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 METAMORPHOSES BOOKV through the air she bade the Athenian drive her sacred team "Our eldest sister here ended the song I have just rehearsed; then the nymphs with one voice agreed the goddesses of Helicon had won. When the conquered sisters retorted with reviling, I made
 * ‘Since it was not enough that you have

punishment by your challenge and you add insults to your offence, and since our patience is not without end, we shall proceed to punishment and our resentment.' The Pierides mocked, and her threatening words. But as they tried to speak, and with loud outcries brandished their hands in saucy gestures, they saw feathers sprouting on their and plumage covering their arms; each saw nother's face stiffening into a hard beak, and new forms of birds added to the woods. And while they trove to beat their breasts, uplifted by their flapping arms, they hung in the air, magpies, the noisy scandal of the woods. Even now in their feathered form their old-time gift of speech remains, their hoarse that answer earned indulge scorned fingers, garrulity, their boundless passion for talk." 285