Phonorecord

“ He dreaded the curious gaze of the other birds, who would find his beauty dimmed, and would scorn, perchance, the faded glory which they had once held in awe. For years he had not ventured within sight of men, and he knew that most of them had forgotten his existence, nay, even denied that he had ever lived. He feared that there might not be a single heart in all the world that thrilled to his name.
Thinking thus mournfully, the Phœnix sat upon the top of the tallest palm. His plumage of crimson and gold glowed in the last rays of the setting sun. ”

“ With as dainty a taste as Horace's rat, He turn'd away from such food as that. "What, tench for a heron! poh! I scorn the thought, and let them go." The tench refused, there came a gudgeon; "For all that," said the bird, "I budge on. I'll ne'er open my beak, if the gods please, For such mean little fishes as these." He did it for less; For it came to pass, That not another fish could he see; And, at last, so hungry was he, That he thought it of some avail To find on the bank a single snail. Such is the sure result Of being too difficult. Would you be strong and great, Learn to accommodate. ”

“ The smoke rose slowly, enveloping him in it, while the Tufters, overcome with grief, forgot their manners, and stood on both legs peering into the smoke. At that moment Rosedrop, with the spirit of Isal, darted into the circle. The Phœnix saw her. [Pg 215]
"Lay the spirit in the nest," said he, and Rosedrop heedless of the fire which burned her beautiful body, laid Isal's spirit in the nest by the Phœnix.
"It is enough!" said the Phœnix. "I am perishing, but another Phœnix shall arise and the spirit of Isal shall live in it. Isal is the Phœnix that is to be. I die but she shall live." ”

“ I wish 'twas under the sea. I hate France—I do—like the devil. Don't you? They're always a-threatening me wi' France, if I dare say a word more about the po'shay, or—or anyone.'
I really was curious about Cormoran; but Cormoran was not to be defined to me by Milly; nor did she, in reality, know more than I respecting the arrival of the night before.
One day I was surprised to see Doctor Bryerly on the stairs. I was standing in a dark gallery as he walked across the floor of the lobby to my uncle's door, his hat on, and some papers in his hand. ”

“ PHOENIX FIRE OFFICE
'One moment,' said the bird. 'Fire? For altars, I suppose?'
'I don't know,' said Robert; he was beginning to feel shy, and that always made him rather cross.
'Oh, yes, you do,' Cyril contradicted. 'When people's houses are burnt down the Phoenix gives them new houses. Father told me; I asked him.'
'The house, then, like the Phoenix, rises from its ashes? Well have my priests dealt with the sons of men!'
'The sons of men pay, you know,' said Anthea ”

“ The clod without intention of the kind;
In short whate'er arrived, 'tis clear your case
Could not with Cuckoldom be well in place.
Besides 'tis no way certain but our blade,
By strength of nerves the poison may evade;
And that's a double reason for the choice,
Since with more certainty we shall rejoice:
The venom may evaporate in fume,
And Mandrake pleasing pow'rs at once assume;
For when I spoke of death, I did not mean,
That nothing from it would the person screen;
To-morrow we the rustick lad must name;
To-night the potion given your charming dame ”

“ Which snatching up, Sir Fox thus spoke:-- 'The flatterer, my good sir, Aye liveth on his listener; Which lesson, if you please, Is doubtless worth the cheese.' A bit too late, Sir Raven swore The rogue should never cheat him more. [2] Both Aesop and Phaedrus have a version of this fable.
III.--THE FROG THAT WISHED TO BE AS BIG AS THE OX. [3] The tenant of a bog, An envious little frog, Not bigger than an egg, A stately bullock spies, And, smitten with his size, Attempts to be as big. With earnestness and pains, She stretches, swells, and strains, And says, 'Sis Frog, look here! see me! ”

“ These stand about a foot in height, are curved inward, often so as to be truly lyrate, and—unlike any other sheath-horn known—are branched, having one prong (occasionally more) on the anterior edge. Every winter these horns are pushed off by new hairy growths beneath them, comparable to the ‘velvet’ of deer's antlers, which in turn harden into another pair of true horns. This distinction is deemed sufficient to justify placing the pronghorn in a separate family, the Antilocapridæ, intermediate between the giraffes and the Bovidæ. The horns of the female are rudimentary. ”

“ Our hermit, favoured much by wind and rain,
Pierced in the boarding, where by time 'twas worn;
A hole through which he introduced a horn;
And loudly bawled:—attend to what I say,
Ye women, my commands at once obey.
This voice spread terror through the little cot;
Both hid their heads and trembled for their lot;
But still our monk his horn would sound aloud
Awake! cried he; your favour God has vowed;
My faithful servant, Lucius, haste to seek;
At early dawn go find this hermit meek
To no one say a word: 'tis Heav'n ordains;
Fear nothing, Lucius ever blessed remains ”

“ The very first decree of state which King Phoenix issued was, that, if a maiden happened to arrive in the kingdom, mounted on a snow-white bull, and calling herself Europa, his subjects should treat her with the greatest kindness and respect, and immediately bring her to the palace. You may see by this, that Phœnix's conscience never quite ceased to trouble him, for giving up the quest of his dear sister, and sitting himself down to be comfortable, while his mother and her companions went onward. ”

“ No, Fenimol, and you, Fenor of the Fenachrone, instant and headlong flight is our only hope of present salvation and of ultimate triumph—flight to a far distant Galaxy, since upon no point in this one shall we be safe from the infra-beams of that self-styled Overlord."
"You snivelling coward! You pusillanimous bookworm!" Fenor had regained his customary spirit as the scientist explained upon what grounds his fears were based. "Upon such a tenuous fabric of evidence would you have such a people as ours turn tail like beaten hounds? ”

“ The new Phœnix flew back to the Arabian desert to live his five hundred years as each of his race had done, sacred, afar, and apart, but not forgotten, though in his old age he might come to deem so. For in the bright Temple of the Sun there are always folk of childlike sympathy who delight to honor the eternal Phœnix of romance and mystery,—the dear, undying memory of a time long past. ”

“ But don't be silly enough to offer Fanfaronade any.' And this time the Princess, who was fainting with hunger, took the nightingale's advice, and ate what she found all by herself. But Fanfaronade, seeing that she had found something good, and was not going to share it with him, ran after her in such a fury that she hastily drew out the Queen's carbuncle, which had the property of rendering people invisible if they were in danger, and when she was safely hidden from him she reproached him gently for his unkindness. ”

“ And soaking both his bunny-socks. "I don't think you'd care about the Sons of the Phœnix, really," said Robert. "I have heard that they don't do anything fiery. They only drink a great deal. Much more than other people, because they drink lemonade and fizzy things, and the more you drink of those the more good you get."
"In your mind, perhaps," said Jane; "but it wouldn't be good in your body. You'd get too balloony." The Phœnix yawned.
"Look here," said Anthea, "I really have an idea. This isn't like a common carpet. It's very magic indeed. ”

“ Down sinks he in the strife; No tears can save his life. They slay, and dress, and salt the beast, And cook his flesh in many a feast, And many a neighbour gets a taste. As Phaedrus says it, pithily, The master's is the eye to see:-- I add the lover's, as for me. [27] Phaedrus, II. 8 (The Stag and the Oxen) ; and others.
XXII.--THE LARK AND HER YOUNG ONES WITH THE OWNER OF A FIELD. [28] "Depend upon yourself alone," Has to a common proverb grown. 'Tis thus confirm'd in Aesop's way:-- The larks to build their nests are seen Among the wheat-crops young and green ”

“ Enough! you don't begin to be.' And thus the reptile sits, Enlarging till she splits. The world is full of folks Of just such wisdom;-- The lordly dome provokes The cit to build his dome; And, really, there is no telling How much great men set little ones a swelling. [3] The story of this fable is given in Horace, Satires, II. 3, Phaedrus and Corrozet have also versions of it. For an account of Phaedrus and his Fables see the Translator's Preface. Gilles Corrozet was one of the French fabulists immediately preceding La Fontaine. ”

“ La Fontaine passed away gently, after a few weeks of extreme weakness, on the 13th of February, 1695, in the seventy-fourth year of his age. Racine saw him die with extreme regret, and Fénélon, deeply affected, expressed in exquisite terms the admiration of his contemporaries. Let us quote the last sentences of this brief funeral oration:—"Read him, and then say whether Anacreon be more gracefully playful; whether Horace has adorned morality with more varied [Pg xxxii] and more attractive ornaments; whether Terence has painted the manners of mankind with more nature and truth ”

“ Everybody loved La Fontaine. Favorite of great lords and ladies, the court of Louis XIV could not make him otherwise than natural. Poor and improvident, poverty had no pangs for him. No sorrow ever gave him a sleepless hour. To the last he lived up to his nickname--Bon-homme. And it is the gentle and good man who is always looking out at us at us from the fables he refashioned for all time.
William Trowbridge Larned.
New York, July 1918.
This book contains the following Fables
from the French of La Fontaine:
The Frog Who Wished To Be As Big As The Ox. ”

“ Most beings spring from other individuals; but there is a certain kind which reproduces itself. The Assyrians call it the Phœnix. It does not live on fruit or flowers, but on frankincense and odoriferous gums. When it has lived five hundred years, it builds itself a nest in the branches of an oak, or on the top of a palm tree. ”

“ The presence of God was so real to him, that Father Fontanel did not understand at all his own great spiritual strength. Nor do his people quite appreciate how great he is among the priests of men. He has been in their midst so long that they seem accustomed to his power. Only a stranger can realize what a pure, shining garment his actual flesh has become. To me there was healing in the very approach of this man. ”

“ Sometimes you just think a thing's wrong, and sometimes you know. And this is a know time.'
The Phoenix turned kind golden eyes on her and opened a friendly beak to say—
'When it is, as you say, a "know time", there is no more to be said. And your noble brothers would never leave you.'
'Of course not,' said Cyril rather quickly. And Robert said so too.
'I myself,' the Phoenix went on, 'am willing to help in any way possible. I will go personally—either by carpet or on the wing—and fetch you anything you can think of to amuse you during the evening. ”

“ Forth, from the plastic flame Two sorts of bolts there came. Of these, one misses not: 'Tis by Olympus shot,-- That is, the gods at large. The other, bearing wide, Hits mountain-top or side, Or makes a cloud its targe. And this it is alone Which leaves the father's throne.
XXI.--THE FALCON AND THE CAPON. [30] You often hear a sweet seductive call: If wise, you haste towards it not at all;-- And, if you heed my apologue, You act like John de Nivelle's dog. [31] A capon, citizen of Mans, Was summon'd from a throng To answer to the village squire, Before tribunal call'd the fire. ”

“ For the broken honour of Fontanlee.
Who is this at their sides that stands?
"Lift, O squires, your heads from your hands;
Tell me who these dead men be
That lie in the Hall of the Fontanlee."
"This is Sir Robert of Fontanlee,
A young knight and a fair to see;
This is Sir Stephen of Fontanlee,
Sir Robert's second brother was he;
This is Sir John of Fontanlee,
He was the youngest of the three.
"For their father's truth did they
Freely give their lives away,
And till he doth home return,
Sadly here we sit and mourn."
These sad words they having said,
Every one down sank his head ”

“ He makes no tarrying, but seizes on the Phoenicians, whether they are preparing for fighting or for flight or whether very fear holds both in check. Some he slays with his fangs, some be crushes in his constricting folds, and some he stifles with the deadly corruption of his poisoned breath. ”

“ A flea some blockhead's shoulder bit, And then his clothes refused to quit. 'O Hercules,' he cried, 'you ought to purge This world of this far worse than hydra scourge! O Jupiter, what are your bolts about, They do not put these foes of mine to rout?' To crush a flea, this fellow's fingers under, The gods must lend the fool their club and thunder! [11] Aesop.
VI.--THE WOMEN AND THE SECRET. [12] There's nothing like a secret weighs; Too heavy 'tis for women tender; And, for this matter, in my days, I've seen some men of female gender. ”

“ They say that it lives about five hundred years in the wilderness, and when advanced in age it builds itself a pile of sweet wood and aromatic gums, fires it with the wafting of its wings, and thus burns itself; and that from its ashes arises a worm, which in time grows up to be a Phoenix. Hence the Phoenicians gave—’
‘Never mind what they gave,’ said the Phoenix, ruffling its golden feathers. ‘They never gave much, anyway; they always were people who gave nothing for nothing. ”