look at the Monk. Amid the deep wrinkles that scored his face,
the clear blue eyes sparkled like the waters of a spring through the
rugged bark of a grove of oaks.

"Man or beast," shrilled Mino, "I command you in the name of the Saviour
to say who you are."

"My son," replied the old man, "I am San Satiro! Speak not so loud, for
fear of frightening the birds."

Then Fra Mino resumed, in a quieter tone:

"Forasmuch, old man, as you shrank not before the dread sign of the
Cross, I cannot hold you to be a demon or some foul spirit escaped out
of Hell. But if verily and indeed you are a man, as you say you are, or
rather the soul of a man sanctified by the deeds of a good life and by
the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ, expound, I pray you, the mystery of
your goat's horns and your shaggy limbs ending in those black, cloven
hoofs."

At the question, the old man lifted up his arms towards heaven, and
said:

"My son, the nature of men and animals, of plants and stones, is the
secret of the immortal gods, and I know as little as yourself what is
the reason of these horns wherewith my brow is decked, and which the
Nymphs used in olden days to wind about with garlands of flowers. I
cannot tell you the meaning of the two wrinkled folds that droop from my
neck, nor why I have the feet of a wanton goat. But I would have you
know, my son, there was once in these woods a race of women having
horned brows like mine and shaggy thighs. Yet were their bosoms round
and white, and their belly and polished loins shone in the light. The
sun was young then, and loved to fleck them with his golden arrows, as
they lay beneath the shady foliage. They were very fair, my son; but
alas! they have vanished from the woods, every one. My mates have
perished likewise, and I am left lonely, the last of my tribe."

"I would fain know your age, old man, and your lineage and country."

"My son, I was born of the Earth long ere Jupiter had dethroned Saturn,
and my eyes have looked upon the flowery freshness of the new-created
World. Not yet had the human race emerged from the clay. Alone with me,
the dancing Satyr girls set the ground ringing with the rhythmic beat of
their double hoofs. They were taller and stronger and fairer than either
Nymphs or Women; and their ampler loins received abundantly the seed of
the first-born of Earth.

"Under the reign of Jupiter the Nymphs began to inhabit fountains and
forests and mountains; while the Fauns,