concluded in the presence of the bride's numerous relations, and toasts are drunk to the happiness of the pair. While the guests are enjoying the food and drink, the bride draws apart with her bridegroom and tells him that her family was of ancient and wealthy stock upon whom fortune turned; that her father took his own life at the Mikado's command; and that her mother is desperately poor — so poor that she herself was forced to earn her living by joining the geisha girls; but that she is now the happiest creature in the world. She asks Pinkerton whether he can guess her age, and tells him she is fifteen. Presently she draws from the wide sleeve of the kimono she is wearing a handkerchief, a mirror, and a fan; then she shows him a dagger, of which Goro whispers that it is the dagger the Emperor sent to her father, that he might kill himself with it in the manner of hara-kiri.

Suddenly the festivities are cut short by the appearance of Butterfly's uncle, a Japanese priest, angered because his brother's daughter has renounced the Japanese gods and married an American Christian. Her kinsfolk are quick to join her uncle in hurling curses and insults at her; then they hasten away, leaving Pinkerton to dry the tears of his sorrowing bride and console her.

Darkness falls, and Suzuki brings a snow-white kimono, which Butterfly puts on in place of her wedding dress. And while the fireflies flit across the garden shedding their glow, the bridal pair sing their happiness in the song "Night spreads its mantle," following it with the song "Quiet night," clasped in each other's

arms — after Butterfly has mur-mured her fears and her agitation at marrying a foreigner. But she is happy in any case, and knows well that everything will end in a happy ending.

Act Two

Scene — a room in Butterfly's house.

Three years have passed since Butterfly's marriage to Pinkerton and her singing beneath the stars. Her husband's ship sailed away long since, and she still lives in the house he took, with her faithful servant Suzuki, and her child. Her money has run out, but she still nourishes in her soul the faith that her husband is true to her, and will return to her one day.

When the curtain rises we see Suzuki kneeling before an image of Buddha. But Butterfly refuses to pray to the Japanese gods, assur-ing her servant that Pinkerton will return — for he promised to return when the robins build their nests. She sings of her husband's return, saying that a day will come when the first thing they see will be a thread of smoke rising from the ocean. And she describes how Pinkerton's ship will come into the harbor, and how he will hurry to the little house on the hilltop to greet her.

At this moment the kindly American consul arrives, and with him the marriage broker Goro; the former tells her that he has received a letter from Pinkerton. Before Butterfly hears the con-tents of this letter she shows her delight at this vindication of her faith in her husband's return. But Goro presses her to marry anew, saying that he has brought with him a wealthy suitor named

Yamadori. Butterfly refuses firmly, saying that the laws of Japan permit her to marry again, since her husband has been absent from her all this while, but that the laws of her country — America — allow no such thing at all...

After Goro and Yamadori have gone, the consul Sharpless tries to persuade her to marry the wealthy suitor. She darts from the room, and returns a moment later carry-ing a fair-haired, blue-eyed child, saying that she has called him "Trouble," but that she will change this name of his to "Joy" hereafter.

Sharpless sees no course but to acquaint Butterfly with the substance of Pinkerton's letter, in which it is written that Pinkerton has married an American lady; but Butterfly keeps interrupting him after every word, until the consul stops reading and takes his leave without telling her of her husband's marriage.

Thereupon Suzuki comes in drag-ging the broker Goro, telling her mistress that he has been loitering near the house in the hope that Butterfly might change her mind and consent to marry Yamadori; and he had said to Suzuki that a child like Butterfly's would be despised in America and cast off by everyone. Butterfly flares up and cries out at him: Liar! Liar! Then she draws her father's dagger and threatens him with it, and he scurries out — while the report of a cannon is heard from the harbor... It is Pinkerton's ship. Butterfly dances for very joy. Then she calls Suzuki and bids her fill every corner of the house with flowers, and together they sing the lovely