will be told you what
you shall do and how you may interpret this vision."

He obeyed; he left the army; his old companions were glad to see him,
and again he joined the _corti_. But he was paler and more silent.
"You are in love!" his companions said, laughingly.

"I am in truth thinking of a bride more noble, more richly dowered,
and more beautiful than the world has ever seen."

Pietro was away from home, and his son made donations to the poor. He
grew more tranquil, though the Voice had not explained its message. He
knelt at the foot of the crucifix one day in the old chapel of St.
Damian, and waited. Then the revelation came:--"Francis, go to rebuild
my house, which is falling into ruin!"

Francis took this command, which seemed to have come from the lips of
his crucified Redeemer, literally. It meant that he should repair the
chapel of St. Damian. Later, he accepted it in a broader sense. More
important things than the walls of St. Damian were falling into ruin.

Francis was a man of action, and one who took life literally. He went
to his father's shop, chose some precious stuffs, and sold them with
his horse at Foliquo, for much below their value. Pietro had brought
Francis up in a princely fashion: why should he not behave as a
prince? And surely the father who had not grudged the richest of his
stuffs for the celebrations of the _corti_, would not object to their
sacrifice at the command of the Voice for the repairing of St. Damian!
Pietro, who had not heard the Voice, vowed vengeance on his son for
his foolishness. The priest at St. Damian's had refused the money; but
Francis threw it into the window, and Pietro, finding it, went away
swearing that his son had kept some of it. Francis wandered about
begging stones for the rebuilding of St. Damian's. Pietro, maddened by
the foolishness of his son, appealed to a magistrate. Francis cast off
all his garments, and gave them to his father. The Bishop of Assisi
covered his nakedness with his own mantle until the gown of a poor
laborer was brought to him. Dipping his right hand in a pile of
mortar, Francis drew a rough cross upon his breast: "Pietro
Bernardone," he said, "until now I have called you my father;
henceforth I can truly say, 'Our Father who art in heaven,' for
he is my wealth, and in him do I place all my hope."

Francis went away, to build his chapel and sing in the Provencal
speech hymns in honor of God and of love for his greatness. In June
12