og and sling,
playing upon his harp, and watching from afar the fire and smoke and
crowds, as he kept his father's flocks.

"Send and fetch him, for we will not sit down to the feast until he
comes," was the stern reply. The brothers were angry at this useless
waste of time; but one of them was soon leaping down the stony path to
the valley, shouting with his hand to his mouth, and waving a stick in
the air to attract his young brother's attention.

The people waited in the sunshine, and soon they saw David, with his
tunic pulled through his leather belt so as to leave his legs free,
running swiftly up the hill, for he was very fleet of foot. He came in
his shepherd's torn and soiled garb, and had to wash at the brook
before he was fit to stand before the prophet.

When at length he drew near, Samuel saw a young man, not tall, but
clearly of great strength, with light hair, ruddy cheeks, and bright
eyes; and he thought the youth very good to look upon as he stood
before him dressed in his striped tunic and leather girdle, from which
hung his shepherd's club, sling, and knife. Samuel looked at his frank
face, and as he looked God said to him,--

"Arise, anoint him: for this is he."

Going forward, the old man bade the shepherd youth kneel down and
uncover his head. And David did so, taking off his bright kerchief,
little knowing what was about to happen. Then raising his horn before
the astonished people, Samuel poured the sweet-smelling oil upon the
young man's head, saying as he did so that God had chosen this young
man to be a prince in Israel.

Upon this the people raised a great shout of joy, and Samuel gave the
signal for the feast that was to follow. Then the men all sat down on
the ground about the large wood fire, while the women came forward to
serve them.

II.

David, the shepherd of Bethlehem, was not a mere boy when the prophet
Samuel called him from watching his sheep to pour scented oil upon his
head, and tell him, before all the people of the village, that he would
one day be a prince in the land. He was already a village hero, for
one day he had killed a lion that sprang upon one of his sheep as they
fed in the valley to the south, near the desert country.

He had also killed a bear that tried to seize one of his young lambs;
for David was so strong that he could break an iron bow with his hands,
and so swift on his feet that he could catch a wild deer in a race over
good ground. He