THE GOLDEN EAGLE. 163 



might, of the giant strength with which he swings his 

 pinions, and with them beats down the air ! For when 

 carrying away an animal, he does not merely fly with 

 it from the valley in the neighbourhood of his eyrie, 

 but he bears it often from distant plains, lying low 

 down on the other side of those mountain ranges which 

 separate people from each other. High up, even into 

 the clouds, he mounts with his booty firmly clutched 

 in his ruthless and destroying talons; and with the 

 young chamois kid suspended beneath him, away he 

 sails buoyantly, traversing half a kingdom, to his home. 

 Besides his strength of wing, with what muscular power 

 must those thighs be knit, thus to uphold such a weight 

 for hours I 



His limbs are those of an athlete, fitted for vigorous 

 action. And what an eye the creature has ! It seems 

 to have caught the fire of the lightning as it rushed 

 past him from the cloud : as if the subtler power were 

 lurking there, ready to be launched forth, to search out, 

 to scathe, and to destroy. Even in prison it is not 

 quenched ; and as you stare at him through the bars — 

 though were he free he would certainly avoid you — he 

 meets your eye \^dth a steady gaze in no wise daunted, 

 but as if expecting and ready for an attack. How 

 much of untamed savage nature still kindles in that 

 orb with the small tongue of flame playing in the 

 centre ! 



M 2 



