22 ARISTOPHANES.

rush-mats, lamp-wicks, ducks, jackdaws, partridges,
coots, sandpipers, divers.”

“Why, you are like a north wind in winter, with
all the birds you bring.”

“Yes, and I’ve got geese, and hares, and foxes,
and moles, and hedgehogs, and weasels, and moun-
tain cats, and—what do you think?—eels from
Copais!” roy }

“What! Eels? Let me see the eels.”

The Boeotian held out a fine eel in his hand, and
addressed it with profound respect : —

“First-born of fifty daughters of the lake,
Come forth and greet the stranger.”

The Athenian answered in a similar strain : —

“O my child,
O long regretted and recovered late,
Welcome, thrice welcome! Hark ye there, my man. .
Prepare the stove, the bellows, and behold,
At last behold her here, the best of eels,
Loveliest and best, after six weary years
Returned to bless us. Bear her gently in.
O eel, so fair thou art, that e’en in death
Still would I fain possess thee — stewed with beet!”

Beotian. “Yes, very good; but what are you
going to give me for her?”

Hon, “Oh! I take this as a sort of perquisite; but
if you have anything else for sale I shall be glad to
buy.”