Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 7, 1896.djvu/125

Rh a servant of God, full of faith and of hope in Christ. And he was much loved by the king, because he was full of thought and prudent and a good scribe, and he was more noble than all others in the eyes of the king. But Iabenes knew not that he was a servant of Christ, and paid him honour above all his nobles. This Balavari, one day as he was going along a road, saw a man lying close by who had been wounded by a wild beast; and the man was crying out, and Balavari said to him : "What is this that has happened to thee, O man, that thou criest out?" The man told him everything, and said: "I will lay this all before thee. I am a man clever in speech, but I was being eaten by the wild beast and am deprived of my limbs. But if anyone will defend me or beat it off, I will be of use to him in the day of trouble." But the other did not count words at all, but had pity on the man and ordered his slaves to lift him up in a litter and carry him along with himself to his house, and he commanded the steward to take good care of the man and administer comfort to him.

But Balavari was hated by those who worshipped idols, because they were jealous of the honour which he had at the hands of the king, who preferred him to them. And they came and said to the king: "O king, the man in whom thou reposest confidence is not of thy faith. For if there be found any of these Christian folk, he salutes them graciously, and at this moment he meditates rebellion against thee and to seize upon thy kingdom; and whomsoever he finds exiles from thy kingdom he hastens to cherish them and treats them honourably."

And the king said to them: "If this be not so, even as ye declare it to be, then will it be bad for you, and I will hold you responsible." But he began to prove Balavari. He called that man of God before him and said: "Thou knowest, my friend, how my spirit is allied to, and bound up with, the things of earth, and how my days have been spent. Methinks that I hasten without purpose, and I fear lest my end approach, and I be found empty. Now, therefore, I am resolved that henceforth I will be reconciled with the servants of God, and will strive after immortal life. What then dost thou say, O single-minded one, and like-minded with myself?" And when the man of God heard this, his mind leaped up and he shed tears and said to him: "Live, O king, for ever. For instead of that which passes, thou hast chosen that which endures and is best. Of this world the glory is nought, and as the shadow it passes away, and as the smoke it disperses. Now, then, execute thy thought, for it is meet that by abandoning this glory which passes, thou shouldst purchase the glory which is eternal. "

And these words were displeasing to the king, and he was filled with fury by reason thereof, but he did not reveal it to the other. Then Balavari bethought him that a trap was being laid against him because of it. And he was sore afflicted, and remained all that night sleepless. Then he remembered the man who was clever in speech. He called him to him, and said to him: "Thou hast told me that thou healest with thy words them that are wounded." And the man answered him: "Yea, it is even so. Has then anything happened to thee?"