f his fortunes very keenly, for he had
been delicately fed and nurtured, and surrounded by friends, servants,
and busy flatterers. He was now far separated from all who knew and
loved him; exposed to wind and weather, heat and cold, and compelled to
endure every species of hardship. He had no other bed than straw or
rushes; his food was far worse than that which is now eaten by the
poorest peasants, who deem their lot so hard; and he was clothed in
undressed sheep-skins, from which the wool had been shorn. His drink
was only water from the brook, and his whole time was occupied in his
attendance on the swine.

At the earliest peep of dawn he was forced to rise, and lead forth into
the fields and woods a numerous herd of grunting swine in quest of
food, and there to remain till the shades of evening compelled him to
drive them to the shelter of the rude sheds built for their
accommodation, round the wretched hovel wherein his master dwelt.
Bladud was sure to return weary and hungry, and often wet and
sorrowful, to his forlorn home. Yet he did not murmur, though
suffering at the same time under a most painful, and, as he supposed,
an incurable disease.

He endeavored to bear the hardships of his lot with patience, and he
derived satisfaction from the faithful performance of the duties which
he had undertaken, irksome as they were. The greatest pain he endured,
next to his separation from his parents, was the discovery that several
of his master's pigs were infected with the same loathsome disease
under which he was laboring; and this he feared would draw upon him the
displeasure of the old herdsman.

But the leprosy, and its contagious nature, were evils unknown to the
herdsmen of Caynsham, or Bladud would never have been able to obtain
employment there. His master was an aged man, nearly blind, who, being
convinced of the faithful disposition of his careful attendant, left
the swine entirely to his management; so the circumstance of several of
the most valuable of them being infected with leprosy, was never
suspected by him. Bladud continued to lead them into the fields and
forests in quest of their daily food, without incurring either question
or reproach from him, or, indeed, from any one, for it was a
thinly-inhabited district, and there were no gossiping neighbors to
bring the tale of trouble to the old herdsman.

But though Bladud's misfortune remained undetected, he was seriously
unhappy, for he felt h