any of it. But, that's life I guess, and it probably would have felt inauthentic if he had changed.

      I would recommend this if you're looking for:
      *a short read
      *something that's referenced a lot
      *a strong female character who steals the spotlight
    • 3/5
      Come on, it is classic ! The story is pretty simple, though truly charming. I wish I was Eliza Doolittle !
    • 2/5
      I'm not sure how I would feel about this book now, but as a high school freshman, this was the last thing I wanted to read.
    • 5/5
      Pygmalion, in my opinion, is Shaw's piece de resistance (if that is how you spell it). It is a masterpiece. While I can simply leave it at that I am compelled to say a lot more about this play, but first, the plot.Two English gentlemen (and when I read this book I wondered if it was implied that they were homosexual) bet as to whether they can take a street urchin and turn her into a lady by teaching her how to speak proper English. They do and the experiment is successful, and the bet is won. However the problem is that the woman, Eliza, is left in a difficult position as despite the fact that she is now educated, she is still a woman and has all the rights of a woman - which is none. So, while Henry Higgins has proven that he can turn a street urchin into a lady, she is still a woman and is left in the situation that she cannot do anything with the education that she now has.This play is an attack upon education and upon the status of women in early 20th Century England. They simply had no rights and while they could learn and they could appear to move among the gentry, the fact that they were women relegated them to a second class status. It is said that the system of education was one of the areas that Shaw attacked in his plays, and in this play we see how despite Liza having an education, she knows that she can do nothing with it, and is not recognised as having an education.This play has spawned a lot of duplicates, one of them being a play by Willy Russell called Educating Rita. I read that book in year 11 when I returned to high school and my English teacher loved it because he believed that it showed us how an education can change us. After reading Pygmalion I believed that that play was left for dead (and still do). However there are differences, namely that the status of women in the mid-twentieth century had changed dramatically. However, the theme is still the same, in that a woman from the working class, through education, was able to lift herself out of the working class.Another spawn would be an Eddie Murphy movie called Trading Places. Here two incredibly wealthy men make a bet that they could turn a bum into a successful Wall Street Trader, and turn the successful Wall Street Trader into a common criminal. Like Henry Higgins in Pygmalion, they succeed, but further, they have no understanding of the power of education, because after turning the bum into a successful trader, they realise that they cannot simply send him back to the streets. He has become educated, and in becoming educated he has the power to fight back, which he does so successfully.It is a shame that Shaw has disappeared into relative obscurity. I do not see any of his plays being performed (though being stuck in the little backwater that is Adelaide means that we see very little in the way of good theatre, or more correctly, what I consider good theatre). Still, beggars can't be choosers, but the educated have the world at their doorstep.
    • 4/5
      This is the delightful play that My Fair Lady was based upon. The characters jump off the page, the action is swift, and the story irresitable. The ending is very strange, since it is all told in narrative, unlike the rest of the story which is a script.
    • 4/5
      Amusing play with some funny dialogue and enjoyable characters, but what really elevates it is the portions that Shaw wrote out demonstrating that he knew what the expectations of the audience were and how foolish such genre cliches often are. Awareness of his material and the average reader's thought process allows Shaw to force you to think more critically about what you've just consumed, which is always a plus in my book.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this particular edition as it includes a "sequel". I have read this before but probably never with so much attention. The "learned Bernard" packs so much in 150 pages it would take one months to study the play thoroughly. Was it about class and gender, ignited by the memory of the changes brought about by the Great War? Or was it something more far-reaching, more contemporary, more futuristic?
    • 3/5
      One of the few plays listed in my catalog. I've never spent much time looking into this side of literature - a shame, considering what's out there. I read - several times - this play simply because I had to, for the engrossing OU course "Introduction to the Humanities." A lot of it has stuck with me, and probably because of the exposure. Nicely done, GBS.
    • 5/5
      "I'm a good girl I am!" Required reading for every "My Fair Lady" fan. I think this is one example of the play/movie doing justice to the author's original work!
    • 3/5
      Pygmalionby George Bernard Shaw 1916Washington Square Press 3.9 / 5When Henry Higgins, a linguist, meets cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle, he makes a bet with his friend Colonel Pickering that he can teach her to speak such perfect English that she could pass as a duchess in polite High Society.He forgets that Eliza is an independent woman, and will not be bought and coddled. Classified under the genre of romance by many, to me, it was also a study of class relations and the perceptions and attitudes towards gender that were prevailing at that time, early 1900's. I really enjoyed the book, but gave it only 3.9 stars. Why? Henry Higgins. The characters are so well developed with a depth and diversity, I felt an instant understanding of them. I just did not like Higgins. At all.This was first a stage play, introduced to the public in 1913, and first printed in 1914. This went on to be the musical 'My Fair Lady' and is an unforgettable book.
    • 4/5
      Thought-provoking play where Higgins as a bet takes on a common flower-seller and trains her to pass as a 'lady'. Interesting 'sequel' where Shaw explains why Higgins and Eliza would never work as a romantic couple, and telling how Eliza lived beyond the play's ending.
    • 4/5
      Other than the amusing OCD-ness of Shaw's (pages of) stage directions, I found this an enjoyable play. Though My Fair Lady did stick very close, almost word for word, to this play, I thought that many of the characters were made more jovial and positive in the film. Higgins particularly is very serious in the play and sticks to his ways; in the film his character becomes softer and less strict.There are also a number of similarities with Shakespeare's 'Taming of the Shrew'; Higgins tames Eliza in a similar fashion. The ending of the play is frustrating. Shaw doesn't round it off in the play scrip, but in an added prose piece at the end.
    • 3/5
      Leuk en vlot, spitse dialogen. Sociaal document: moeilijkheid van klasse te doorbreken. Verwijzingen naar Frankenstein zeer duidelijk
    • 4/5
      I found myself very interested in this play. I knew a lot about it before reading it, but that didn't stop me being interested. It was funny, well written and I enjoyed it a lot.
    • 3/5
      George Bernard Shaw's play that was later adapted into My Fair Lady for stage and film. The plot turns on how the way a person speaks sets their social status; changing their speech allows a person to move in different circles. There is more depth in the social commentary, hinging on whether the changeling will be happy in their new circumstances, but the play is an enjoyable comedy at several levels. Read August 2011.
    • 2/5
      An interesting play, I call it. It is much like the movie /My Fair Lady/. It’s fairly short.
    • 4/5
      I'm a huge fan of My Fair Lady, so this was an interesting experience. The two are very similar, though MFL added and expanded on scenes and left some out. The ending of Pygmalion was far more ambiguous than MFL, however Eliza appears to have become more independent than in the musical. I still prefer MFL, but this was pleasant.

    Book preview

    Pygmalion - George Bernard Shaw

    ACTUL I

    Covent Garden, ora 11,15 seara. Ploaie torențială de vară. Din toate direcțiile se aud fluierături disperate după trăsuri. Pietonii fug ca să se adăpostească în piață și sub porticul bisericii St. Paul, unde s-au și adunat câteva persoane, printre care o doamnă cu fiica sa, în rochii de seară. Toți privesc posomorâți ploaia, în afară de un bărbat care stă cu spatele spre ceilalți, părând cu totul absorbit de ceea ce notează încontinuu într-un carnețel.

    FIICA (în spațiul dintre cele două coloane centrale ale porticului, mai aproape de coloana din stânga): M-a pătruns frigul până la oase. Ce-o fi cu Freddy de întârzie atât? A plecat de douăzeci de minute.

    MAMA (în dreapta fiicei sale): Nu-i chiar atâta. Dar ar fi putut găsi o trăsură până acum.

    UN CETĂȚEAN (în dreapta doamnei): Pân’ la unșpe jumătate nu găsește trăsură, coniță, până nu se-ntorc după ce-și lasă clienții de la teatru.

    MAMA: Dar ne trebuie numaidecât o trăsură. Nu putem aștepta aici până la unsprezece și jumătate. E îngrozitor!

    CETĂȚEANUL: Asta e, coniță, n-am ce-ți face.

    FIICA: Dacă Freddy ar fi un pic mai descurcăreț, ar fi găsit o trăsură la ușa teatrului.

    MAMA: Ce o fi făcând bietul băiat?

    FIICA: Uite, alții au făcut rost de trăsură. El de ce n-a găsit?

    Freddy apare în grabă dinspre strada Southampton, gonit de ploaie, și se bagă între ele închizând o umbrelă care șiroiește de apă. Este un tânăr de vreo douăzeci de ani, în haine de seară, ud până la glezne.

    FIICA: Ei, bine, n-ai găsit nici o trăsură?

    FREDDY: Nu găsești nici dacă plătești.

    MAMA: Hai, Freddy, nu se poate! Nu te-ai străduit.

    FIICA: Asta-i prea de tot! Doar nu vrei să ne ducem noi să căutăm?

    FREDDY: Vă spun că au fost ocupate toate. Ploaia a venit din senin; nimeni nu s-a așteptat și toți au fost nevoiți să ia trăsura. Am fost până la Charing Cross, apoi am luat-o înapoi până aproape de Ludgate Circus; toate erau ocupate.

    MAMA: Ai încercat în Trafalgar Square?

    FREDDY: Nici în Trafalgar Square nu era nici una.

    FIICA: Dar ai fost până acolo?

    FREDDY: Am căutat până la gara Charing Cross. Doar n-ai fi vrut să colind până la Hammersmith?

    FIICA: N-ai făcut nici o ispravă, asta e!

    MAMA: Chiar că ești neajutorat, Freddy! Du-te din nou și să nu te întorci fără trăsură.

    FREDDY: O să mă mureze degeaba.

    FIICA: Noi ce să mai zicem? Vrei să stăm în curentul ăsta toată noaptea, aproape dezbrăcate?

    FREDDY: Bine, foarte bine, mă duc, mă duc. (Își deschide umbrela și se năpustește spre Strand, dar se ciocnește de o florăreasă care se grăbea să se adăpostească și îi răstoarnă coșul din mâini. Un fulger orbitor, urmat aproape simultan de bubuitul tunetului, orchestrează incidentul.)

    FLORĂREASA: Ei, alo, Freddy, holbează și tu felinarele pe unde calci!

    FREDDY: Pardon. (Pleacă în fugă.)

    FLORĂREASA (adunându-și florile și așezându-le din nou în coș): Frumoase manere, ce să zic! Două buchete dă violete tărbăcite în mocirla asta! (Se așază pe soclul coloanei, în dreapta doamnei, și își alege florile. Nu e deloc atrăgătoare. Să tot aibă vreo optsprezece ani, poate douăzeci, mai mult nu. Poartă o pălărioară ca de marinar, neagră, de pai, uzată de praful și de funinginea Londrei, rareori sau niciodată periată. Părul ei ar avea mare nevoie să fie spălat – culoarea spălăcită cu greu poate fi cea naturală. Poartă un palton negru, ponosit, strâns pe talie, care-i ajunge aproape până la genunchi. Are o fustă maronie, cu un șorț dintr-un material ieftin. Ghetele îi sunt scâlciate de atâta purtat. Fără îndoială, florăreasa este cât poate fi ea de curată, însă în comparație cu doamnele e foarte murdară. Trăsăturile ei nu sunt mai urâte decât ale doamnelor, dar starea în care se află lasă de dorit. Fata ar avea nevoie de serviciile unui dentist.)

    MAMA: Și, mă rog, de unde știi că pe fiul meu îl cheamă Freddy?

    FLORĂREASA: Aoleu, al matale e? Iaca de-aia, dacă ai fi știut să-l crești, nu mi-ar fi paradit frumsețe dă flori – vai și-amar dă mine! Și mai și șterge putina fără o lețcaie. Mai bine mi-ai da niște lovele, cocoană, ca să-mi scot și eu paguba! (Aici vă cer scuze pentru încercarea mea neizbutită, la care trebuie să renunț, de a reda, fără un alfabet fonetic, dialectul florăresei, dialect de neînțeles în afara Londrei.)

    FIICA: Nici să nu te gândești la așa ceva, mamă. Ce idee!

    MAMA: Te rog, Clara, scutește-mă! Ai vreun penny?

    FIICA: Nu! N-am nici o monedă mai mică de șase penny!

    FLORĂREASA (cu speranță): Pot să vă dau eu restul, coniță dragă!

    MAMA (către Clara): Dă-mi moneda! (Clara se desparte cu greu de piesa de șase penny.) Bine. (Către florăreasă) Poftim pentru flori!.

    FLORĂREASA: Mersi, coniță.

    FIICA: Cere-i restul! Chestiile astea nu fac decât un penny buchetul.

    MAMA: Tacă-ți gura, Clara! (Către fată) Păstrează restul!

    FLORĂREASA: Oh, mulțam, doamnă!

    MAMA: Acum spune-mi de unde cunoști numele acestui domn.

    FLORĂREASA: Io? Să mor io, na, dacă am habar cine-i ’mnealui.

    MAMA: Te-am auzit strigându-l pe nume. Să nu mă păcălești!

    FLORĂREASA (protestând): D-apăi cine vrea să te ducă? Iaca na, l-am strigat num-așa, într-o doară, Freddy sau Charlie, cum ai fi făcut și matale dacă ai fi strigat un străin și ai fi vrut să-i faci pe plac. (Se așază lângă coșul ei.)

    FIICA: Șase penny aruncați în vânt! Zău, mamă, că puteai să-l scutești pe Freddy de una ca asta. (Se retrage dezgustată în spatele coloanei.)

    Un domn mai în vârstă, tipul militarului simpatic, intră repede la adăpost și strânge umbrela udă. La fel ca Freddy, este și el ud până la glezne. Poartă haine de seară și un pardesiu ușor. Ia locul pe care fata l-a lăsat liber când a plecat.

    DOMNUL: Of, ce ploaie!

    MAMA (către nou-venit): Vai, domnule, nu mai stă ploaia asta odată?

    DOMNUL: Mă tem că nu. De vreo două minute a luat-o și mai tare. (Se îndreaptă către soclu, lângă florăreasă; își pune piciorul pe el și se apleacă să-și lase în jos manșetele suflecate ale pantalonilor.)

    MAMA: Of, Doamne! (Se retrage tristă, alăturându-se fiicei sale.)

    FLORĂREASA (profitând de apropierea domnului cu atitudine de militar, încercând să se împrietenească cu el): Dacă se întețește, e semn că n-o să țină mult. Mai cu vlagă, căpitane, și ia d-acilea o floare de la o fată amărâtă.

    DOMNUL: Îmi pare rău, dar n-am mărunt.

    FLORĂREASA: Las’ că-ți dau eu restu’, căpitane.

    DOMNUL: De la o liră? N-am mai puțin.

    FLORĂREASA: Fugi d-acolo! Hai, cumpără o floare, domnu’ căpitanu’! Ia acilea pă doi penny!

    DOMNUL: Fii fată cuminte și nu mai sâcâi lumea! (Scotocindu-se prin buzunare) Chiar n-am mărunt. Stai așa: uite, trei jumătăți de penny, poftim, dacă asta îți folosește la ceva. (Se retrage către celaltă coloană.)

    FLORĂREASA (dezamăgită, dar gândindu-se că trei jumătăți de penny sunt mai mult decât nimic): Mersi, domnu’.

    CETĂȚEANUL (către fată): Fii pă fază și dă-i o floare! E acilea unu’ care zmângălește orișice blestemat de cuvânt care-l zici. (Toți se întorc spre bărbatul care ia notițe.)

    FLORĂREASA (sărind ca arsă): Păi io n-am zis o vorbă dă ocară la domnu’. Ce, n-am voie să vânz flori, dacă șez la locu’ meu pă trotal? (Înfuriindu-se) Io mi-s fată cuminte; să-mi saie ochii dacă i-am zis ceva mai hacana dăcât să-mi ia o floare! (Hărmălaie generală, mai mult de simpatie pentru florăreasă, dar dezaprobând excesul ei de sensibilitate. Strigăte de: „Liniștește-te, dragă! Te-a lovit cineva? N-are ce păți! Ce rost are toată zarva asta? Ușurel, fetițo! Nu te prăpădi cu firea!" etc. din partea privitorilor mai în vârstă și mai calmi, care o bat pe umăr ca să o liniștească. Alte persoane mai puțin îngăduitoare îi strigă să-și țină gura sau o întreabă răstit ce a apucat-o. Un grup mai îndepărtat, neștiind ce se întâmplă, se îngrămădește să afle și sporește zgomotul cu întrebări și răspunsuri: „Ce-i gălăgia asta? Ce-a făcut fata? Unde-i ăla? Un individ ia notițe? Care, el? Da, ăla de colo! A luat bani de la un domn!" etc. Florăreasa disperată și prinsă în îmbulzeală își face drum prin mulțime spre domnul căruia îi vânduse flori, strigând speriată.) Aoleo, conașule, nu-l lăsa să mă umfle! Nici nu știi ce-i asta păntru mine. S-a zis cu cinstea mea și mă zvârlă-n stradă dacă am intrat în vorbă cu un domn. O să...

    BĂRBATUL CARE IA NOTIȚE (înaintând la dreapta ei, ceilalți îngrămădindu-se în urma lui): Gata, gata! Cine îți face vreun rău, zăpăcito? Drept cine mă iei?

    CETĂȚEANUL: Drept e! E un domn; cască ochii la încălțări! (Explicând bărbatului care lua notițe) Fata v-a luat de sticlete.

    BĂRBATUL CARE IA NOTIȚE (cu viu interes): Ce înseamnă „sticlete"?

    CETĂȚEANUL (incapabil să definească): Ei, cum să vă zic io, un fel dă... un fel dă polițai de la droguri. Cum să-i mai zici altfel? Un fel dă ciripitor.

    FLORĂREASA (tot isterizată): Pă Biblie mă jur că n-am zis o vorbă…

    BĂRBATUL CARE IA NOTIȚE (autoritar, însă binedispus): Hei, gura! Am eu mutră de polițist?

    FLORĂREASA (departe de a fi liniștită): Păi atunci dă ce-mi tot zmângălești coloșa vorbele? Dă unde știu io că ai scris întocmai ce am zis io? Ia arată-mi ce-ai scris dă mine! (Bărbatul care a luat notițe deschide carnetul și i-l bagă sub nas, deși mulțimea îngrămădită, încercând să citească peste umerii lui, ar fi răsturnat pe unul mai slab decât el.) Asta ce mai e? N-ai scris pe bune. Nici nu pot să citesc.

    BĂRBATUL CARE IA NOTIȚE: Pot eu. (Citește, imitând exact felul în care pronunță ea.) „Mai cu vlagă, căpitane, și ia d-acilea o floare de la o fată amărâtă."

    FLORĂREASA (foarte îngrijorată): Aoleo, asta numa’ că i-am zis căpitanu’? Păi, da io n-am vrut să fac dăloc rău. (Către domnul) Aoleo, conașule, nu-l lăsa să-mi facă vreo hârtie pentru o vorbă ca asta!

    DOMNUL: Ce hârtie să-ți facă? Eu nu fac

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