Parodos
Messenger
Oh! it was a truly clever invention;
the geese used their feet like spades; they buried them in the pile of mortar and then emptied them into the hods.
1145
Pisthetaerus
Ah! to what use cannot feet be put?
Messenger
You should have seen how eagerly the ducks carried bricks. To complete the tale,
the swallows came flying to the work, their beaks full of mortar and their trowels on their backs, just the way little children are carried.
1150
Pisthetaerus
Who would want paid servants after this? But tell me, who did the woodwork?
and clever carpenters too, the pelicans, for they squared up the gates with their beaks in such a fashion that one would have thought they were using axes; the noise was just like a dockyard. Now the whole wall is tight everywhere, securely bolted and well guarded;
1155
it is patrolled, bell in hand; the sentinels stand everywhere and beacons burn on the towers. But I must run off to clean myself; the rest is your business.
1160
Leader of the Chorus
Well! what do you say to it? Are you not astonished
at the wall being completed so quickly?
1165
Pisthetaerus
By the gods, yes, and with good reason. It's really not to be believed. But here comes another messenger from the wall to bring us some further news! What a fighting look he has!
Second Messenger
Alas! alas! alas! alas! alas! alas!
1170
Pisthetaerus
What's the matter?
Second Messenger
A horrible outrage has occurred; a god sent by Zeus has passed through our gates and has penetrated the realms of the air without the knowledge of the jays, who are on guard in the daytime.
Pisthetaerus
It's a terrible and criminal deed. What god was it?
1175
Second Messenger
We don't know that. All we know is, that he has got wings.
Pisthetaerus
Why were not patrolmen sent against him at once?
Second Messenger
We have despatched thirty thousand hawks of the legion of Mounted Archers.
All the hook-clawed birds are moving against him, the kestrel, the buzzard, the vulture, the great-horned owl; they cleave the air so that it resounds with the flapping of their wings; they are looking everywhere for the god, who cannot be far away; indeed, if I mistake not,
1180
he is coming from yonder side.
1185
Pisthetaerus
To arms, all, with slings and bows! This way, all our soldiers; shoot and strike! Some one give me a sling!
1185
[Lyric-Scene 1]
War, a terrible war is breaking out
Chorus
between us and the gods! Come, let each one guard Air, the son of Erebus, in which the clouds float.
1190
Take care no immortal enters it without your knowledge.
1195
Leader of the Chorus
Scan all sides with your glance. Hark! methinks I can hear the rustle of the swift wings of a god from heaven.
Pisthetaerus
Hi! you woman! where, where, where are you flying to? Halt, don't stir!
keep motionless! not a beat of your wing!
She pauses in her flight. Who are you and from what country? You must say whence you come.
1200
Iris
I come from the abode of the Olympian gods.
Pisthetaerus
What's your name, ship or head-dress?
