in a piteous tone, as if it could have told a
lamentable story, had it only been gifted with
human language. And when he attempted to
drive it away, the bird flew no farther than the
bough of the next tree, and again came fluttering
about his head, with its doleful chirp, as soon as
he showed a purpose of going forward.

"Have you any thing to tell me, little bird?"
asked Ulysses.

And he was ready to listen attentively to
whatever the bird might communicate; for, at
the siege of Troy, and elsewhere, he had known
such odd things to happen, that he would not
have considered it much out of the common run
had this little feathered creature talked as plainly
as himself.

"Peep!' said the bird, "peep, peep, pe
weep!" And nothing else would it say, but
only, "Peep, peep, pe weep!" in a melan-
choly cadence, and over and over and over
again. As often as Ulysses moved forward,
however, the bird showed the greatest alarm, and
did its best to drive him back, with the anxious
flutter of its purple wings. Its unaccountable
behavior made him conclude, at last, that the

[[166]]

p165 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p166w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p167

v?