The Life of the Grasshopper 



the chit-chat of the country-side and set it 

 down as veracious history. 



Rustic waggery is world-famous. The 

 countryman is always ready to jeer at the 

 trifles which we call science; he laughs at 

 whoso stops to examine an insignificant in- 

 sect; he goes into fits of laughter if he sees 

 us picking up a pebble, looking at it and 

 putting it in our pocket. The Greek peasant 

 excelled in this sort of thing. He told the 

 townsman that the tettigometra was a dish 

 fit for the gods, of an incomparable flavour, 

 suavissima gustu. But, while making his 

 victim's mouth water with hyperbolical 

 praises, he put it out of his power to satisfy 

 his longings, by laying down the essential 

 condition that he must gather the delicious 

 morsel before the shell had burst. 



I should like to see any one try to get 

 together the material for a sufficiently 

 copious dish by gathering a few handfuls of 

 tettigometra just coming out of the earth, 

 when my squad of five took two hours 

 to find four larvae on ground rich in 

 Cicadas. Above all, mind that the skin does 

 not break during your search, which will last 

 for days and days, whereas the bursting 

 takes place in a few minutes. My opinion 

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