ask him what it is
that he desires. And as soon as he has told thee, I shall grant him
his wish. If he did not understand how to die and to renounce the
world like the others, it was surely because his heart clove too much
to my Earth which, indeed, I love well. Because, Oh Francis, like this
creature of the long ears I love the earth with a profound love.
I love the earth of men, of beasts, of plants, and of stones. Oh
Francis, go and find Rabbit, and tell him that I am his friend."

* * * * *

And Francis set out toward the Paradise of beasts where none of the
children of man except young girls had ever set their foot. There he
met Rabbit who was disconsolately wandering about. But when Rabbit saw
his old master approaching he experienced such joy that he crouched
down with more fright in his eye than ever and with his nostrils
quivering almost imperceptibly.

"Greeting, my brother," said Francis, "I heard the sufferings of your
heart, and I have come here to learn the reason for your sadness. Have
you eaten too many bitter kernels of grain? Why have you not found
the peace of the doves, and of the lambs which are also white...?
Oh harvester of the second crop, for what do you search so restlessly
here where there is no more restlessness, and where never more will
you feel the hunting-dogs' breath on your poor skin?"

"Oh my friend," answered he, "what am I seeking? I am seeking my
God. As long as you were my God on earth I felt at peace. But in this
Paradise where I have lost my way, because your presence is no longer
with me, Oh divine brother of the beast, my soul feels suffocated for
I do not find my God."

"Do you think, then," said Francis, "that God abandons rabbits, and
that they alone of the whole world have no title to Paradise?"

"No," Rabbit replied, "I have given no thought to such things. I would
have followed you because I came to know you as intimately as the
earthly hedge on which the lambs hung the warm flakes of snow with
which I used to line and keep warm my nest. Vainly I have sought
throughout these heavenly meadows this God of whom you are speaking.
But while my companions discovered Him at once and found their
Paradise, I lost my way. From the day when you left us and from the
instant that I gained Heaven, my childish and untamed heart has beaten
with homesickness for the earth.

"Oh Francis, Oh my friend, Oh you in whom alone I have faith, give
back to