Fables for the Fair/Fable 16
THE WOMAN WHO PLAYED "CYRANO"
THE WOMAN WHO PLAYED "CYRANO"
THERE was once a Woman who was very Plain. She was also Clever. She had a Friend who was Far from being Either. Her Friend was much Interested in a Brilliant Man who was an Author. The Author begged to Correspond with her, but she Knew that he would Not Care to Keep it Up long, because she could Not write Clever Letters, nor Understand them, for that matter.
"I will Write them For You," said the Plain Woman. "I think it would Be Amusing, and I should Like to be Amused."
"Oh, How Kind you Are!" said her Friend, Gratefully.
The Woman had seen "Cyrano," and so she Knew how These Things Worked.
She Wrote many Letters, and also Taught her Friend to Play Up to them Subsequently in Conversation. Finally the Author Got to the Point where he, as it were, Offered to Share his Desk with her.
"It is now Time for a Coup d'Etat," said the Woman. "You must Tell him the Truth, and Let him See Who it is that he Really Loves."
Her Friend was Frightened, and when the Author came Again she Confessed.
"You have been Laboring Under a Delusion," she said. "I Cannot tell a Lie, because you would Certainly Find me Out later. She wrote them."
"Who? That Thin One?" said the Author, in Surprise. "You don't Say so!"
"Shall I Call her Down?" said the Friend, sadly.
"Not by a Great Deal!" said the Author, Decidedly. "Why do we Want her?"
"Why!" exclaimed the Friend, "Don't you want to Marry her?"
"You Precious little Idiot!" said the Author. "Do you Imagine that A Man Marries a Portfolio? Now don't Cry, or you'll make your Lovely Eyes all Red."
This teaches us that All the World's Not the Stage.