Explore "An Egyptian Hornet" by Algernon Blackwood on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
The word has an angry, malignant sound that brings the idea of attack vividly into the mind. There is a vicious sting about it somewhere even a foreigner, ignorant of the meaning, must feel it.
A hornet is wicked; it darts and stabs; it pierces, aiming without provocation for the face and eyes. The name suggests a metallic droning of evil wings, fierce flight, and poisonous assault. Though black and yellow, it sounds scarlet. There is blood in it. A striped tiger of the air in concentrated form! There is no escape if it attacks.