Note 5 — BESTIARIES AND LAPIDARIES
Reading edition
There are many allusions in literature to this story. Cf. Shakespeare,-- "Like the kind life-rendering pelican, Repast them with my blood."--'Hamlet,' iv. 5. "Those pelican daughters."--Lear, iii. 4. Cf. also the beautiful metaphor of Alfred de Musset, in his 'Nuit de Mai.'