Scobelʹlum

A very fruitful land, but the inhabitants “exceeded the cannibals for cruelty, the Persians for pride, the Egyptians for luxury, the Cretans for lying, the Germans for drunkenness, and all nations together for a generality of vices.” In vengeance the gods changed all the people into beasts: drunkards into swine, the lecherous into goats, the proud into peacocks, scolds into magpies, gamblers into asses, musicians into song-birds, the envious into dogs, idle women into milch-cows, jesters into monkeys, dancers into squirrels, and misers into moles. Four of the Champions of Christendom restored them to their normal forms by quenching the fire of the Golden Cave.” (The Seven Champions of Christendom, iii. 10.)