The Spanish Copris; the Eggs 



divides his lump into smaller lumps, each of 

 which will become a loaf. The Copris does 

 the same thing. By means of a circular cut 

 made with the sharp edge of her shield and 

 the saw of her fore-legs, she detaches from 

 the mass a piece of the prescribed size. 

 With this stroke there is no hesitation, no 

 aftertouches adding a bit here and taking 

 off a bit there. Straight away and with one 

 sharp, decisive cut, she obtains the proper- 

 sized lump. 



It now becomes a question of shaping It. 

 Clasping It as best she can in her short arms, 

 so little adapted, one would think, to work 

 of this kind, the Copris rounds her lump 

 of dough by means of pressure and of 

 pressure only. Gravely she moves about 

 on the still shapeless pill, climbs up, climbs 

 down, turns to right and left, above and 

 below; here she methodically applies a little 

 more pressure, there a little less, touching 

 and retouching with unvarying patience, and 

 finally, after twenty-four hours of It, the piece 

 that was all corners has become a perfect 

 sphere, the size of a plum. There, in her 

 crowded studio, with scarcely room to move, 

 the podgy artist has completed her work 

 without once shaking it on its base; by dint 

 of time and patience she has obtained the 



197 



