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354 magic power of his holiness, he changed her into a girl, and took her with him to his hermitage.

As his wife was childless, he said to her: "Take her, my dear wife. She has come into life as your daughter, and you must rear her carefully." So the wife reared her and spoiled her with petting. As soon as the girl reached the age of twelve, the mother saw that she was ready for marriage, and said to her husband: "My dear husband, how can you fail to see that the time is passing when your daughter should marry?"

And he replied: "You are quite right, my dear. The saying goes:

Before a man is gratified, These gods must treat her as a bride— The fire, the moon, the choir of heaven; In this way, no offense is given.

Holiness is the gift of fire; A sweet voice, of the heavenly choir; The moon gives purity within: So is a woman free from sin.

Before nubility, 'tis said That she is white: but after, red; Before her womanhood is plain, She is, though naked, free from stain.

The moon, in mystic fashion, weds A maiden when her beauty spreads; The heavenly choir, when bosoms grow; The fire, upon the monthly flow.