valley:

"Am I a _dog_ that thou comest to me with stones?" adding:

"Come with me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and
to the beasts of the fields."

But David paid no heed to the scorn, but sturdy and strong he stood and
faced Goliath, answering:

"Thou comest to me with a sword and with a spear and with a shield, but
_I_ come to thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the
armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the Lord deliver
thee with my hand and take thine head from thee, and I will give the
carcasses of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air and the
wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a
God in Israel, and all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth
not with sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord's and he will give
you into our hands."

A pretty long speech and a pretty decided statement to be made by a
shepherd-boy--was it not? David's positive assurance that he could kill
Goliath, and that God was with the army of Israel, showed the boy to be
no ordinary boy, carried away by warlike enthusiasm.

Goliath heard with mighty contempt and anger, the retort of David and
his taunt, and advanced in all his power and glory towards him, while
David, never taking his eyes off the giant's face, quietly put his hand
in his bag, slowly took out one of the stones he had so carefully
selected, and slung it with the unerring aim for which he was famous.

With fatal accuracy it struck Goliath between the eyes. The mighty
giant groaned, and fell--slain by the hand of David, who, as he had no
sword of his own, hastily knelt on Goliath's body, drew his sword from
its sheath, and with it cut off the giant's head, and stripped him of
his valuable armour, to carry to Bethlehem as a trophy.

[Illustration: _David and Goliath_]

David, so young, so inexperienced in the art of war, had killed the
champion of the enemy. It seemed incredible. Through the ranks of both
armies the news spread like wildfire, and when the Philistines realised
what had happened, they were so terrified for fear of what might
follow, that they fled, with the victorious Israelites in hot pursuit,
who with cheers and shouts and great slaughter pursued them to the
nearest city, and then returned to despoil the tents of the vanquished
enemy, singing loud songs of triumph.

And then David, flushed with victory, came before Saul carrying with
him the head o