For fine and forfeiture and confiscation,
With taxes universally diffused;
And suits and pleas abounding in the Courts.
For grasshoppers sit only for a month
Chirping upon the twigs; but our Athenians 40
Sit chirping and discussing all the year,
Perched upon points of evidence and law.
Therefore we trudge upon our present travels,
With these our sacrificial implements,
To seek some easier unlitigious place;
Meaning to settle there and colonise. 45
Our present errand is in search of Tereus,
(The Hoopoe that is now) to learn from him
If in his expeditions, flights, and journeys,
He ever chanced to light on such a spot.
Peis. Holloh!
Eu. What's that?
Peis. My Raven here points upwards.
Decidedly!
Eu. Ay, and here's my Jackdaw too, 50
Gaping as if she saw something above.
Yes,—I'll be bound for it; this must be the place:
We'll make a noise, and know the truth of it.
Peis. Then "kick against the rock."[1]
Eu. Knock you your head
Against the rock!—and make it a double knock! 55
Peis. Then fling a stone at it!
Eu. With all my heart,
Holloh there!
Peis. What do you mean with your Holloh?
You should cry Hoop for a Hoopoe.
Eu. Well then, Hoop!
Hoop and holloh, there! Hoopoe, Hoopoe, I say!
Tr. What's here? Who's bawling there? Who wants my master? 60
[The door is opened, and both parties start at seeing each other.
Eu. Oh mercy, mighty Apollo! what a beak!
Tr. Out! out upon it! a brace of bird-catchers!
Eu. No, no! don't be disturbed; think better of us.
- ↑ "To kick against the rock" was proverbial.
