In stressing the closeness of his friendships to Chibiabos and Kwasind, the poet notes that no words spoken could come between them, but I found the expression of this a bit strange:
"singing birds, that utter falsehoods,
storytellers, mischief-makers,
found no eager eare to listen,
could not breed ill-will between them..."
What are these lying birds? Why are they lying? There is a story told by Ovid about the raven that told Apollo his woman was cheating on him -- but that wasn't a lying bird, just a tattle-teller.
And by referring to the "storytellers" as "mischief-makers," does he not cast some doubt on his own telling? Are we to conclude from this the sense that bards tell whoppers and sew dissension among the people?
I notice that Kwasind is seen by his family as lazy -- in a sense he's a lot like "Jack" in the "Jack" stories, whom people view as a no-good layabout, but who ends up winning in the end.
Dignity, always dignity.
