FABLE AND FOLKLORE 53 



with Babylonian artists in the valleys of the Tigris and 

 Euphrates." 



In view of their inheritance of these ideas it is no 

 wonder that Oriental writers far more recent told strange 

 tales about this bird, especially as to its domestic habits, 

 as is reflected in the book of Job, where a versified render- 

 ing of one passage (xxxix, 15, 16) runs thus: 



Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks? 



Or wings and feathers unto the ostrich? 



Which leaveth her eggs in the earth, 



And warmeth them in the dust, 



And forgetteth that the foot may crush them, 



Or that the wild beast may break them? 



She is hardened against her young ones 



As though they were not hers: 



Because God hath deprived her of wisdom, 



Neither hath he imparted to her understanding. 



This was more elegant than exact, for ostriches are ex- 

 ceedingly watchful and patient parents, as they have need 

 to be, considering the perilous exposure of their nests on 

 the ground, and the great number of enemies to which 

 both eggs and young are exposed in the wilderness. 

 Major S. Hamilton, 110 than whom there is no better au- 

 thority, testifies to this. "The hen-bird," he says, "sits 

 on the eggs by day and the cock relieves her at night, 

 so that the eggs are never left unguarded during incuba- 

 tion." The chicks are able to take care of themselves 

 after a day or two, and there is no more foundation in 

 fact for the Biblical charge of cruelty than for that other 

 Oriental fable that this bird hatches its eggs not by brood- 

 ing but by the rays of warmth and light from her eyes. 

 "Both birds are employed," the fable reads, "for if the 

 gaze is suspended for only one moment the eggs are 



