CHAPTER VII 



MINOTAURUS TYPHCEUS : MORALITY 



' I ''HIS is the moment to recapitulate the 

 "*• Minotaur's merits. When the severe 

 cold is over, he sets forth in quest of a mate, 

 buries himself with her and thenceforth re- 

 mains faithful to her, despite his frequent 

 trips out of doors and the meetings to which 

 these are likely to lead. With indefatigable 

 zeal, he assists the burrower, herself destined 

 never to leave her home until the emancipa- 

 tion of the family. For a month and longer, 

 he loads the rubbish of the excavation on his 

 forked hod; he carries it up outside and re- 

 mains ever patient, never disheartened by his 

 arduous feats of climbing. He leaves the 

 easy work of the excavating rake to the 

 mother and reserves for himself the more 

 troublesome task, the exhausting transport 

 through a narrow, perpendicular shaft of 

 great depth. 



Next, the navvy becomes a collector ol 

 foodstuffs; he goes catering and gathers the 

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