The Sacred Beetle and Others 



in the prospect of wealth, the halfpenny 

 which they would receive for such bullets as 

 they found, the halfpenny which would en- 

 able them to buy two peppermint bull's-eyes 

 next Sunday, two of the big ones, at a 

 farthing apiece, from the woman at the stall 

 outside the church. 



I accost the tallest, whose sharp face 

 gives me some hope of him; the little ones 

 stand round, eating their apples. I explain 

 what I want and show them the Sacred 

 Beetle rolling his ball; I tell them that in 

 some such ball, hidden somewhere or other 

 underground, there is occasionally a little 

 hollow place and in that hollow a little 

 worm. The thing to do is to dig around 

 at random, keeping an eye on what the 

 Beetles are doing, and to find the ball con- 

 taining the worm. Balls without a worm 

 don't count. And, to tempt them with a 

 fabulous sum which shall henceforth divert 

 to my purposes the time devoted to a few 

 farthings' worth of lead, I promise to pay 

 a franc, a shiny new twenty-sou piece, for 

 each occupied ball. At the mention of this 

 sum, those adorably innocent eyes open their 

 widest. I have upset all their ideas of 

 finance by naming this fanciful price. Then, 

 to show that my proposal is serious, I 



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