THE HERMIT AND THE BEASTS
Author
Khalil Gibra
BOOK
WENDERER
Once there lived among the green hills a hermit.
He was pure of spirit and white of heart.
And all the animals of the land and all the fowls of the air came to him in pairs
and he spoke unto them.
They heard him gladly, and they would gather near unto him, and would not go until nightfall,
when he would send them away,
entrusting them to the wind and the woods with his blessing.
Upon an evening as he was speaking of love,
a leopard raised her head and said to the hermit,
“You speak to us of loving. Tell us,
Sir, where is your mate?”
And the hermit said, “I have no mate.”
Then a great cry of surprise rose from the company of beasts and fowls,
and they began to say among themselves,
“How can he tell us of loving and mating
when he himself knows naught thereof?”
And quietly and in distain they left him alone.
That night the hermit lay upon his mat with his face earthward,
and he wept bitterly
and beat his hands upon his breast.
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