The Sacred Beetle: the Ball 



space with a stroke from his stout fore- 

 arms. The thief is flung on his back and 

 flounders about for a moment, but he is soon 

 up and back again. The struggle is re- 

 newed. Right does not always win, in which 

 case the robber makes off with his prize and 

 the victim returns to the heap to make him- 

 self another pill. It is not unusual for a 

 third thief to appear upon the scene during 

 the fight and settle matters between the 

 litigants by carrying off the property at issue. 

 I am inclined to think that it was affrays 

 of this sort that gave rise to the childish story 

 of the Sacred Beetles who were called to the 

 rescue and came to lend a hand to their 

 brothers in distress. Brazen foot-pads were 

 taken for kindly helpers. 



The Sacred Beetle then is an inveterate 

 thief; he shares the tastes of the Bedouin 

 Arab, his fellow-countryman in Africa; he 

 too is addicted to raiding. In his case, 

 hunger and dearth, both evil counsellors, 

 cannot be invoked as an explanation of this 

 moral obliquity. Provisions are plentiful 

 in my cages; certainly, in their days of 

 liberty, my captives never lived in the midst 

 of such abundance; and yet affrays are of 

 frequent occurrence. They fight hotly- 

 contested battles for the loaves, just as 

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