ung men until they have
completed all my harvest.'" Naomi said to Ruth, "It is best, my
daughter, that you should go out with his maidens and that no one should
find you in another field." So she gathered grain with the maidens of
Boaz until the end of the barley and wheat harvest; but she lived with
her mother-in-law.

[Illustration: (C) _Photographische Gesellschaft, Berlin_

_Ruth_

Painted by Henry Ryland]

Then Naomi said to her, "My daughter, shall I not try to find a home for
you where you will be happy and contented? Is not Boaz, with whose
maidens you have been, a relative of ours? This very night he is going
to winnow barley on the threshing-floor. So bathe and anoint yourself
and put on your best clothes and go down to the threshing-floor; but do
not make yourself known to the man until he is through eating and
drinking. Then when he lies down, you mark the place where he lies. Go
in, uncover his feet, lie down, and then he will tell you what to
do." Ruth said to her, "I will do as you say."

So she went down to the threshing-floor and did just as her
mother-in-law told her. When Boaz was through eating and drinking and
was in a happy mood, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of
grain. Then Ruth came softly and uncovered his feet and lay down. At
midnight the man was startled and turned over, and there was a woman
lying at his feet. He said, "Who are you?" She answered, "I am Ruth your
servant; spread therefore your skirt over your servant, for you are a
near relative." He said, "May you be blest by Jehovah, my daughter; for
you have shown me greater favor now than at first, for you have not
followed young men, whether poor or rich. My daughter, have no fear; I
will do for you all that you ask; for all my townsmen know that you are
a good woman. Now it is true that I am a near relative; yet there is one
nearer than I. Stay here to-night, and then in the morning, if he will
marry you, well, let him do it. But if he, being your nearest relative,
will not marry you, then as surely as Jehovah lives, I will do so. Lie
down until morning."

So she lay at his feet until morning, but rose before any one could tell
who she was, for Boaz said, "Let it not be known that a woman came to
the threshing-floor." He also said, "Bring the cloak which you have on
and hold it." So she held it while he poured into it six measures of
barley and laid it on her shoulders. Then he went into the city.

When Ruth came t