The Psyches: the Cases 



fore; summon up your old carpentering-tal- 

 ents and you will be saved." 



Useless advice ! The time for carpentry is 

 over. The hour has come for upholstering; 

 and he upholsters obstinately, padding a house 

 which no longer exists. He will perish miser- 

 ably, cut up by the Ants, as the result of his 

 too-rigid instinct. 



Many other instances have already told us 

 as much. Like running water which does not 

 climb slopes and which does not flow back to 

 its source, the insect never retraces its actions. 

 What is done is done and cannot be recom- 

 menced. The Psyche, but now a clever car- 

 penter, will die for want of knowing how to 

 fix a beam. 



245 



