Page:Readings in European History Vol 1.djvu/145

 The Monks and the Conversion of the Germans 1 09 mountains and the hills and the plains, the springs and tor- rents and rivers. With psalms always upon his lips, he prayed to God with groaning, his soul lifted up to heaven. And wherever night found him, there he rested; and he hewed wood with the sword which he bore in his hand, and laid it in a circle, and set it on fire to protect his ass, lest the wild beasts which were there in great numbers might devour him. For himself, he made on his forehead the sign of the cross of Christ, in the name of God, and rested in safety. . . . Once as he had paused at sunset, and was busied with preparing for the night, he heard a sound as of a living crea- ture, but whether it was man or beast he knew not. . . . Then because the man of God did not wish to cry out, he struck a hollow tree with the sword he bore in his hand. And verily when the man had heard the sound of the blow he came thither, and spoke to Sturmi. And when the man of God asked him whence he came, he answered that he came from Wetteran and led in his hand the horse of Ortis, his lord. So they talked together and stayed there together that night. Now the man had a full acquaintance with the solitudes of the forest, and when the man of God made known to him what was in his mind and what he would fain do, he began to tell him the names of the places, and to show him how the torrents and springs did flow. ... At sunrise they blessed each the other, and straightway the secular man went upon his way to Grapfelt. . . . [And Sturmi also went on his way till he reached the tor- rent that even to this day is called Grezzibach.] He saw how the land lay, and what was the nature of the soil, and he tarried there a little space. And then he went back a little way and came to the place already made ready and blessed by God, even the place where the holy monastery [of Fulda] now stands. When he had come thither straightway the holy man Sturmi was filled with exceeding great joy, for he knew that through the merits and prayers of the holy bishop Boni- face the place had been revealed to him by God. Then on the second day the man of God came again to Hersfeld and found his brethren there calling upon God with