THE WILD BOAR. 13 



children annoys him. He strolls about and furrows the 

 ground ^^ithout a companion ; and in the thicket where 

 the undergrowth is densest he makes himself a bed, just 

 large enough, and no more, for his own person ; and 

 here he will lie alone, meditating perchance on the 

 perversity of himian nature as shown in the invention of 

 gunpowder. 



Or, especially if it be warm weather, he will seek out 

 some oozy pool, where there is more mud than water, 

 or a morass ; and there, quite covered, except the 

 head, ^\dll sit for hours. On leaving such a bath these 

 creatures have a strange appearance : their bristles are 

 clotted with earth and the clayey soil, which, when dry, 

 covers them like armour. 



But in sjDeaking of the female animal one feature 

 must not be forgotten, praiseworthy and — though it be 

 said of a ^41d-boar, yet not said jokingly — really 

 lovable. Should a litter have been deprived of a 

 mother's care, the little orphans are sure to be adopted 

 by another, who leads them about and protects them as 

 though they were her own. 



The full-gro^\Ti male, for another reason, independent 

 of his courage, deserves the appellation which among old 

 German wood-craftsmen has always been assigned 

 him, that of " ein ritterliches Thier ; " i. e. a knightly 

 or valiant beast. Be he wounded never so painfully, he 

 utters no cry. He may snort with rage and with agony. 



