2.M.1.1. PARVULUS
PARIS has a child, and the forest has a bird; the bird is
called the sparrow; the child is called the gamin.
Couple these two ideas which contain, the one all the
furnace,
the other all the dawn; strike these two sparks together,
Paris, childhood; there leaps out from them a little being.
Homuncio, Plautus would say.
This little being is joyous. He has not food every day,
and
he goes to the play every evening, if he sees good. He has no
shirt on his body, no shoes on his feet, no roof over his head;
he is like the flies of heaven, who have none of these things.
He is from seven to thirteen years of age, he lives in bands,
roams the streets, lodges in the open air, wears an old pair of
trousers of his father's, which descend below his heels, an old
hat of some other father, which descends below his ears, a single
suspender of yellow listing; he runs, lies in wait, rummages
about, wastes time, blackens pipes, swears like a convict,
haunts the wine-shop, knows thieves, calls gay women
thou,
talks slang, sings obscene songs, and has no evil in his heart.
This is because he has in his heart a pearl, innocence; and
pearls are not to be dissolved in mud. So long as man is in
his childhood, God wills that he shall be innocent.
If one were to ask that enormous city: "What is this?" she
would reply: "It is my little one."