And in a voice stifled by horror and fear he addressed this prayer to heaven:
"O Lord, my God, O thou who didst receive young Abel's sacrifices, thou who

didst curse Cain, avenge, O Lord, this innocent penguin sacrificed upon his
own field and make the murderer feel the weight of thy arm. Is there a more

odious crime, is there a graver offence against thy justice, O Lord, than this
murder and this robbery?"

"Take care, father," said Bulloch gently, "that what you call murder and
robbery may not really be war and conquest, those sacred foundations of

empires, those sources of all human virtues and all human greatness. Reflect,
above all, that in blaming the big penguin you are attacking property in its

origin and in its source. I shall have no trouble in showing you how. To till
the land is one thing, to possess it is another, and these two things must not

be confused; as regards ownership the right of the first occupier is uncertain
and badly founded. The right of conquest, on the other hand, rests on more

solid foundations. It is the only right that receives respect since it is the
only one that makes itself respected. The sole and proud origin of property is

force. It is born and preserved by force. In that it is august and yields only
to a greater force. This is why it is correct to say that he who possesses is

noble. And that big red man, when he knocked down a labourer to get possession
of his field, founded at that moment a very noble house upon this earth. I

congratulate him upon it."
Having thus spoken, Bulloch approached the big penguin, who was leaning upon

his club as he stood in the blood-stained furrow:
"Lord Greatauk, dreaded Prince," said he, bowing to the ground, "I come to pay

you the homage due to the founder of legitimate power and hereditarywealth.
The skull of the vile Penguin you have overthrown will, buried in your field,

attest for ever the sacred rights of your posterity over this soil that you
have ennobled. Blessed be your suns and your sons' sons! They shall be

Greatauks, Dukes of Skull, and they shall rule over this island of Alca."
Then raising his voice and turning towards the holy Mael:

"Bless Greatauk, father, for all power comes from God."
Mael remained silent and motionless, with his eyes raised towards heaven; he

felt a painfuluncertainty in judging the monk Bulloch's doctrine. It was,
however, the doctrine destined to prevail in epochs of advanced civilization.

Bulloch can be considered as the creator of civil law in Penguinia.
IV. THE FIRST ASSEMBLY OF THE ESTATES OF PENGUINIA

"Bulloch, my son," said old Mael, "we ought to make a census of the Penguins
and inscribe each of their names in a book."

"It is a most urgent matter," answered Bulloch, "there can be no good
government without it."

Forthwith, the apostle, with the help of twelve monks, proceeded to make a
census of the people.

And old Mael then said:
"Now that we keep a register of all the inhabitants, we ought, Bulloch, my

son, to levy a just tax so as to provide for public expenses and the
maintenance of the Abbey. Each ought to contribute according to his means. For

this reason, my son, call together the Elders of Alca, and in agreement with
them we shall establish the tax."

The Elders, being called together, assembled to the number of thirty under the
great sycamore in the courtyard of the woodenmonastery. They were the first

Estates of Penguinia. Three-fourths of them were substantial peasants of
Surelle and Clange. Greatauk, as the noblest of the Penguins, sat upon the

highest stone.
The venerable Mael took his place in the midst of his monks and uttered these

words:
"Children, the Lord when he pleases grants riches to men and he takes them

away from them. Now I have called you together to levy contributions from the
people so as to provide for public expenses and the maintenance of the monks.

I consider that these contributions ought to be in proportion to the wealth of
each. Therefore he who has a hundred oxen will give ten; he who has ten will

give one."
When the holy man had spoken, Morio, a, labourer at Anis-on-the-Clange, one of

the richest of the Penguins, rose up and said:
"O Father Mael, I think it right that each should contribute to the public

expenses and to the support of the Church. or my part I am ready to give up
all that I possess in the interest of my brother Penguins, and if it were

necessary I would even cheerfully part with my shirt. All the elders of the
people are ready, like me, to sacrifice their goods, and no one can doubt

their absolutedevotion to their country and their creed. We have, then, only
to consider the public interest and to do what it requires. Now, Father, what

it requires, what it demands, is not to ask much from those who possess much,
for then the rich would be less rich and the poor still poorer. The poor live

on the wealth of the rich and that is the reason why that wealth is sacred. Do
not touch it, to do so would be an uncalled for evil. You will get no great

profit by taking from the rich, for they are very few in number; on the
contrary you will strip yourself of all your resources and plunge the country

into misery. Whereas if you ask a little from each inhabitant without regard
to his wealth, you will collect enough for the public necessities and you will

have no need to enquire into each citizen's resources, a thing that would be
regarded by all as a most vexatious measure. By taxing all equally and easily

you will spare the poor, for you Will leave them the wealth of the rich. And
how could you possibly proportion taxes to wealth? Yesterday I had two hundred

oxen, to-day I have sixty, to-morrow I shall have a hundred. Clunic has three
cows, but they are thin; Nicclu has only two, but they are fat. Which is the

richer, Clunic or Nicclu? The signs of opulence are deceitful. What is certain
is that everyone eats and drinks. Tax people according to what they consume.

That would be wisdom and it would be justice."
Thus spoke Morio amid the applause of the Elders.

"I ask that this speech be graven on bronze," cried the monk, Bulloch. "It is
spoken for the future; in fifteen hundred years the best of the Penguins will

not speak otherwise."
The Elders were still applauding when Greatauk, his hand on the pommel of his

sword, made this brief declaration:
"Being noble, I shall not contribute; for to contribute is ignoble. It is for

the rabble to pay."
After this warning the Elders separated in silence.

As in Rome, a new census was taken every five years; and by this means it was
observed that the population increased rapidly. Although children died in

marvellous abundance and plagues and famines came with perfect regularity to
devastate entire villages, new Penguins, in continually greater numbers,

contributed by their private misery to the public prosperity.
V. THE MARRIAGE OF KRAKEN AND ORBEROSIA

During these times there lived in the island of Alca a Penguin whose arm was
strong and whose mind was subtle. He was called Kraken, and had his dwelling

on the Beach of Shadows whither the inhabitants never ventured for fear of
serpents that lodged in the hollows of the rocks and lest they might encounter

the souls of Penguins that had died without baptism. These, in appearance like
livid flames, and uttering doleful groans, wandered night and day along the

deserted beach. For it was generally believed, though without proof, that
among the Penguins that had been changed into men at the blessed Mael's

prayer, several had not received baptism and returned after their death to
lament amid the tempests. Kraken dwelt on this savage coast in an inaccessible

cavern. The only way to it was through a natural tunnel a hundred feet long,
the entrance of which was concealed by a thick wood. One evening as Kraken was

walking through this deserted plain he happened to meet a young and charming
woman Penguin. She was the one that the monk Magis had clothed with his own

hands and thus was the first to have worn the garments of chastity. In
remembrance of the day when the astonished crowd of Penguins had seen her

moving gloriously in her robe tinted like the dawn, this maiden had received
the name of Orberosia.*

* "Orb, poetically, a globe when speaking of the heavenly bodies. By extension
any species of globular body."--Littre

At the sight of Kraken she uttered a cry of alarm and darted forward to escape
from him. But the hero seized her by the garments that floated behind, her,

and addressed her in these words:
"Damsel, tell me thy name, thy family and thy country."

But Orberosia kept looking at Kraken with alarm.
"Is it you, I see, sir," she asked him, trembling, "or is it not rather your

troubled spirit?"
She spoke in this way because the inhabitants of Alca, having no news of

Kraken since he went to live on the Beach of Shadows, believed that he had
died and descended among the demons of night.

"Cease to fear, daughter of Alca," answered Kraken. "He who speaks to thee is
not a wandering spirit, but a man full of strength and might. I shall soon

possess great riches."
And young Orberosia asked: