The Sacred Beetle 



lar body in their curved branches and of 

 verifying and correcting its shape. Their 

 function is, in fact, to fashion the ball. 



Armful by armful, the material is heaped 

 up under the belly, between the four legs, 

 which, by a slight pressure, impart their own 

 curve to it and give it a preliminary outline. 

 Then, every now and again, the rough-hewn 

 pill is set spinning between the four branches 

 of the doube pair of spherical compasses; it 

 .turns under the Dung-beetle's belly until it is 

 rolled into a perfect ball. Should the sur- 

 face layer lack plasticity and threaten to peel 

 off, should some too-stringy part refuse to 

 yield to the action of the lathe, the fore-legs 

 touch up the faulty places; their broad 

 paddles pat the ball to give consistency to 

 the new layer and to work the recalcitrant 

 bits into the mass. 



Under a hot sun, when time presses, one 

 stands amazed at the turner's feverish 

 activity. And so the work proceeds apace : 

 what a moment ago was a tiny pellet is now 

 a ball the size of a walnut; soon it will be the 

 size of an apple. I have seen some gluttons 

 manufacture a ball the size of a man's fist. 

 This indeed means food in the larder for 

 days to come ! 



The Beetle has his provisions. The 

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