There is a kind of gentle, absolute kith* that kithes†
an issue without preventing it; and that the Hellenes nomi‐
nated μοῖρα (moira).
My purblind wife, for instance, in redding‡ her bairn,
herself stepped on a bee; the moral to which envoy:§ bombu‐
liophobia.**
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* kith, n. (kiθ) [< G. kund] Knowledge communi‐
cated, information. a1400 Sir Perc. 1281 So kyndly
takes he that kyth, That up he rose and went hym
wyth.
† kithe, v. (kaið) [< G. künden] To make known.
c1450 HOLLAND Howlat 235 Confess cleir can I
nocht, nor kyth all the cass.
‡ redd, v. [< G. retten] To save, deliver. 1584
J. MELVILL Autobiog., etc. (1842) 180 Your tender
King, and sweit native countrey, to be redde from
the abbusars and misrewlares of the sam.
§ The moral (argument) precedes l'envoy (conclu‐
sion):
I will example it.
The fox, the ape, and the humble-bee,
Were still at odds, being but three.
There's the moral. Now the l'envoi.
(Love's Labour's Lost, III.3)
** bombuliophobia, n. [< Gr. βομβυλιός, bee]
Fear of bees.