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!
