CHAPXER y 



THE SACRED BEETLE: THE MODELLING 



T TERE we are on solid ground, in the 

 ■•- "'■ domain of facts, of things that can be 

 seen and recorded. How does the Sacred 

 Beetle obtain the maternal pear? To begin 

 with, it is certain that this shape is not 

 achieved by the process of transport, for it is 

 not at all what one would get from hap- 

 hazard rolling in all directions. The belly 

 of the gourd might be made in that way; 

 but the neck, the elliptical nipple hollowed 

 into a hatching-chamber: that delicate work 

 could never result from a series of violent, 

 Irregular bumps. A goldsmith does not 

 hammer out a jewel on a blacksmith's anvil I 

 Together with other sound reasons already 

 adduced, the pear-shaped outline delivers us, 

 I hope, once and for all, from the antiquated 

 belief that the egg has its home inside a 

 roughly-jolted sphere. 



To produce this masterpiece, the sculptor 



retires to his den. Even so the Sacred 



Beetle. She shuts herself in her crypt, with 



the materials which she has brought down 



105 



