Note 2 — Chapter XV · THE HERMIT OF SÉRIGNAN (CONTINUED)

And we are touched by the analogy between its fate and his own. Fabre too was a child of the heights rich in hazel-bushes.2 He too had to leave the place of his birth, carried away by the storm that tore him from the bosom of his native mountains to bear him into the plains of Provence. He too made the voyage with very poor and very fragile equipment. For a long time, terribly tossed by the waves, he was more than once sorely bruised, but was yet not broken upon the stones of the torrent; more than once he was whirled suddenly round, but he nevertheless continued to pursue his aim, and finally he pierced the husk and emerged from the shell, to give his activity free scope, as soon as he was able to free himself and establish his lot in a favourable environment.