THE CAT (to TYLTYL) Take of your hat. It's the Oak!...

THE OAK (to TYLTYL) Who are you?....

TYLTYL I am Tyltyl, sir.... When can I have the Blue Bird?...

THE OAK Tyltyl, the wood-cutter's son?...

TYLTYL Yes, sir....

THE OAK Your father has done us much harm.... In my family alone, he has put to death six hundred of my sons, four hundred and seventy-five uncles and aunts, twelve hundred cousins of both sexes, three hundred and eighty daughters-in-law, and twelve thousand great-grandsons!...

TYLTYL I know nothing about it, sir.... He did not do it on purpose....

THE OAK What have you come here for; and why have you made our souls leave their abodes?...

TYLTYL I beg your pardon, sir, for disturbing you.... The Cat said that you would tell us where the Blue Bird was....

THE OAK Yes, I know that you are looking for the Blue Bird, that is to say, the great secret of things and of happiness, so that Man may make our servitude still harder....