THE CARP AND THE STICKLEBACK 



the scorching heat of the sun. Here, beside the old pool 

 where it is shady and cool, everything thrills with an 

 intense but sober animation, tempered by the frame of 

 green. This restful refuge is a little world populated by 

 many tiny creatures. Birds which I cannot see sing 

 merrily in the trees. The sound of dry leaves being 

 brushed aside, now and then, marks the passing of a 

 young rabbit. Flies buzz as they come and go. Thin 

 swarms of midges dance whirling through the sun- 

 beams. Dragon-flies in emerald armour sail by on 

 their large transparent wings. Sometimes a kingfisher, 

 swooping down, flashes before my eyes like a sapphire 

 arrow. And if I look into the moss about me, I see many 

 tiny insects, busy moving up and down the minute 

 blades. When I lean over the water and look into its 

 depths, there too I see a profusion of life, a swarming of 

 different living beings. An untiring vital animation is 

 hidden beneath the appearance of perfect rest, and 

 myriads of tiny existences are being lived, born, main- 

 tained, until they disappear without disturbing or 

 changing the appearance of the pond which gives them 

 all shelter. 



As we watch them side by side, in the water and in 

 the air, examining and following first one and then the 

 other, time passes quickly. And not only does the time 

 pass, but any notion of its meaning, of what it is, grows 

 less and almost disappears. A few minutes, or rather a 

 few of those periods which we call minutes, which mean 

 so little to us, are enough for several of these little lives 

 to accomplish their circle almost completely. In a few 

 hours, an insect comes out of its chrysalis, flies away on 

 its wings, reproduces itself, and dies. In a few days, a 

 few weeks at the outside, whole generations are swept 

 away and replaced by others which will be replaced in 

 their turn. Our measure of time, created in our own 

 fashion and based on our sensations, ceases to have 

 exactness and rigidity. When we realize how these 

 generations uninterruptedly succeed one another, we 

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