ANOTHER CHILD And I the little pot with my idea for enlightening the crowd....
A THIRD CHILD I have forgotten the graft of my finest pear!...
TIME Run quick and fetch them!... We have only six hundred and twelve seconds left.... The galley of the Dawn is already flapping her sails to show that she is waiting.... You will come too late and you won't be born!... Come, quick, on board with you!... (Laying hold of a CHILD who tries to pass between his legs to reach the quay.) Oh, no, not you!... This is the third time you've tried to be born before your turn.... Don't let me catch you at it again, or you can wait forever with my sister Eternity; and you know that it's not amusing there!... But come, are we ready?... Is every one at his post?... (Surveying the CHILDREN standing on the quay or already seated In the galley.) There is still one missing.... It is no use his hiding, I see him in the crowd.... You can't deceive me!... Come on, you, the little fellow whom they call the Lover, say good-bye to your sweetheart....
(The two CHILDREN who are called the Lovers, fondly entwined, their faces livid with despair, go up to TIME and kneel at his feet.)
THE FIRST CHILD Mr. Time, let me stay behind with her!...
THE SECOND CHILD Mr. Time, let me go with him!...
TIME Impossible!... We have only three hundred and ninety-four seconds left....
THE FIRST CHILD I would rather not be born!...
TIME You cannot choose....
THE SECOND CHILD (beseechingly) Mr. Time, I shall come too late!...