Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 2.djvu/339

Rh have said. The house was then unoccupied; but there was a fire burning upon the hearth, and the quadruped, plunging and striking his hoofs, so scattered the fire, that the flame caught hold of the building, and reduced it to ashes, together with the horse and the sheep. "Young man," said the preceptor to the pupil, "you have perceived the beginning, the middle, and the completion of this incident: make me some correct verses upon it; and shew me wherefore the house was burnt. Unless you do this, I assure you, I will punish you severely." Celestinus, during the absence of his master, applied himself diligently to study, but he was unable to execute his task. This much troubled him; and the devil, ever on the alert, met him in the likeness of a man, and said, "My son, what has made you so sorrowful?"

Celest. "Never mind; it is no use telling you."

Devil. "You know not that; tell me, and I will help you."

Celest. "I am charged, under a heavy punishment, to make some verses about a scabby horse and two sheep; and I don't know how."