The Burrow 



inequalities of the soil will allow it to be. 

 The owner, now of one sex, now of the other, 

 is at the bottom, always alone. The time 

 to settle down and establish a family not 

 having yet arrived,, each of them lives like 

 an anchorite and thinks only of his own wel- 

 fare. Above the hermit a vertical column 

 of Sheep-droppings blocks the dwelling. 

 There is often enough to fill the palm of 

 one's hand. 



How did the Minotaur acquire so much 

 wealth? He amasses it easily, being spared 

 the worry of seeking it, for he is always 

 careful to install himself near a copious def- 

 ecation. He gleans on the very threshold 

 of his door. When he thinks fit, especially 

 at night, he chooses from the heap of pellets 

 one to suit him. Using his clypeus as a le- 

 ver, he loosens it below; rolling it gently, 

 he brings it to the orifice of the pit, where 

 the booty is swallowed up. More follow, 

 one by one, all easily handled because of 

 the olive-like shape. They roll like casks 

 trundled by the cooper. 



When the Sacred Beetle proposes to go 

 banqueting underground far from the mad- 

 ding crowd, he packs his share of victuals 

 into a ball; he gives it its spherical form, 



77 



