Oh, never fear; I will keep my vow, not, without your permission, to reveal this to mortal ears! But I, I know that so it is! Accordingly when you say, “Since Tertulla cannot go to the country perhaps the country will come to Tertulla,” I feel sure that, in spite of inauspicious beginnings, all will yet be well! And indeed, strangely, ever since I set foot in the room my nostrils have been filled with the accustomed fragrances from my garden; my spirit has received the message of spring from her harbingers: the hardy rose, and early flowering almond; the branches of a forth-putting cherry-tree on a sunny slope, and bloom of narcissus and violet from the nurseries! But Faunus... Faunus himself! Will he, as is his wont, reveal himself in this place, to his handmaiden? That, Valentinus, is my great secret! To no one heretofore have I disclosed it! Every year in these days the god Faunus himself has accepted my sacrifice in person, promising me protection for my flowers through the coming season, a promise which has been miraculously redeemed! Work a wonder for me, good Valentinus! Bring it to pass that the god will reveal himself here, no less than in the country, to his handmaiden! What! do I hear his footstep cross the threshold with a sound as of the favouring breeze of spring? Faunus! Faunus! Do you see him, Valentinus? You could not mistake him, with his youthful countenance of great beauty, his two horns, and feet like those of a goat that he may skip lightly over the hills!

Tertulla Monologue from Festival Plays: One-Act Pieces

Rehearse Tertulla's monologue