"We go straight upon our way, through all mires, crossing all morasses, skirting the edges of all abysses: and we are the most laborious, the most happy, the most virtuous of all peoples!"
"We, good little men, swarm upon the world like vermin upon the hump of a dromedary.
"We are burned, drowned, crushed; and we always reappear, more vivacious and countless than before--terrible by reason of our numbers!"
"Fettered to the earth by our hair, long as lianas, we vegetate beneath the shelter of our feet, broad as parasols; and the light comes to us through the thickness of our heels. No annoyances for us, no work! The head as low as possible--That is the secret of happiness."
[Illustration: The Sciapods: The head as low as possibleThat is the secret of happiness.]
(_Their lifted thighs,--resembling the trunks of trees,--multiply._
_And a forest appears. Great apes clamber through it on all fours:--these are men with the heads of dogs._)
"We leap from branch to branch in search of eggs to suck; and we pluck the little fledglings alive; then we put their nests upon our heads in lieu of caps.
"We tear off the teats of cows; and we put out the eyes of lynxes: we let fall our dung from the heights of the trees--we parade our turpitude in the full light of the sun.
"Lacerating the flowers, crushing the fruits, befouling the springs, violating women, we are the masters of all,--by the strength of our arms, and the ferocity of our hearts.
(_Blood and milk pour down their chops. The rain streams over their hairy backs._
_Anthony inhales the freshness of the green leaves._
_There is a movement among them, a clashing of branches; and all of a sudden appears a huge black stag, with the head of a bull, having between his ears a thicket of white horns._)
"My seventy-four antlers are hollow like flutes.
"When I turn me toward the wind of the South, there issue from them sounds that draw all the ravished animals around me. The serpents twine about my legs; the wasps cluster in my nostrils; and the parrots, the doves, the ibises, alight upon the branches of my horns.
(_He throws back his horns, whence issues a music of sweetness ineffable._
_Anthony presses both hands upon his heart. It seems to him as though his soul were being borne away by the melody._)