And all the time the female penguins will cast down their eyes and bite
their lips, and take on airs as if they kept a treasure under their
clothes! . . . what a pity!

"The evil will be endurable as long as these people remain rude and
poor; but only wait for a thousand years and you will see, father, with
what powerful weapons you have endowed the daughters of Alca. If you
will allow me, I can give you some idea of it beforehand. I have some
old clothes in this chest. Let us take at hazard one of these female
penguins to whom the male penguins give such little thought, and let us
dress her as well as we can.

"Here is one coming towards us. She is neither more beautiful nor
uglier than the others; she is young. No one looks at her. She strolls
indolently along the shore, scratching her back and with her finger
at her nose as she walks. You cannot help seeing, father, that she has
narrow shoulders, clumsy breasts, a stout figure, and short legs. Her
reddish knees pucker at every step she takes, and there is, at each of
her joints, what looks like a little monkey's head. Her broad and sinewy
feet cling to the rock with their four crooked toes, while the great
toes stick up like the heads of two cunning serpents. She begins to
walk, all her muscles are engaged in the task, and, when we see them
working, we think of her as a machine intended for walking rather than
as a machine intended for making love, although visibly she is both,
and contains within herself several other pieces of machinery, besides.
Well, venerable apostle, you will see what I am going to make of her."

With these words the monk, Magis, reached the female penguin in three
bounds, lifted her up, carried her in his arms with her hair trailing
behind her, and threw her, overcome with fright, at the feet of the holy