ment while the people wondered at the boldness of But Ulphilas asked the meaning of his

the man.

words.

And Huan answered the King by a Parable.

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While the world was yet in its darkness, Ignorance, to stop the quarrelings of her children, bethought her of a teacher to read the Book of Life to them, so that they might learn to love their brethren as themselves. And, hearing that none preached such virtue as the Headsman, she sent her sons to learn of him.

66

Then, as the simple dame heard the dark teacher thunder from his crimson pulpit, Thou shalt not kill,' her heart swelled with admiration at the tutor she had chosen ; and she cried,' With such a master, surely Man will live in peace with Man.'

But the children, quicker than their mother, saw that, as the stern tutor held the Holy Book and read from out it, 'Thou shalt not take thy brother's life,' his hands were reddened with his brothers' blood.

And they grew sick at the sight of it; while they whispered among themselves, saying, ‘If, as he telleth us, it be written, The Lord gave, and the Lord taketh away,' and therefore it be wrong to kill, why doth he?' So they gave little heed to what they heard, and thought only of what they

saw.

Then, as from day to day the same stern tutor taught the same bloodless precepts with the same bloody hands, the children grew callous alike to both, and in time got to laugh at the Headsman's lessons and imitate his acts. So that for every life the stern teacher took, his thousand pupils took their thousand after him.

"At length men thought so little of their brothers' lives, that Ignorance, made wiser by her fears, sought out the tutor and rebuked him, saying, Thou didst promise that the quarrelings and battlings of my children should cease-and yet, under thy guidance, they quarrel and battle the more ! Thou didst promise to teach them lovingkindness to one another, and neither by word nor deed to hurt any living thing-and yet thou thyself wert the first to torture others in their sight. Thou didst promise, too, to teach them above all things to keep their hands from shedding their brothers' blood-and yet thou thyself wert again the first to use them to the shedding of it.'

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And the dark teacher answered, 'Nay, they should have done as I said, and not as I did.'

"But the mother, in her new wisdom, would not listen to him, and cast him forth, saying, 'Hypocrite! first learn to practice what thou preachest; for, since example hath more power among men than precept, know that, if thou wouldst have others think it criminal to kill or

torture, thou thyself shouldst be the first to desist from torturing and killing.'"

Now, when Ulphilas heard this, and remembered the Dwarf had worked good rather than evil, and that he himself perhaps owed his life to him, he felt moved toward Huan. So he said to the council, "This man hath done no wrong, let him go free. He hath saved so many lives, that surely his own should be spared to him."

The Judges, angry at the mercy of the Monarch communed among themselves for a time, and then the Vizier rose, and, turning to Ulphilas, remonstrated with him, saying, "We humbly supplicate thee, O King! that before thou dost set free one accused of witchcraft, thou wilt reflect once more upon the terrible results which proceed from the malevolence of witches-on the deaths from unknown diseases which often follow their menaceson the loss of the goods and chattels of thy subjects -on the sudden transportation of bodies from one place to another—and other facts, verified by eyewitnesses, and, moreover, confessed to by the accused parties themselves. These, O King! are truths so closely bound up with the principles of our religion, that, extraordinary though they be, no person hath up to this day been able to call them in question. We, therefore, supplicate thee, Great Ulphilas! that thou wilt not, by extending thy mercy to this man, suffer to be introduced during thy reign

an opinion contrary to that glorious religion for which thou hast always employed both thy cares and thine arms."*

But the Monarch gave no ear to the appeal, and bade the guards set Huan at liberty.

Then the people murmured among themselves, and the Judges, indignant at the pardon, rose up and left the council.

* Remonstrance of the Parliament of Rouen to King Louis XIV., in 1670.

Chapter the Fourteenth.

ROM the council-chamber, Huan hurried to the Palace, so that, on the return of the King, he might supplicate him to extend the same

mercy to Anthy as he had shown to him; for he knew that the Monarch looked with favor on him, and felt assured that Ulphilasif none were near to hinder him-would not let him plead in vain for his sister's life.

But, as Huan stood waiting at the gates, the Vizier entered, and, seeing him, gave orders that he should on no condition be allowed to speak with the King.

Still Huan waited at the Palace-gates in patience; and though he begged of each one that entered to beseech the monarch to grant him an interview,