CHAPTER VII 



THE PSYCHES 



I 



A WELL-DRESSED CATERPILLAR 



IN the springtime, those who have eyes to see may find 

 a surprise on old walls and dusty roads. Certain tiny 

 faggots, for no apparent reason, set themselves in 

 motion and make their way along by sudden jerks. 

 The lifeless comes to life : the immovable moves. This is 

 indeed amazing. If we look closer, however, we shall solve 

 the riddle. 



Enclosed within the moving bundle is a fair-sized Cater- 

 pillar, prettily striped with black and white. He is seeking 

 for food, and perhaps for some spot where he can turn into a 

 Moth. He hurries along timidly, dressed in a queer garment 

 of twigs, which completely covers the whole of him except 

 his head and the front part of his body, with its six short 

 legs. At the least alarm he disappears entirely into his case, 

 and does not budge again. This is the secret of the walking 

 bundle of sticks. It is a Faggot Caterpillar, belonging to 

 the group known as the Psyches. 



To protect himself from the weather the chilly, bare- 

 skinned Psyche builds himself a portable shelter, a travelling 

 cottage which the owner never leaves until he becomes a 

 Moth. It is, indeed, something better than a hut on wheels, 

 with a thatched roof to it : it is more like a hermit's frock, 

 made of an unusual kind of material. In the valley of the 

 Danube the peasant wears a goatskin cloak fastened with a 

 belt of rushes. The Psyche wears even rougher raiment 



