KUNZ }
MICHEL } Peasants
A Bugbear
A Peace-maker
The Playwright
A Soldier
Two Hussars
Two Lovers
Servants
Musicians
A Peasant
The Prompter
A Shoemaker
A Historian
FISCHER
MÜLLER
BÖTTICHER
LEUTNER
WIESENER
WIESENER'S NEIGHBOR
Elephants
Lions
Bears
An officer
Eagles and other birds
A rabbit
Partridges
Jupiter
Terkaleon
The Machinist
Spirits
Monkeys
The Public.
PROLOGUE
The scene is laid in the pit, the candles are already lighted, the musicians are gathered in the orchestra. The theatre is filled, people talking in confusion, some arriving, etc.
FISCHER, MÜLLER, SCHLOSSER, BÖTTICHER, in the pit
FISCHER
Say, but I am curious, Herr Müller, what do you think of today's play?
MÜLLER
I should be more likely to expect the sky to fall in than to see such a play at our theatre.
FISCHER
Do you know the play?
MÜLLER
Not at all. A strange title that: Puss in Boots. I do hope they're not going to present that child's play at the theatre.
SCHLOSS
Why, is it an opera?
FISCHER
Anything but that; the bill says: A Fairy-tale for Children.
SCHLOSS
A fairy-tale? But in Heaven's name, we're not children, are we, that they want to present such pieces for us? They certainly won't put an actual cat on the stage, will they?