The Sacred Beetle 



several days later just where I left it, stuck 

 at the top of a pin or in a hole, proving that 

 nothing fresh had happened in my absence. 

 A ball abandoned from necessity is a ball 

 abandoned for good, with no attempt at 

 salvage with the aid of others. A dexterous 

 use of wedge and lever to set the ball rolling 

 again is therefore, when all is said, the great- 

 est intellectual effort which I have observed 

 in the Sacred Beetle. To make up for what 

 the experiment refutes, namely an appeal for 

 help among fellow-workers, I gladly chroni- 

 cle this feat of mechanical prowess for the 

 Dung-beetles' greater glory. 



Directing their steps at random, over 

 sandy plains thick with thyme, over cart-ruts 

 and steep places, the two Beetle brethren roll 

 the ball along for some time, thus giving 

 its substance a certain consistency which may 

 be to their liking. While still on the road, 

 they select a favourable spot. The rightful 

 owner, the Beetle who throughout has kept 

 the place of honour, behind the ball, the one 

 in short who has done almost all the carting 

 by himself, sets to work to dig the dining- 

 room. Beside him is the ball, with number 

 two clinging to it, shamming dead. Num- 

 ber one attacks the sand with his sharp- 



33 



