nails and the black paint for her eyebrows.
When she went out, this little maid went also, in a little dress of
scarlet, with a white kerchief on her dark head.

She learnt to love her mistress very much; and was sorry for her
master, for he was troubled with the terrible sickness of leprosy, and
she often wished he could be made well. One day she sighed, and said
to her mistress,--

"Oh, I would to God that my master were with our prophet in Samaria!
then he would get better of his leprosy."

She believed with all her heart that Elisha the prophet, like a clever
doctor, could do something for him.

Now what she had said was told to Naaman, who told it to the king; and
as they had both heard about Elisha, the wild prophet of Israel, the
king told his favourite chief to go and see the wonderful man. And he
also wrote a letter to Joram, the King of Israel, and gave it to Naaman
to deliver; and this is what he wrote:--

"When this letter comes to thee, O King Joram, it is to tell thee that
I have sent Naaman, my servant, for thee to heal him of his leprosy."

Naaman folded the letter in his tunic, and filling a few small bags
with silver and gold, and rolling up some bundles of new clothing, he
put them into the wide saddle-bags of his camels as presents for the
King of Israel. Then stepping into his chariot, he drove down the
river valley, with his men clattering after him, and up the hills to
Samaria on the watch-hill, where he delivered the letter.

[Illustration: Naaman at the house of Elisha.]

The King of Israel read it, and his chiefs saw that he was much
troubled. Seizing his white tunic with both hands, he tore it from
neck to hem--a sign of great grief--saying bitterly that _he_ was not
able to heal people of leprosy, and that the powerful King of Syria was
only seeking another cause to quarrel with him. What kings say and
what kings do many tongues tell, and Elisha the prophet, who had a
house in white-walled Samaria, heard about the king's grief, and sent
his servant Gehazi to give him a message,--

"Why do you rend your clothes? Send the man to me!"

The king was delighted, and soon Naaman's chariot and horses, his armed
guards and his brown camels, were standing at the door of the prophet's
house. But only Gehazi appeared in answer to the captain's call.

"Go," he said to the proud Syrian chief--"go and wash thyself seven
times in the river Jordan, and thou shalt be healed, and be clean of