CHAPTER XXXI 



THE UNWRITTEN LAW 



HIS is the law of the All- 

 Mother, the more immova- 

 ble because unwritten; this 

 is the law of surfeit. 



Many foods there are 

 which are wholesome, except that they 

 have in them a measure of poison. 



For these the All-Mother has endowed 

 the wild things' bodies with a subtle an- 

 tidote, which continues self -replenishing 

 so long as the containing flask is never 

 wholly emptied. But if it so chance that 

 in some time of fearful stress the flask is 

 emptied, turned upside down, drained 

 dry, it never more will fill. The small 



[ 207] 



