Page:Acharnians and two other plays (1909).djvu/207

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The Birds
189

Peis. Well! that's well.

Mess. A most amazing, astonishing work it is!1125
So, that Theagenes and Proxenides[1]
Might flourish and gasconade and prance away,
Quite at their ease, both of them four-in-hand,
Driving abreast upon the breadth of the wall,
Each in his own new chariot.

Peis. You surprise me.

Mess. And the height (for I made the measurement myself)1130
Is exactly a hundred fathoms.

Peis. Heaven and earth!
How could it be? such a mass! who could have built it?

Mess. The Birds; no creature else, no foreigners,
Egyptian bricklayers,[2] workmen or masons,
But, they themselves, alone, by their own efforts,1135
(Even to my surprise, as an eye-witness)—
The Birds, I say, completed everything:
There came a body of thirty thousand Cranes
(I won't be positive, there might be more)
With stones from Africa, in their craws and gizzards,
Which the Stone-curlews and Stone-chatterers
Worked into shape and finished. The Sand-Martens
And Mud-Larks, too, were busy in their department,
Mixing the mortar, while the Water Birds,1140
As fast as it was wanted, brought the water
To temper, and work it.

Peis. (in a fidget). But, who served the masons?
Who did you get to carry it?

Mess. To carry it?
Of course, the Carrion Crows and Carrying Pigeons.

Peis. (in a fuss, which he endeavours to conceal).
Yes! yes! But after all, to load your hods,
How did you manage that?

Mess. Oh capitally,
I promise you. There were the Geese, all barefoot1145
Trampling the mortar, and, when all was ready,
They handed it into the hods, so cleverly,
With their flat feet!

  1. Pretenders to great wealth and affecting extraordinary expense and display. See note to l. 822.
  2. Egyptian labourers are mentioned in The Frogs.