dget came often to see him, so that he had no time to grow homesick
or lonesome.

SAINT GERASIMUS AND THE LION

I.

ONE fine morning Saint Gerasimus was walking briskly along the bank of
the River Jordan. By his side plodded a little donkey bearing on his
back an earthen jar; for they had been down to the river together to get
water, and were taking it back to the monastery on the hill for the
monks to drink at their noonday meal.

Gerasimus was singing merrily, touching the stupid little donkey now and
then with a twig of olive leaves to keep him from going to sleep. This
was in the far East, in the Holy Land, so the sky was very blue and the
ground smelled hot. Birds were singing around them in the trees and
overhead, all kinds of strange and beautiful birds. But suddenly
Gerasimus heard a sound unlike any bird he had ever known; a sound which
was not a bird's song at all, unless some newly invented kind had a bass
voice which ended in a howl. The little donkey stopped suddenly, and
bracing his fore legs and cocking forward his long, flappy ears, looked
afraid and foolish. Gerasimus stopped too. But he was so wise a man that
he could not look foolish. And he was too good a man to be afraid of
anything. Still, he was a little surprised.

"Dear me," he said aloud, "how very strange that sounded. What do you
suppose it was?" Now there was no one else anywhere near, so he must
have been talking to himself. For he could never have expected that
donkey to know anything about it. But the donkey thought he was being
spoken to, so he wagged his head, and said, "He-haw!" which was a very
silly answer indeed, and did not help Gerasimus at all.

He seized the donkey by the halter and waited to see what would happen.
He peered up and down and around and about, but there was nothing to be
seen except the shining river, the yellow sand, a clump of bushes beside
the road, and the spire of the monastery peeping over the top of the
hill beyond. He was about to start the donkey once more on his climb
towards home, when that sound came again; and this time he noticed that
it was a sad sound, a sort of whining growl ending in a sob. It sounded
nearer than before, and seemed to come from the clump of bushes.
Gerasimus and the donkey turned their heads quickly in that direction,
and the donkey trembled all over, he was so frightened. But his master
only said, "It must be a Lion!"

And sure enough: he had hardly spoken the wo