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 am mending my nets wherewith I wish to catch the gazelle which are in the desert.” And the monk said unto him, “Make me a net also, for I want to catch with it the gazelle which go into my garden and lay it waste.” Then that devil said unto him, “Get thee on thy journey, and I will make a net for thee which shall be better than that which thou now seest.” And when the monk had gone to his brother, he saw him, and remained with him for two days, and on the third day his brother died; and he wrapped him up in his graveclothes, and buried him with the honour which is due to believing men. And as he was lying there in his brother’s house, his brother’s wife rose up by night, and came and lay down by his side through the agency of the Calumniator, and she began to say unto him thus:—“God hath sent thee hither to provide for thy brother’s children, and to bring them up; take me, then, to wife, and take care of thy brother’s house and of his children, and stay here in peace in thine own house.” And when the monk had heard what she said to him, he was moved to wrath against her, and he said to her, “Fie upon thee, O woman! Get thee behind me, Satan!” And he rose up straightway, and took his staff, and set out to go through the desert to his cell, and as he was journeying along the way, he saw that old man sitting in his place and mending his nets; and the monk said unto him, “Art thou still sitting here, O old man? Hast thou prepared for me that net concerning which I spake to thee?” Then Satan became furious, and he looked at him in fierce anger and said, “Get thee forth from my presence. Yea, thou hast indeed broken the net which I made for thee. Didst thou not know that thou wast breaking and slitting in pieces during the past night that other net which was better than the first one? I am not able to make a net which [will catch] thee.” And as he was speaking he changed himself into a great serpent. Now when the monk saw this he understood that it was Satan who had appeared unto him; and he fled from the place in fear, and went to his cell, and he gave thanks unto God Who had delivered him from the snare of Satan, who had wished to snare him and to drag him down into his net through his brother’s wife.

422. A certain brother had recently received the garb of a monk, and he went and shut himself up in a cell, and said, “I am a desert monk.” And when the fathers heard [this], they came and took him out of his place, and made him to go about to the cells of the brethren, and to make apologies to them, saying, “I am not a desert monk, and I have only just begun to be a disciple.”

423. On one occasion Abbâ Abraham went to Abbâ Arêâ,