The Greek anchor is the type case, down to the parenthesis in Thompson's label — "(not eaten)". Melampus's servants kill the old snakes of the oak-lair; he burns the dead and "reared the young ones" [The Library (Bibliotheca), BOOK I, ch. IX]. The grown serpents repay him in his sleep — "they stood beside him at each of his shoulders as he slept" and "purged his ears with their tongues" [ibid.]. He starts up in fright already fluent, understanding "the voices of the birds flying overhead": prophecy as eavesdropping [ibid.]. No serpent-flesh is eaten; the gift travels by tongue-washing. Frazer's note sets the variants beside the page: of Helenus and Cassandra, left overnight in Apollo's temple, it reports that "in the morning serpents were found licking their ears" [ibid., editor's note]; and Porphyry wondered whether "we and all mén might have understood the language of all animals" — OCR accent intact — had a serpent washed our ears too [ibid., editor's note]. The chapter then audits the gift: imprisoned, Melampus "heard the worms in the hidden part of the roof" discussing the gnawed beam, and had himself moved before the collapse [ibid.]. Ears first; then the whole world turns out to have been talking.