THE BIRDS. 159

For if thy Zeus shall vex me more, I send
My eagles armed with firebrands who shall lay
The towers of heaven in ashes. And for thee,
Madam, depart in haste and shun thy fate.”

Iris. “My father shall speak to you.”

Plaus. “No, no, my dear; you must find some
younger man.”’?

Iris immediately flew off skywards.

A herald now arrived with the news of the extraor-
dinary popularity of the birds among mankind.
Everybody was devoted to them. Before the new
city was founded Spartan ways were all the fashion.
Men walked about the streets with their hair long,
half-starved themselves, and did as little washing as
Socrates. Now, birds were the rage— men rose
with the lark, hatched plots against each other, in
fact did their best to make themselves like winged
creatures. The new city must therefore prepare for
a great immigration. There would be at least ten
thousand applications for citizenship, and all the new-
comers would of course want wings. Of these the
authorities of Cloud Cuckoo Land at once set them-
selves to lay ina store. While they were thus en-
gaged the new arrivals began to drop in. The first
was a young fellow who sang as he came : —

“Td fain be an eagle who soars on high,
O’er the land and the rolling sea to fly.”

1 He affects to understand her as referring him to her father, as a
girl might refer a suitor who aspired to her hand.