while waiting, his musings turned
to hateful thoughts of all his kindred, and abhorrence of all good. So
he said: "I have been driven from among men because they love virtue,
henceforth I will hate it; because they loved God, henceforth I will
love only evil; because they use their belongings to work mercy,
henceforth I will use mine to inflict revenge. I may not go to men, so
I will go to those who do men harm."

So the man with the dead soul went to live among the beasts. He dwelt
for a long time in the forests and the most savage of the brutes were
his friends. One day he saw a hermit at the door of his cave. "How
livest thou here?" he asked.

"From the offerings of the raven who brings me bread and the wild bees
who give it sweetness and the great beasts who clothe me," answered
the hermit. Then the man with the dead soul left the beasts because
they did good and were merciful.

Out of the forest the North Wind met the man and tossed him upon its
wings and buffeted him and chilled him to the marrow. In vain he
asked for mercy, the North Wind would give none. Half frozen and sore
with blows the man gasped--

"'Tis well! I will dwell with thee for thou givest nothing but evil."
So he went to dwell in the cave of the North Wind and the chill of the
pitiless cold was good to him on account of his dead soul.

One day he saw the clouds coming, headed for his own desert, and the
North Wind went to meet them and a mighty battle took place in the
air; but the North Wind was the victor. White on the ground where the
chill had flung them lay the clouds in snow crystals; and the man
laughed his joy at the sight of the ruin--for he knew that the
rain-clouds would have greened his desert and made it beautiful. But
he heard the men who cultivated the land on which the snow had fallen
bless the North Wind that it had given their crops protection and
promised plenty to the fields of wheat. Then the man with the dead
soul cursed the North Wind and went to dwell in the ocean.

The waters bade him stay and daily he saw their work of evil. Down in
the depths dead men's bones whitened beside the wealth of treasure the
ocean had claimed. He walked along the bottom for years exulting in
destruction before he came to the surface to watch the storms and
laugh at the big waves eating the great ships. But there was only a
gentle breeze blowing that day, and he saw great vessels laden with
treasure and wealth passing from nation to nati