[YOUNG COSETTE (sweeping)]
There is a castle on a cloud
I like to go there in my sleep
Aren't any floors for me to sweep
Not in my castle on a cloud

There is a room that's full of toys
There are a hundred boys and girls
Nobody shouts or talks too loud
Not in my castle on a cloud

There is a lady all in white
Holds me and sings a lullaby
She's nice to see and she's soft to touch
She says, "Cosette, I love you very much"

I know a place where no one's lost
I know a place where no one cries
Crying at all is not allowed
Not in my castle on a cloud

Oh, help! I think I hear them now
And I'm nowhere near finished sweeping
And scrubbing and polishing the floors
Oh, it's her!
It's Madame!
[MADAME THENARDIER (slamming a bucket onto a table)]
Now look who's here, the little madame herself
Pretending once again she's been so awfully good
Better not let me catch you slacking
Better not catch my eye
Ten rotten francs your mother sends me
What is that going to buy?
Now, take that pail, my little "Mademoiselle"
And go and draw some water from the well

We should never had taken you in, in the first place
How stupid the things that we do
Like mother, like daughter, the scum of the street

[Young Éponine appears on stage looking much better groomed than Young Cosette.]

Eponine, come my dear, Eponine, let me see you
You look very well in that little blue hat
There's some little girls who know how to behave
And they know what to wear
And I'm saying thank heaven for that

Still there, Cosette? Your tears will do you no good
I told you fetch some water from the well in the wood

[YOUNG COSETTE]
Please do not send me out alone
Not in the darkness on my own
[MADAME THENARDIER]
Enough of that, or I'll forget to be nice
You heard me ask for something and I never ask twice

[Éponine pushes Cosette out the door. Thénardier appears and bids goodnight to his daughter as the inn fills up for the evening.]