72
GRAND CHORUS OF BIRDS
And manifold fair young folk that forswore love once,
ere the bloom of them ended,
Have the men that pursued and desired them subdued,
by the help of us only befriended,
With such baits as a quail, a flamingo, a goose, or a cock's
comb staring and splendid.
All best good things that befall men come from us
birds, as is plain to all reason:
For first we proclaim and make known to them spring,
and the winter and autumn in season;
Bid sow, when the crane starts clanging for Afric, in
shrill-voiced emigrant number,
And calls to the pilot to hang up his rudder again for the
season, and slumber;
And then weave a cloak for Orestes the thief, lest he
strip men of theirs if it freezes.
