s as were most beneficial to
them. He had noticed that cats and dogs, when sick, had recourse to
certain herbs and grasses, which proved effectual remedies for the
malady under which they labored; and he thought it possible that pigs
might be endowed with a similar faculty of discovering an antidote for
disease. At all events he resolved to watch the result of their
revelings in the warm ooze bath, wherein they continued to wallow,
between whiles, for several days.

The wisdom of this proceeding was shortly manifested; for Bladud soon
observed that a gradual improvement was taking place in the appearance
of the swine.

The leprous scales fell off by degrees, and in the course of a few
weeks the leprosy gradually disappeared, and the whole herd being
cleansed, was restored to a sound and healthy state.

The heart of the outcast prince was buoyant with hope and joy when the
idea first presented itself to his mind, that the same simple remedy
which had restored the infected swine might be equally efficacious in
his own case. Divesting himself of his humble clothing and elate with
joy and hope, he plunged into the warm salt ooze bed, wherein his pigs
had reveled with so much advantage.

He was soon sensible of an abatement of the irritable and painful
symptoms of his loathsome malady; and, in a short time, by persevering
in the use of the remedy which the natural sagacity of his humble
companions had suggested, he became wholly cured of the leprosy and was
delighted to find himself restored to health and vigor.

After bathing, and washing away in the river the stains of the ooze, he
first beheld the reflection of his own features in the clear mirror of
the stream. He perceived that his skin, which had been so lately
disfigured by foul blotches and frightful scales, so as to render him
an object of abhorrance to his nearest and dearest friends, was now
smooth, fair, and clear.

"Oh, my mother!" he exclaimed, in the overpowering rapture of his
feelings on this discovery, "I may then hope to behold thy face once
more! and thou wilt no longer shrink from the embrace of thy son, as in
the sad, sad hour of our sorrowful parting!"

He pressed the agate ring which she had given him as her farewell token
of remembrance, to his lips and to his bosom, as he spoke; then
quitting the water, he once more arrayed himself in the miserable garb
of his lowly fortunes, and guided his master's herd homeward.

The old man, who was