Cyrano de Bergerac

In Ragueneau’s pastry shop, cooks bring out dishes as Ragueneau attempts to write poetry. He discusses the dishes, comparing cooking to writing verse. His apprentice brings out a lute made of pastry, and Ragueneau gives him a bonus. His wife Lise brings out packaging for pastries made out of his poets’ manuscripts. He is dismayed, and she is exasperated. Children arrive, order, and Ragueneau reads the poems on the packaging, unwilling to part with them. When Lise turns, he exchanges the packaging for extra pastries, recovering the poetry.

Cyrano enters and they talk about his fencing match in the theater. Then Cyrano tells Ragueneau that he is meeting someone and to clear out, but Ragueneau’s poet friends are coming by. Cyrano encourages them to go elsewhere when his appointment time arrives. As a Musketeer enters, Cyrano takes a pen from Ragueneau and writes a letter to Roxane after debating over doing so. The poets talk about eight men they met along the way—losers of a fight. Cyrano does not admit to beating the men, but the poets describe their injuries as Cyrano writes.

After describing the pastries poetically, the poets ask Ragueneau to read his work. He recites “A Recipe for Making Almond Tarts”—a recipe in

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