Note 45 — Chapter VI · THE BIRDS.
Reading edition
If the reader would like to see how thoroughly this kind of humour is in the spirit of modern burlesque, he cannot do better than glance at Mr Planché’s “Birds of Aristophanes,” produced at the Haymarket in 1846. This is his free version of the passage just noticed—(‘Tomostyleron’ and ‘Jackanoxides’ are the two adventurers of the Greek comedy):—
“King of Birds. And what bird will you be—a popinjay? Tom. No, no; they pop at him. (To Jack.) What kind would you be? King (aside). The bird you’re most akin to is a booby. Jack. For fear of accidents, some fowl I’d be, That folks don’t shoot or eat. Tom. Humph! let me see— There may be one I never heard the name of. King (aside). You can’t be anything they won’t make game of.”