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With great foundation-stones they had swallowed<br />
. down;<br />
And these the corn-crakes fashioned with their<br />
beaks.<br />
Ten thousand storks were carrying up the bricks;<br />
And lapwings helped, and the other water-birds,<br />
To bring the water up into the air.<br />
Pe. Who bare aloft the mortar for them?<br />
Mes. Herons<br />
In hods.<br />
Pe. But how did they get the mortar in?<br />
Mes. 0 that was most ingeniously contrived.<br />
The geese struck down their feet, and slid them<br />
under,<br />
Like shovels, and so heaved it on the hods.<br />
Pe. Then is there anything thatJeetcan't do?<br />
Mes. And then the ducks, with girdles round their<br />
waists,<br />
Carried the bricks: and up the swallows flew,<br />
Like serving-lads, carrying behind them each<br />
His trowel, and the mortar in their mouths.<br />
Pe. Then why should men hire hirelings any<br />
morel<br />
Well, well, go on; who was it finished off<br />
The great wall's woodwork?<br />
Mes. Canny Pelicans,<br />
Excellent workmen, hewing with huge beaks<br />
Gate-timber; and the uproar as they hewed<br />
Was like an arsenal when ships are building.<br />
Now every gateway has its gate, fast-barred,<br />
And watched the whole way round; and birds are<br />
pacing<br />
Their beats, and carrying bells, and everywhere<br />
The guards are stationed, and the beacons blaze<br />
On every tower. But I must hurry off<br />
And wash myself. You, manage what remains.<br />
Erit.<br />
Ch. 0 man, what ails you? Do you feel surprised<br />
To hear the building has been built so soon?<br />
Pe. By all the Gods I do; and well I may.<br />
In very truth it seems to me like-lies.<br />
But seel a guard, a messenger from thence<br />
Is running towards us with a war-dance look I<br />
Enter a GUARD.<br />
Guard. Hallo! Hallol Hallol Hallol Hallol<br />
Pe. Why. what's up now?<br />
Gu. A terrible thing has happened.<br />
One of the Gods, of Zeus's Gods, has just,<br />
Giving our jackdaw sentinels the slip,<br />
Shot through the gates and flown into the air.<br />
Pe. A dreadful deed I A wicked scandalous deed I<br />
Which of the Gods?<br />
Gu. We know not. Wings he had,<br />
So much we know.<br />
Pe. Ye should have sent at once<br />
The civic guard in hot pursuit.<br />
Gu. We sent<br />
The mounted archers, thirty thousand falcons,<br />
All with their talons curved, in fighting trim,<br />
Hawk, buzzard, vulture, eagle, eagle-owl.<br />
Yea, Ether vibrates with the whizz and whirr<br />
Of beating pinions, as they seek the God.<br />
THE BIRDS<br />
Ay, and he's near methinks; he's very near;<br />
He's somewhere here.<br />
Pe. A sling, a sling, I say!<br />
Arrows and bows I Fall in, my merry men aliI<br />
Shoot, smite, be resolute. A sling I a sling!<br />
Ch. War is begun, inexpressive war,<br />
War is begun twixt the Gods and mel<br />
Look out, look out, through the cloud-wrapt air<br />
Which erst the Darkness of Erebus bare,<br />
Lest a God slip by, and we fail to see.<br />
Glance eager-eyed on every side,<br />
For close at hand the winged sound I hear<br />
Of some Immortal hurtling through the Sky.<br />
Enter IRIS.<br />
Pe. Hoi! whither away there? whither away?<br />
Stop! stop!<br />
Stop where you are I keep quietI stay! remain!<br />
Who, what, whence are you? where do you come<br />
from? Quick'<br />
Iris. Whence do I come? From the Olympian<br />
Gods.<br />
Pe. Your namel What is it? Sloop or Head-dress?<br />
Ir. Iris<br />
The fleet.<br />
Pe. The Paralus, or the Salaminian?<br />
Ir. Why, what's all this?<br />
Pe. Fly up, some buzzard there,<br />
Fly up, and seize her.<br />
Ir. Me! Seize me, do you say?<br />
What the plague's this?<br />
Pe. You'll find to your cost, directly<br />
Ir. Well now, this passes'<br />
Pe. Answer! By what gates<br />
Got you within the city wall, Miss Minx?<br />
Ir. I' faith, I know not, fellow, by what gates.<br />
Pe. You hear the jade, how she prevaricates!<br />
Saw you the daw-commanders? What, no answer?<br />
Where's your stork-pass?<br />
Ir. My patience, what do you mean?<br />
Pe. You never got one?<br />
Ir. Have you lost your wits?<br />
Pe. Did no bird-captain stick a label on you?<br />
Ir. On me? None stuck a label, wretch, on me.<br />
Pe. So then you thought in this sly stealthy way<br />
To fly through Chaos and a realm not yours?<br />
Ir. And by what route, then, ought the Gods to<br />
fly?<br />
Pe. I' faith, I know not. Only not by this.<br />
This is a trespass I If you got your rights,<br />
Of all the Irises that ever were<br />
You'd be most justly seized and put to death.<br />
Ir. But I am deathless.<br />
Pe. All the same for that<br />
You should have died. A pretty thing, forsooth,<br />
If, whilst all else obey us, you the Gods<br />
Run riot, and forget that you in turn<br />
Must learn to yield obedience to your betters.<br />
But tell me, where do you navigate your wings?<br />
Ir. I? Froin the Father to mankind I'm flying,<br />
To bid them on their bullock-slaughtering hearths<br />
Slay sheep to the Olympian Gods, and steam<br />
The streets with savour.<br />
557
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