Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 2.djvu/92

80

emperor, Theodosius, had the misfortune to lose his sight. He put up a bell in his palace; and when there was any cause to be tried, he was accustomed to pull the string with his own hands. When the bell rang, a judge, appointed to this end, descended and administered justice. It chanced that a serpent made her nest immediately under the bell-rope, and in due time brought forth young. When they were old enough, at a certain hour every day, she conducted them forth into an open space beyond the city. Now while the serpent was absent, a toad entered and