THE BIRDS 251
THE BIRDS
THE PLANS FOR THE CITY.
Peisthetairus.^ Euelpides. Hoopoe.
Scene. — A wild desolate country with a bare open prospect on one side, and some upright rocL• covered with shrubs and brushxvood in the centre of the stage. Peisthetairus and Euelpides appear as a couple of worn-out pedestrian travellers, the one with a raven and the other with a jackdaw on hL• hand. They appear to be seeking for a direction, from the motions and signah made to them by the Birds.
Euelpides [^speaking to his jachdaw']. Right on,
do ye say ? to the tree there in the distance ? Peisthetah'us [^speahing first to his raven, and then to his co7npanion~. Plague take ye I Why this creature calls us back ! Euelpides. What use can it answer tramping up and down ? We 're lost, I tell ye : our journey 's come to nothing. Peisthetairus. To think of me travelling a thousand stadia 6
With a raven for my adviser !
Euelpides. Think of me too,
Going at the instigation of a jackdaw, To wear my toes and my toe-nails to pieces !
Peisthetairus. I don't know even the country where
we 've got to. Euelpides. And yet you expect to find a country here, lo
A country for yourself !
Peisthetairus. Truly not I ;
^ Peithetaerus is the better form, but the translator's spelling has been preserved.
