Preface 



THE INSECT'S HOMER 



I 



Orange and Serignan, the latter a little Pro- 

 vengal village that should be as widely cele- 

 brated as Maillane,^ have of late years rendered 

 honour to a man whose brow deserves to be 

 girt with a double and radiant crown. But 

 fame — at least that which is not the true nor 

 the great fame, but her illegitimate sister, and 

 which creates more noise than durable work in 

 the morning and evening papers — fame is often 

 forgetful, negligent, behindhand or unjust ; and 

 the crowd is almost ignorant of the name of 

 J. H. Fabre, who is one of the most profound 

 and inventive scholars and also one of the 

 purest writers and, I was going to add, one of 

 the finest poets of the century that is just 

 past. 



^ Maillane is the birthplace of Mistral, the Provencal poet 

 — Translator's Note. 



