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THE HOUSEHOLDER 



Field Cricket, the inhabitant of the meadows, 

 is almost as famous as the Cicada, and figures 

 among the limited but glorious number of 

 the classic insects. He owes this honour to 

 his song and his house. One thing alone is lacking to com- 

 plete his renown. The master of the art of making animals 

 talk, La Fontaine, gives him hardly two lines. 



Florian, the other French writer of fables, gives us a 

 story of a Cricket, but it lacks the simplicity of truth and the 

 saving salt of humour. Besides, it represents the Cricket as 

 discontented, bewailing his condition ! This is a preposterous 

 idea, for all who have studied him know, on the contrary, 

 that he is very well pleased with his own talent and his own 

 burrow. And indeed, at the end of the story, Florian makes 

 him admit : 



4 My snug little home is a place of delight ; 

 If you want to live happy, live hidden from sight ! ' 



I find more force and truth in some verses by a friend of 

 mine, of which these are a translation : 



THE CRICKET 



Among the beasts a tale is told 

 How a poor Cricket ventured nigh 



His door to catch the sun's warm gold 

 And saw a radiant Butterfly. 



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