y, if thou be that princely eagle's bird,
Show thy descent by gazing 'gainst the sun."--'3 Henry VI.,' ii. I.]

THE PHOENIX

There is a bird named the phoenix, which dwells in India and is never
found elsewhere. This bird is always alone and without companion, for
its like cannot be found, and there is no other bird which resembles it
in habits or appearance[8]. At the end of five hundred years it feels
that it has grown old, and loads itself with many rare and precious
spices, and flies from the desert away to the city of Leopolis. There,
by some sign or other, the coming of the bird is announced to a priest
of that city, who causes fagots to be gathered and placed upon a
beautiful altar, erected for the bird. And so, as I have said, the bird,
laden with spices, comes to the altar, and smiting upon the hard stone
with its beak, it causes the flame to leap forth and set fire to the
wood and the spices. When the fire is burning brightly, the phoenix lays
itself upon the altar and is burned to dust and ashes.

[Footnote 8: "Were man as rare as phoenix."--'As You Like It,' iv. 3.]

Then comes the priest and finds the ashes piled up, and separating them
softly he finds within a little worm, which gives forth an odor sweeter
than that of roses or of any other flower. The next day and the next the
priest comes again, and on the third day he finds that the worm has
become a full-grown and full-fledged bird, which bows low before him and
flies away, glad and joyous, nor returns again before five
hundred years[9].

[Footnote 9:
"But as when
The Bird of Wonder dies, the maiden phoenix,
Her ashes new create another heir."--'Henry VIII.,' v. 5.]

THE ANT

There is another kind of ant up in Ethiopia, which is of the shape and
size of dogs. They have strange habits, for they scratch into the ground
and extract therefrom great quantities of fine gold. If any one wishes
to take this gold from them, he soon repents of his undertaking; for the
ants run upon him, and if they catch him they devour him instantly. The
people who live near them know that they are fierce and savage, and that
they possess a great quantity of gold, and so they have invented a
cunning trick. They take mares which have unweaned foals, and give them
no food for three days. On the fourth the mares are saddled, and to the
saddles are fastened boxes that shine like gold. Between these people
and the ants flows a very swift r