The Oyster.—For Treachery

The Alepo, a Fish.

The fish alepo does not live out of water.

The Ostrich.

This bird converts iron into nourishment, and hatches its eggs by its gaze;—Armies under commanders.

The Swan.

The swan is white without any spot, and it sings sweetly as it dies, its life ending with that song.

The Stork.

This bird, by drinking saltwater purges itself of distempers. If the male finds his mate unfaithful, he abandons her; and when it grows old its young ones brood over it, and feed it till it dies.

H.1 14a]

1238.

The Grasshopper.

This silences the cuckoo with its song. It dies in oil and revives in vinegar. It sings in the greatest heats

The Bat.

The more light there is the blinder this creature becomes; as those who gaze most at the sun become most dazzled.—For Vice, that cannot remain where Virtue appears.

The Partridge.

This bird changes from the female into the male and forgets its former sex; and out of envy it steals the eggs from others and hatches them, but the young ones follow the true mother.

The Swallow.

This bird gives sight to its blind young ones by means of celandine.

H.1 14b]

1239.

This creature, when the moon is full opens itself wide, and when the crab looks in he throws in a piece of rock or seaweed and the oyster cannot close again, whereby it serves for food to that crab. This is what happens to him who opens his mouth to tell his secret. He becomes the prey of the treacherous hearer.