The female was indifferent to him and to all; she strode calmly about
the glade, pecked at the ground, caught a mouse and quietly swallowed
it. She appeared to pay no attention to the males.
It was thus all night long.
But when the night began to pale and over the east lay the greenish-
blue outline of dawn, she moved close to him who had conquered the
rest, leaned her back against his breast, tipped his injured wing
tenderly with her bill--as though she would nurse and dress it; then
slowly rising from the ground, she flew towards the ravine.
And he, moving his injured wing painfully but without heeding it,
emitting shrill cries of joy, flew after her.
She came down just by the roots of that pine where afterwards they
built their nest.
The male perched beside her. He was irresolute and apparently
abashed.
The female strutted several times round him, scenting him again.
Then, pressing her breast to the ground, tail uplifted, her eyes
half-closed--she waited. The male threw himself towards her, seized
her comb with his bill, clapping the ground with his heavy wings; and
through his veins there coursed such a wonderful ecstasy, such
invigorating joy, that he was dazzled, feeling nothing else save this
delicious rapture, croaking hoarsely and making the ravine
reverberate with a dull echo that ruffled the stillness of the early
morn.
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