"It is true," said Magis as he cast his eyes over the coast where the penguins

were to be seen looking for shrimps, gathering mussels, singing, or sleeping,
"they are naked. But do you not think, father, that it would be better to

leave them naked? Why clothe them? When they wear clothes and are under the
moral law they will assume an immense pride, a vile hypocrisy, and an

excessive cruelty."
"Is it possible, my son," sighed the old man, "that you understand so badly

the effects of the moral law to which even the heathensubmit?"
"The moral law," answered Magis, "forces men who are beasts to live otherwise

than beasts, a thine that doubtless puts a constraint upon them, but that also
flatters and reassures them; and as they are proud, cowardly, and covetous of

pleasure, they willinglysubmit to restraints that tickle their vanity and on
which they found both their present security and the hope of their future

happiness. That is the principle of all morality. . . . But let us not mislead
ourselves. My companions are unloading their cargo of stuffs and skins on the

island. Think, father, while there is still time I To clothe the penguins is a
very serious business. At present when a penguin desires a penguin he knows

precisely what he desires and his lust is limited by an exact knowledge of its
object. At this moment two or three couples of penguins are making love on the

beach. See with what simplicity! No one pays any attention and the actors
themselves do not seem to be greatly preoccupied. But when the female penguins

are clothed, the male penguin will not form so exact a notion of what it is
that attracts him to them. His indeterminate desires will fly out into all

sorts of dreams and illusions; in short, father, he will know love and its mad
torments. 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 Mael.

And whilst she wept and begged him to do her no harm, he took a pair of
sandals out of his chest and commanded her to put them on.

"Her feet," observed the old man, "will appear smaller when squeezed in by the
woollen cords. The soles, being two fingers high, will give an elegant length

to her legs and the weight they bear will seem magnified."
As the penguin tied on her sandals she threw a curious look towards the open

coffer, and seeing that it was full of jewels and finery, she smiled through
her tears.

The monk twisted her hair on the back of her head and covered it with a
chaplet of flowers. He encircled her wrist with golden bracelets and making

her stand upright, he passed a large linen band beneath her breasts, alleging
that her bosom would therebyderive a new dignity and that her sides would be

compressed to the greater glory of her hips.
He fixed this band with pins, taking them one by one out of his mouth.

"You can tighten it still more," said the penguin.
When he had, with much care and study, enclosed the soft parts of her bust in

this way, he covered her whole body with a rose-coloured tunic which gently
followed the lines of her figure.

"Does it hang well?" asked the penguin.
And bending forward with her head on one side and her chin on her shoulder,

she kept looking attentively at the appearance of her toilet.
Magis asked her if she did not think the dress a little long, but she answered

with assurance that it was not--she would hold it up.
Immediately, taking the back of her skirt in her left hand, she drew it

obliquely across her hips, taking care to disclose a glimpse of her heels.
Then she went away, walking with short steps and swinging her hips.

She did not turn her head, but as she passed near a stream she glanced out of
the corner of her eye at her own reflection.

A male penguin, who met her by chance, stopped in surprise, and retracing his
steps began to follow her. As she went along the shore, others coming back

from fishing, went up to her, and after looking at her, walked behind her.
Those who were lying on the sand got up and joined the rest.

Unceasingly, as she advanced, fresh penguins, descending from the paths of the
mountain, coming out of clefts of the rocks, and emerging from the water,

added to the size of her retinue.
And all of them, men of ripe age with vigorous shoulders and hairy breasts,

agile youths, old men shaking the multitudinous wrinkles of their rosy, and
white-haired skins, or dragging their legs thinner and drier than the juniper

staff that served them as a third leg, hurried on, panting and emitting an
acrid odour and hoarse gasps. Yet she went on peacefully" target="_blank" title="ad.平静地；安宁地">peacefully and seemed to see

nothing.
"Father," cried Magis, "notice how each one advances with his nose pointed

towards the centre of gravity of that young damsel now that the centre is
covered by a garment. The sphere inspires the meditations of geometers by the

number of its properties. When it proceeds from a physical and living nature
it acquires new qualities, and in order that the interest of that figure might

be fully revealed to the penguins it was necessary that, ceasing to see it
distinctly with their eyes, they should be led to represent it to themselves

in their minds. I myself feel at this moment irresistibly attracted towards
that penguin. Whether it be because her skirt gives more importance to her

hips, and that in its simple magnificence it invests them with a synthetic and
general character and allows only the pure idea, the divine principle, of them

to be seen, whether this be the cause I cannot say, but I feel that if I
embraced her I would hold in my hands the heaven of human pleasure. It is

certain that modesty communicates an invincible attraction to women. My
uneasiness is so great that it would be vain for me to try to conceal it."

He spoke, and, gathering up his habit, he rushed among the crowd of penguins,
pushing, jostling, trampling, and crushing, until he reached the daughter of

Alca, whom he seized and suddenly carried in his arms into a cave that had
been hollowed out by the sea.

Then the penguins felt as if the sun had gone out. And the holy Mael knew that
the Devil had taken the features of the monk, Magis, in order that he might

give clothes to the daughter of Alca. He was troubled in spirit, and his soul
was sad. As with slow steps he went towards his hermitage he saw the little

penguins of six and seven years of age tightening their waists with belts made
of sea-weed and walking along the shore to see if anybody would follow them.

II. THE FIRST CLOTHES (Continuation and End)
The holy Mael felt a profoundsadness that the first clothes put upon a

daughter of Alca should have betrayed the penguin modesty instead of helping
it. He persisted, none the less, in his design of giving clothes to the

inhabitants of the miraculous island. Assembling them on the shore, he
distributed to them the garments that the monks of Yvern had brought. The male

penguins received short tunics and breeches, the female penguins long robes.
But these robes were far from creating the effect that the former one had

produced. They were not so beautiful, their shape was uncouth and without art,
and no attention was paid to them since every woman bad one. As they prepared

the meals and worked in the fields they soon had nothing but slovenly bodices
and soiled petticoats.

The male penguins loaded their fortunate" target="_blank" title="a.不幸的，运气差的">unfortunate consorts with work until they
looked like beasts of burden. They knew nothing of the troubles of the heart

and the disorders of passion. Their habits were innocent. Incest, though
frequent, was a sign of rusticsimplicity and if drunkenness led a youth to

commit some such crime he thought nothing more about it the day afterwards.
III. SETTING BOUNDS TO THE FIELDS AND THE ORIGIN OF PROPERTY

The island did not preserve the rugged appearance that it had formerly, when,
in the midst of floating icebergs it sheltered a population of birds within

its rocky amphitheatre. Its snow-clad peak had sunk down into a hill from the
summit of which one could see the coasts of Armorica eternally covered with