e children that eat of the portion of the
king's meat: and as thou seest, deal with thy servants." And he proved
them for ten days.

At the end of that time their faces were fatter and fairer than the
faces of all the others who ate portions from the King's table, and
they were allowed to eat the food they had chosen.

They also grew in wisdom and judgment. Daniel had the gift of
understanding visions and dreams, and the gift came from God, and not
from the study of magic. Among all the young men these four were most
pleasing to the king, and they were called to the palace to stand
before him.

Not long after this the king had a dream that seemed very wonderful to
him, but he could not remember it. He called all his magicians, and
astrologers, and wise men together, and told them that they must tell
him what his dream was, and the meaning of it, or he would destroy
them. There was no man wise enough to tell him, and he ordered that
all the wise men of Babylon should be killed, Daniel and his friends
among them.

Daniel asked the captain of the king's guard why the king was so hasty
with his decree, and the captain told him.

Then Daniel went to the king and told him that if he would give him a
little time he would tell him his dream and its meaning, and he went to
his three friends and together they prayed the God of Heaven to show
them the dream and its interpretation.

That night Daniel saw in a vision from God the same thing that the king
had seen and had forgotten. It was a great image standing before the
king, and shining like the sun. The head was of pure gold, the breast
and arms of silver, and the rest of the body of brass; while the legs
were of iron, and the feet were part of iron and part of clay. As he
looked a great stone cut from a mountain by unseen hands was hurled at
the image, striking its feet and breaking them. Then the image fell
and broke into pieces so fine that the winds blew them away, but the
stone grew to be a great mountain that filled the earth.

Then Daniel gave thanks to God for showing him the dream, and went to
the king.

He told the king that the God of Heaven alone had revealed the dream,
for no man could know it, and he told him what the dream had been. He
also told him that God had shown him the meaning; that the head of gold
was the king himself, who reigned over the greatest kingdom on earth,
but after him new kingdoms would rise, and the silver, the brass, the