Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 2.djvu/139

Rh burst over head; insomuch that the serpents left their retreat one after another; and when they had departed, the dragon which lay at the bottom of the well, raised itself above, and would have flown away; but the pauper observing this, caught hold of it by the tail, and by these means succeeded in escaping from the pit. The dragon carried him to a considerable distance, and dropped him in the same wood, but ignorant of his situation, he was unable to find the way out. A company of merchants, however, happening to travel through that forest, shewed him the path he wanted. Very happy at his marvellous deliverance, he returned to his own city, and published what had occurred; but his death followed immediately afterwards.

My beloved, the king is our heavenly Father; the poor man is as men are naturally, who enter a wood—that is, the world. The pit is mortal sin. The round stone in the