Sleeping On Our Own · Julia Sutton · Sheila Reid · Ann Emery

Ernestine
Faithful to the last
Celestine
Life can be unfair
Hortense
Seven years have passed
We've seen the last of Martin Guerre
Ernestine
Mother's none too chuffed
Told her not to wait
Hortense
Desperate for an heir
Ernestine
They'll find Bertrande another mate
(Guillaume sits down next to Bertrande. She leaves immediately.
He sits for a moment, then gets up and leaves.)
Celestine
There's Guillaume the farmhand, guards her like his own
Hortense
Starting like a hawk
Ernestine
Crikey, you can talk
Celestine
Poor Bertrande, she's sleeping on our own....
(they sit down where Bertrande and Guillaume were sitting)
Just like us...
Hortense
And all the better for it....
Ernestine
Too true, too true...
Celestine
Jacques was a devil with his dibber
Ernestine
Oh, my Georges...he had the hugest...feet
Hortense
Claude made his own rope!
Celestine
Jacques always used to snore, just like a wild boar
A-snuffling and a-wheezing
Ernestine
My Georges, I guarantee
He'd get up to pee seven times a night!
Hortense
Claude always stole the sheet
Hooked it with his feet
Mine in turn were freezing
Ernestine
They went and popped their clogs
Hortense
Now we sleep like logs!
Celestine
I sleep with the dogs!
Ernestine & Hortense
No!
Celestine
Yes, but just in winter...
Nights, sleeping on our own...
Hortense
Years, sleeping on our own
Ernestine
Still, we mustn't moan!
All Three
No
Hortense
He'd graze me with his chin
Celestine
He'd kick me in the shin
Ernestine
And mine would sweat profusely
Celestine
Jacques mutter when he dreamed
Ernestine
Muttered? My man screamed
Heard for miles around
Hortense
Claude, when he got quite bored, bound me with a cord
Celestine and Ernestine
No
Hortense
Yes, but only loosely
Celestine
We're sleeping on our own
Hortense
One bed and a crone!
Ernestine
Dogs without a bone!
All Three
We're sleeping on our own, without a chaperone, who's sleeping up in heaven
Celestine
Soon we'll be just the same
Hortense
Some forgotten name
Ernestine
Carved upon a stone
All Three
Then, we can live our lives
Lost and lonely wives
Sleeping on our own