The Cicada: the Transformation 



This detail of the unbroken covering tells 

 us at what season the toothsome dainty 

 should be picked. It cannot be in winter, 

 when the earth is dug deep by the plough, 

 for at that time there is no danger of the 

 larva's hatching. People do not recommend 

 an utterly superflous precaution. It is there- 

 fore in summer, at the period of the emer- 

 gence from underground, when a good 

 search will discover the larvae, one by one, 

 on the surface of the soil. This is the real 

 moment to take care that the wrapper is 

 unbroken. It is the moment also to hasten 

 the gathering and the preparations for cook- 

 ing: in a very few minutes the wrapper will 

 burst. 



Are the ancient culinary reputation and 

 that appetizing epithet, suavissimas gustu, 

 well-deserved? We have an excellent oppor- 

 tunity: let us profit by it and restore to 

 honour, if the occasion warrant it, the dish 

 extolled by Aristotle. Rondelet, 1 Rabelais' 

 erudite friend, gloried in having redisco- 



1 Guillaume Rondelet (1507-1566), a physician and 

 naturalist, author of various works on medicine and of 

 an Uni<versa piscium historia (Lyons, 1554) which earned 

 him the title of father of ichthyology. Rabelais intro- 

 duces hirri into his Pantagruel by the name of Rondibilis. 

 Translator's Note. 



51 



