The Fool:
What a funny face! Are you a woman, really? Or an artichoke?
The Fool:
Maybe he loves you?
Gelsomina:
Me?
The Fool:
Why not? He is like dogs. A dog looks at you, wants to talk, and only barks.
The Fool:
I am ignorant, but I read books. You won't believe it, everything is useful... this pebble for instance.
Gelsomina:
Which one?
The Fool:
Anyone. It is useful.
Gelsomina:
What for?
The Fool:
For... I don't know. If I knew I'd be the Almighty, who knows all. When you are born and when you die... Who knows? I don't know for what this pebble is useful but it must be useful. For if its useless, everything is useless. So are the stars!
Gelsomina:
The fool is hurt.
Zampanò:
[
reciting his act by rote before a crowd] Here we have a piece of chain that is a quarter of an inch thick. It is made of crude iron, stronger than steel. With the simple expansion of my pectoral muscles, or chest, that is, I'll break the hook.
[
collecting money from the crowd]
Zampanò:
Thank you, thank you. Now, to do this feat, I must fill myself up like a tire. If a blood vessel should break, I would spit blood. For instance, in Milan a man weighing 240 pounds lost his eyesight doing this trick. That is because the optical nerves take a beating, and once you lose your eyes, you are finished. If there's any delicate person in the audience, I would advise him to look away 'cause there could be blood.
[
with seemingly great effort, he breaks the chain]
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