PYGMALION. Now if you will be so good as to oblige us with a little something. You dance so beautifully, you know. [He sits down next Martellus, and whispers to him] It is extraordinary how sensitive they are to the stimulus of flattery.
The Figures, with a gracious air, dance pompously, but very passably. At the close they bow to one another.
ON ALL HANDS [clapping] Bravo! Thank you. Wonderful! Splendid. Perfect.
The Figures acknowledge the applause in an obvious condition of swelled head.
THE NEWLY BORN. Can they make love?
PYGMALION. Yes: they can respond to every stimulus. They have all the reflexes. Put your arm round the man's neck, and he will put his arm round your body. He cannot help it.
THE FEMALE FIGURE [frowning] Round mine, you mean.
PYGMALION. Yours, too, of course, if the stimulus comes from you.
ECRASIA. Cannot he do anything original?
PYGMALION. No. But then, you know, I do not admit that any of us can do anything really original, though Martellus thinks we can.