THE holy Mael felt a profound sadness that the first clothes put upon a daughter of Alca should have betrayed the penguin¹ modesty² instead of helping³ it. He persisted, none the less, in his design of giving clothes to the inhabitants of the miraculous⁴ island. Assembling them on the shore, he distributed to them the garments that the monks⁵ of Yvern had brought. The male penguins⁶ received short tunics⁷ 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 uncouth⁸ and without art, and no attention was paid to them since every woman had one. As they prepared the meals and worked in the fields they soon had nothing but slovenly⁹ bodices and soiled petticoats.

The male penguins loaded their unfortunate consorts¹⁰ with work until they looked like beasts of burden. They knew nothing of the troubles of the heart and the disorders¹¹ of passion. Their habits were innocent. Incest, though frequent, was a sign of rustic¹² simplicity¹³ and if drunkenness led a youth to commit some such crime he thought nothing more about it the day afterwards.

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