MAY 89 



their eggs for his feast, v The sea gets up under 

 a kick from Setebos, and 



"... licks the whole labour flat." 



He takes pattern from his tormentor ; he sees 

 twenty crabs pass safely to the sea, and stones the 

 twenty-first. So Setebos ! He sees a bruised one 

 and gives it waywardly a worm ; one whose nippers 

 end in red, and gives it two worms. So he ! The 

 caprice of the little god is repeated in the mere 

 mortal, who visits on those weaker than himself 

 the indignities which he has first suffered. Our 

 Setebos of the garden vexes us fully as much as 

 Caliban's of the island vexed him 



"When all goes right, in this safe summer time, 

 And he wants little, hungers, aches not much, 

 Then, trying what to do with wit and strength, 

 Falls to make something." 



Our Setebos is ingenious. He makes a beautiful 

 plant and sets it in the border. The gardener sees 

 it and knows it for a stranger, and looks for blossom, 

 thinking that he has planted it in the autumn and 

 forgotten to note it in his book. It thrives as no 

 other plant in the garden has thriven ; in a single 

 season it has increased from a tiny leaflet to a large 

 clump. It is above everything a "good doer." 

 Late in summer, after much cherishing, it blossoms, 

 and proves to be a spurge or a yarrow of the 

 meanest sort. So Setebos ! 



He is malignant. He waits until the delphiniums 

 are safely above ground, and then he teases the 

 large black slugs and the small brown slugs, till 

 they leave the herbage of the orchard, which in 

 reality they like better than anything else, and 



