THE EIGHTH PLAGUE: TH. GAUTIER

This weekend, I came by chance upon Théophile Gautier's Roman de la momie.
I was hooked indeed, but what struck me the most was (as in other Exodus retellings) the Eighth Plague. Never had I read of a more sinister and graphic description of this locust invasion until I came across this novel...
The way this nineteenth-century Frenchman describes it is so sinister that I regard it as pure hardcore nightmare fuel. It's just like that Hitchcock film, but retitled The Locusts (dear sensitive readers, you have been warned):

[···] elles se succédaient par tourbillons, comme la paille que disperse l’orage ; l’air en était obscurci, épaissi ; elles comblaient les fossés, les ravines, les cours d’eau, éteignaient sous leurs masses les feux allumés pour les détruire ; elles se heurtaient aux obstacles et s’y amoncelaient, puis les débordaient. Ouvrait-on la bouche, on en respirait une ; elles se logeaient dans les plis des vêtements, dans les cheveux, dans les narines ; leurs épaisses colonnes faisaient rebrousser les chars, renversaient le passant isolé et le recouvraient bientôt...

They followed each other in swarms like the straw blown about by the storm; the air was darkened; they filled up the ditches, the ravines, the streams; they put out by their mere mass the fires lighted to destroy them; they struck against obstacles and then heaped up and overcame them. If a man opened his mouth, he breathed one in; they found their way into the folds of the clothing, into the hair, into the nostrils; their dense columns made chariots turn back; they overthrew the solitary passer-by and soon covered him.

they succeeded each other by whirlwinds like the straw which the storm disperses; the air was obscured, darkened by them; they filled the ditches, the ravines, the water-courses, extinguishing beneath their masses, the fires kindled to destroy them; they encountered obstacles and piled themselves up against them, then overflowed them. If one opened one's mouth, they entered it; they lodged themselves in the folds of garments, in the hair, in the nostrils; their dense columns obstructed the passage of chariots, overthrew the solitary passenger and quickly covered him;

la langosta venía en torbellinos, como la paja que la tormenta dispersa; la atmósfera se oscurecía, se espesaba y la langosta llenaba los fosos, los barrancos, los ríos, y apagaban con su masa los fuegos que se encendían para destruirla; cuando tropezaba en un obstáculo se amontonaba, y después desbordaba; si se abría la boca para respirar, una entraba; se metían entre los pliegues del vestido, entre el pelo, en las ventanas de las narices; sus espesas columnas hacían retroceder a los carros, tiraban a los caminantes aislados y pronto los cubrían;