der given
to your first father, Adam, when he was commanded, 'In the sweat of thy
face, thou shalt eat bread.' Seeing work is good, the fruit of this work
is good too. Yet you work not, neither have any care for the work of
others. But you receive and give alms, in contempt of the law laid on
Adam and on his seed through the ages."

"Alas!" sighed Brother Giovanni, "I am laden with crimes, and at once
the most wicked and the most foolish man in all the world. Wherefore
never heed me, but read in the Book. Our Lord said, 'Consider the lilies
of the field; they toil not, neither do they spin.' Again he said, 'Mary
hath chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.'"

Then Satan lifted up his hand, with the gesture of one who disputes and
prepares to count off his arguments on the fingers. And he said:

"Giovanni, Giovanni! what was written in one sense, you read in another;
you are less like a Doctor at his desk than an ass at the manger. So
must I correct you, as a master corrects his scholar. It is written the
lilies of the field have no need to spin--because they are beautiful,
and beauty is a virtue. Again it is written how Mary is not to do the
household tasks, because she is doing lovingly to Him who has come to
see her. But you, who are not beautiful nor yet instructed, like Mary,
in the things of love, you drag out a contemptible existence wandering
the highways."

Giovanni made reply:

"Sir! just as a Painter will depict on a narrow panel of wood an entire
city with its houses and towers and walls, so you have painted in a few
words my soul and my similitude with a wondrous exactness. And I am
altogether what you describe. But if I followed perfectly the rule
etablished by St. Francis, that Angel of God, and if I practised
spiritual poverty to the full, I should be the lily of the fields and I
should have the good part of Mary."

But Satan interrupted him, and cried:

"You profess to love the poor, yet you prefer the rich man and his
riches, and adore Him who possesses treasures to give away."

And Fra Giovanni answered:

"He I love possesses not the good things of the body, but those of the
spirit."

And Satan retorted:

"All good things are of the flesh, and are tasted of through the flesh.
This Epicurus taught, and Horace the Satirist said the same in his
Verses."

At these words the holy man only sighed and said:

"Sir! I cannot tell what you mean."

Satan shrugged his shoul