Page:Zodiac stories by Blanche Mary Channing.pdf/97

80 from side to side as the people pressed forward to greet him, but he showed no fear. On and on, on and on, till they reached the state home of the sacred bulls, where were spacious courts and walks, all his own, and where two stables stood with open doors awaiting his choice.

And now Apis paused, lashing his tail, snuffing the air, seeming to consider which he would enter.

And the people held their breath, no one speaking or moving, because they believed that if he chose one stable, good fortune would follow, while if he chose the other, war, pestilence, or famine was coming upon the land.

The young bull stood, with all those eager eyes upon him, calm and unmoved. Then, just as the strain grew painful, he turned his broad head towards the stable of happy omen, and with a quickening step entered its doors and was hid from sight.

There were glad and thankful hearts in