CHAPTER LXXI 



THE SPIRAL. SNAIL 



WHEN the snail crawls, it bears aloft, as you 

 know, four horns. " 



"Horns that come out and go in at will," added 

 Jules. 



" Horns that the animal turns every way," said 

 Kinile, "when you put the shell on the live coals. 

 Then the snail sings be-be-be-eou-eou." 



"Stop that cruel play, my child. The snail does 

 not sing; it is complaining, in its own way, of the 

 fiery tortures. Its slime, coagulated by the heat, 

 first swells and then shrinks, and the air that es- 

 capes by little puffs produces that dying wail. 



"In one of La Fontaine's fables, where there are 

 so many good things about animals, he tells us that 

 tln> lion, wounded by a horned animal, 



"Straight banished from his realm, 'tis said, 



All sorts of beasts with horns 



I i,i ins. hulls, goats, stags, and unicorns. 

 Sii.-li hrntrs all promptly fled. 



A luiiv. the shadow of his ears perceiving, 



('mid hardly help believing 



Th;it sonic vile spy fur horns would t;il- them, 

 And food for accusation make tin -in. 



Adieu, said he, my neighbor cricket; 



I take my forri-n tirk.-i. 

 My ears, should 1 stay 

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