Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 2.djvu/338

326 diligently performed his duty; and it happened, that one day entering a meadow with his pupil they perceived a horse lying on the ground, grievously affected with the mange. Near the animal two sheep were tied together, which busily cropped the grass that grew in abundance around them. It so chanced that the sheep were on each side of the horse, and the cord with which they were bound passed over his back, and chafing the sores, galled him exceedingly. Disturbed by this circumstance, he got up; but the cord, then loaded with the weight of the sheep, afflicted him more and more; and filled with fury, he began to run off at a great speed, dragging along the unfortunate sheep. And in equal proportion to their resistance, was the augmentation of the horse's suffering. For the cord, having worn itself into a hollow, sunk, at every struggle, yet deeper into the wound.

Adjoining the meadow was the house of a miller; toward which the horse, impelled by the anguish of his wound, galloped; and entered, with the sheep hanging as we