THE GUINEA-FOWL 77 



"The connection between this firebrand that was 

 reduced to ashes and Meleager 's end escapes you; I 

 hasten to throw some light on this point. I will tell 

 you then that at Meleager's birth a firebrand sud- 

 denly sprang from beneath the ground and began to 

 burn in the middle of the room, while a voice from 

 the depths, like an infernal rumbling, said: 'This 

 child will live until the firebrand is consumed.' " 



"Why, this is nothing but a fairy tale I" Jules ex- 

 claimed. 



"Very true. History here gives place to fable. 

 Now the firebrand was burning on the floor and 

 threatened soon to be entirely consumed. They has- 

 tened to pick it up and extinguish it with water. 

 From that time the mother preserved it with the 

 greatest care, as the most precious thing she had, 

 persuaded that her son would live to a great age, 

 when, crazed with grief at the news of her brothers ' 

 death, she threw it into the fire. As the subterra- 

 nean voice had said, the moment the firebrand was 

 consumed Meleager succumbed, devoured by an inner 

 fire." 



"It 's a good story," was Emile's comment, "but 

 I don't at all see what it has to do with the guinea- 

 fowl." 



"You will see in a minute," his uncle reassured 

 him. "Inconsolable at the death of their brother, 

 Meleager 's sisters unceasingly shed tears that rolled 

 like pearls over their mourning garments ; night and 

 day they filled the house with their distressing sobs. 

 Heaven had pity on them and changed them into 



