springtime; it was therefore worshipped as a symbol of that season.

EUELPIDES
By Zeus! 'tis what I did myself one day on seeing a kite; but
at the moment I was on my knees, and leaning backwards[1] with mouth
agape, I bolted an obolus and was forced to carry my bag home empty.[2]

f[1] To look at the kite, who no doubt was flying high in the sky.
f[2] As already shown, the Athenians were addicted to carrying small
coins in their mouths. --This obolus was for the purpose of buying flour
to fill the bag he was carrying

PISTHETAERUS
The cuckoo was king of Egypt and of the whole of Phoenicia. When
he called out "cuckoo," all the Phoenicians hurried to the fields to
reap their wheat and their barley.[1]

f[1] In Phoenicia and Egypt the cuckoo makes its appearance about
harvest-time.

EUELPIDES
Hence no doubt the proverb, "Cuckoo! cuckoo! go to the fields,
ye circumcised."[1]

f[1] This was an Egyptian proverb, meaning, 'When the cuckoo sings we
go harvesting.' Both the Phoenicians and the Egyptians practised
circumcision.

PISTHETAERUS
So powerful were the birds that the kings of Grecian cities,