CHAP, viii..' OPPIAN'S TALE. 339 



for those hot and outlandish countries where ginger at 

 this day is said to grow ; but, by this example, such as 

 it is. we are admonished of this at least, if of nothing 

 else, that kindness and hospitality ought to be highly 

 esteemed among men. 



Another most elegant tale, continues good Aldro- 

 vandi, about the gratitude of these birds is extant in 

 Oppian. It is reputed, he says, in Italy, that when a 

 certain serpent, creeping to a Stork's nest, had devoured 

 their young, and again had similarly destroyed the pro- 

 geny of the following year, the Storks, on their return 

 the third year, brought with them a new bird never 

 seen before, which was not so tall as the Storks, and 

 had a large bill as sharp as a sword. The calamitous 

 case of their offspring had been communicated to it, 

 and it had been induced either by promises or persua- 

 sions to render them assistance ; for, whether birds and 

 other animals can interchange with each other the con- 

 versation which is unintelligible to us, may be pro- 

 nounced doubtful. This bird was not intimately con- 

 nected with the Storks till their laying was ended ; but 

 when the young were hatched, and the parents had to 

 fly to a distance to procure food both for them and for 

 the guardian bird, it never quitted the nest, in order 

 that it might resist the serpent. The serpent, there- 

 fore, soon afterwards stole from its hiding place, and 

 attacked the Storklings, and though the guardian bird 

 assailed it with its bill, it did not retreat at once, but 

 gave battle with body erect, and tail firmly fixed, and 

 tried to entangle the warden in its folds. While the 

 serpent was thus striving to destroy, and the bird to 

 preserve, the little Storks, the former fell pierced with 

 many wounds, but not unrevenged ; for in the conflict 



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