Monologue
The Flying Doctor — Sabine
Molière, translated in verse by Mark Haywood
Sabine: There’s news, well in fact there’s a lot.
My uncle is keen that my cousin and Villebrequin
Tie the proverbial knot.
And it’s come to the point where, if you weren’t the loved one,
I reckon by now they’d be married.
But now that my cousin’s confided in me
The torch that she’s secretly carried,
And now that my uncle’s despicable greed
Has brought matters right to a head,
We’ve come up with a ruse, and a good one at that,
To ensure that they can’t yet be wed.
Right now, while I’m standing here speaking, my cousin’s
Pretending that she’s fallen sick,
And the old man has sent me to look for a doctor.
He’s ever so easy to trick —
If you could just send someone, one of your friends,
Who would be in cahoots with our scheme,
He can say to my cousin that fresh country air
Is the best therapeutic regime.
Her father will put her, I’m sure, in the lodge
At the end of our garden, and so
You’ll be able to talk to her, marry her too,
And the old fellow won’t even know!
He can curse all he wants to, and Villebrequin too.