f[1] A king of Thrace, a son of Ares, who married Procne, the daughter
of Pandion, King of Athens, whom he had assisted against the Megarians.
He violated his sister-in-law, Philomela, and then cut out her
tongue; she nevertheless managed to convey to her sister how she had
been treated. They both agreed to kill Itys, whom Procne had borne
to Tereus, and dished up the limbs of his own son to the father;
at the end of the meal Philomela appeared and threw the child's head
upon the table. Tereus rushed with drawn sword upon the princesses,
but all the actors in this terrible scene were metamorph[o]sed. Tereus
became an Epops (hoopoe), Procne a swallow, Philomela a nightingale,
and Itys a goldfinch. According to Anacreon and Apollodorus it was
Procne who became the nightingale and Philomela the swallow, and this
is the version of the tradition followed by Aristophanes.
f[2] An Athenian who had some resemblance to a jay--so says
the scholiast, at any rate.
PISTHETAERUS
Not even the vestige of a track in any direction.
EUELPIDES
And what does the crow say about the road to follow?
PISTHETAERUS
By Zeus, it no longer croaks the same thing it did.
EUELPIDES
And which way does it tell us to go now?
PISTHETAERUS
It says that, by dint of gnawing, it will devour my fingers.
EUELPIDES
What misfortune is ours! we strain every nerve to get to the birds,[1]
do everything we can to that end, and we cannot find our way!
Yes, spectators, our madness is quite different from that of Sacas.
He is not a citizen, and would fain be one at any cost; we, on the
contrary, born of an honourable tribe and family and living in the midst
of our fellow-citizens, we have fled from our country as hard as ever
we could go. 'Tis not that we hate it; we recognize it to be great
and rich, likewise that everyone has the right to ruin himself; but
the crickets only chirrup among the fig-trees for a month or two,
whereas the Athenians spend their whole lives in chanting forth
judgments from their law-courts.[2] That is why we started off
with a basket, a stew-pot and some myrtle boughs[3] and have come
to seek a quiet country in which to settle. We are going to Tereus,
the Epops, to learn from him, whether, in his aerial flights,
he has noticed some town of this kind.
f[1] Literally, 'to go to the crows,' a proverbial expression
equivalent to our 'going to the devil.'
f[2] They leave Athens because of their hatred of lawsuits and informers;
this is the especial failing of the Athenians satirized in 'The Wasps.'
f[3] Myrtle boughs were used in sacrifices, and the founding of every
colony was started by a sacrifice.
PISTHETAERUS
Here! look!
EUELPIDES
What's the matter?
PISTHETAERUS
Why, the crow has been pointing me to something up there for some
time now.
EUELPIDES
And the jay is also opening its beak and craning its neck to show
me I know not what. Clearly, there are some birds about here.
We shall soon know, if we kick up a noise to start them.
PISTHETAERUS
Do you know what to do? Knock your leg against this rock.
EUELPIDES
And you your head to double the noise.
PISTHETAERUS
Well then use a stone instead; take one and hammer with it.
EUELPIDES
Good idea! Ho there, within! Slave! slave!
PISTHETAERUS
What's that, friend! You say, "slave," to summon Epops! It would
be much better to shout, "Epops, Epops!"
EUELPIDES
Well then, Epops! Must I knock again? Epops!
TROCHILUS
Who's there? Who calls my master?
PISTHETAERUS
Apollo the Deliverer! what an enormous beak![1]
f[1] The actors wore masks made to resemble the birds they were supposed
to represent.
TROCHILUS
Good god! they are bird-catchers.
EUELPIDES
The mere sight of him petrifies me with terror. What a horrible monster.
TROCHILUS
Woe to you!
EUELPIDES
But we are not men.
TROCHILUS
What are you, then?
EUELPIDES
I am the Fearling, an African bird.
TROCHILUS
You talk nonsense.
EUELPIDES
Well, then, just ask it of my feet.[1]
f[1] Fear had had disastrous effects upon Euelpides' internal
economy, and this his feet evidenced.
TROCHILUS
And this other one, what bird is it?
PISTHETAERUS
I? I am a Cackling,[1] from the land of the pheasants.
f[1] The same mishap had occurred to Pisthetaerus.
EUELPIDES
But you yourself, in the name of the gods! what animal are you?
TROCHILUS
Why, I am a slave-bird.
EUELPIDES
Why, have you been conquered by a cock?
TROCHILUS
No, but when my master was turned into a peewit, he begged me to
become a bird too, to follow and to serve him.
EUELPIDES
Does a bird need a servant, then?
TROCHILUS
'Tis no doubt because he was a man. At times he wants to eat a dish
of loach from Phalerum; I seize my dish and fly to fetch him some.
Again he wants some pea-soup; I seize a ladle and a pot and run
to get it.
EUELPIDES
This is, then, truly a running-bird.[1] Come, Trochilus, do us the
kindness to call your master.
f[1] The Greek word for a wren is derived from the same root as 'to run.'
TROCHILUS
Why, he has just fallen asleep after a feed of myrtle-berries
and a few grubs.
EUELPIDES
Never mind; wake him up.
TROCHILUS
I an certain he will be angry. However, I will wake him to please
you.
PISTHETAERUS
You cursed brute! why, I am almost dead with terror!
EUELPIDES
Oh! my god! 'twas sheer fear that made me lose my jay.
PISTHETAERUS
Ah! you great coward! were you so frightened that you let go your jay?
EUELPIDES
And did you not lose your crow, when you fell sprawling on the ground?
Pray tell me that.
PISTHETAERUS
No, no.
EUELPIDES
Where is it, then?
PISTHETAERUS
It has flown away.
EUELPIDES
Then you did not let it go? Oh! you brave fellow!
EPOPS
Open the forest,[1] that I may go out!
f[1] No doubt there was some scenery to represent a forest. Besides,
there is a pun intended. The words answering for 'forests' and 'door'
in Greek only differ slightly in sound.
EUELPIDES
By Heracles! what a creature! what plumage! What means this triple crest?
EPOPS
Who wants me?
EUELPIDES
The twelve great gods have used you ill, meseems.
EPOPS
Are you chaffing me about my feathers? I have been a man, strangers.
EUELPIDES
'Tis not you we are jeering at.
EPOPS
At what, then?
EUELPIDES
Why, 'tis your beak that looks so odd to us.
EPOPS
This is how Sophocles outrages me in his tragedies. Know, I once
was Tereus.[1]
f[1] Sophocles had written a tragedy about Tereus, in which, no doubt,
the king finally appears as a hoopoe.
EUELPIDES
You were Tereus, and what are you now? a bird or a peacock?[1]
f[1] [O]ne would expect the question to be "bird or man." --Are you
a peacock? The hoopoe resembles the peacock inasmuch as both have crests.
EPOPS
I am a bird.
EUELPIDES
Then where are your feathers? For I don't see them.
EPOPS
They have fallen off.
EUELPIDES
Through illness?
EPOPS
No. All birds moult their feathers, you know, every winter,
and others grow in their place. But tell me, who are you?
EUELPIDES
We? We are mortals.
EPOPS
From what country?
EUELPIDES
From the land of the beautiful galleys.[1]
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