Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 2.djvu/23

Rh sooner had it looked upon the abbot, than it smiled. The sight greatly concerned the worthy monk, "Oh, my God," said he, "how comes it, that we find a child in this deplorable situation?" Raising it with his own hands, he perceived the tablets under its side, which the unfortunate mother had placed there; and when he had read them, and discovered that it was the offspring of an incestuous bed, and not yet baptized—when he saw how this sacrament was implored for the sake of heaven; and lastly, how gold and silver were deposited for his nurture and education, he immediately baptized and called him after his own name, Gregory. He then entrusted him to a fisherman to nurse, with the gold and the silver found upon him. The boy grew up universally beloved. In his seventh year, the abbot provided for his studies, which he mastered in a surprizing manner; insomuch that the monks were as fond of him, as though he had been of their own order. In a short time, he acquired more knowledge than them all.

It happened, that, one day, as he played at