Puppet Man. I will undertake it, and moreover, I will promise a goodly flow of red blood from the corpus of the Holophernes.
Abbe Filosi. Excellent. Further, there is required a Triumph of Judith, in a car of state, and a figure of Time, speaking, and a Religion, out of the clouds, who speaks some verse in praise of the Reverendissima and of the noble house of the Morosini. All this must be carried out precisely.
Puppet Man. All this I undertake, seeing how famous is this convent, and of how illustrious a house is its Abbessa. Suffer me to inquire if the entire poem is of a lofty and tragic nature.
Abbe Filosi. Certainly.
Puppet Man. This is a great honor to me, but a ruinous one as well. For I see I shall have no opportunity to bring on my most potent figures—my Harlequino with the seven wires, and—
Abbe Filosi. Harlequino does not appear in the poem.
Puppet Man. But might he not appear in an interlude? Let me suggest, in all humility, that I might perform an interlude between the Harlequino and the serving-wench of Judith, after the death of the Holophernes?
Abbe Filosi. Dio, dio—what a profanation!
Abbess. Come, come, your Reverence, I see no profanation in it. We must not be too severe—too lofty. Think of our guests, and of the novices, mere children in heart—who will be witnessing our play. Let there be something in it for the liking of all, I should say.
Abbe Filosi. But, Reverendissima—