Page:The Mikado or the town of titipu.djvu/30

30

Yum. You see— burial alive— it's such a stuffy death!

Nank. I call it a beast of a death.

Yum. You see my difficulty, don't you?

Nank. Yes, and I see my own. If I insist on your carrying out your promise, I doom you to a hideous death; if I release you, you marry Ko-Ko at once!

TRIO. — Yum-Yum, Nanki-Poo, and Ko-Ko.

Yum.Here's a how-de-do!
If I marry you.
When your time has come to perish,
Then the maiden whom you cherish
Must be slaughtered, too!
Here's a how-de-do!
Nank.Here's a pretty mess!
In a month, or less,
I must die without a wedding!
Let the bitter tears I'm shedding
Witness my distress,
Here's a pretty mess!
Ko.Here's a state of things!
To her life she clings!
Matrimonial devotion
Doesn't seem to suit her notion—
Burial it brings!
Here's a state of things!

ENSEMBLE.

Yum-Yum and Nanki-Poo. With a passion that's intense I worship and adore, But the laws of common sense We oughtn't to ignore. If what he says is true, 'Tis death to marry you! Here's a pretty state of things! Here's a pretty how-de-do!

Ko-Ko. With a passion that's intense You worship and adore, But the laws of common sense You oughtn't to ignore. If what I say is true, 'Tis death to marry you! Here's a pretty state of things! Here's a pretty how-de-do!

[Exit Yum-Yum.

Ko. (going up to Nanki-Poo). My poor boy, I'm really very sorry for you.

Nank. Thanks, old fellow. I'm sure you are.

Ko. You see I'm quite helpless.

Nank. I quite see that.