of
willows. He especially loved Bel, the sleekest, most beautiful of them
all, a proud mother cow who had a new little red calf.

One day as he was watching Bel and her baby who had strayed a little
distance from the rest of the herd, he saw something which frightened
him. A great gray wolf was hiding in the shadow of a hedge, creeping
nearer and nearer to the peaceful pair. But Bel did not guess that an
enemy was so near. Berach hurried down the turret stair and out of the
gate, hardly pausing to tell the brother porter whither he was going.
For he knew there was no time to lose.

He ran to the meadow, and pushed through the blooming hedge of
hawthorne. But alas! he had come too late. The great gaunt wolf, who was
very hungry, had pounced upon the little red calf, and had eaten it up.
Poor Bel, wild with grief, ran lowing about the pasture as if seeking
for her little one. But the wolf was slinking out of sight.

When Berach saw what had been done, at first he was very angry with the
wolf, for he loved Bel dearly, and it troubled him to see her sad. He
thought how lonely the poor cow would be without her calf, and when she
came pitifully lowing up to him as if asking him to help her, the tears
stood in his kind eyes. But then he thought how hungry the wolf must
have been. Poor thing, how thin and hollow he had looked,--perhaps he
was not so much to blame after all. Probably he had never been taught
any better.

And then a strange idea came to Berach. He was a wonderful man, and he
must have had great power over animals. For he called to the wolf, who
was already some distance away; he called loudly and in a stern voice.
You will hardly believe it, but the wolf came slinking back, frightened
and whining like a naughty puppy, and crouched at Berach's feet. Then
the Saint spoke kindly to the wolf, no longer treating him like a
murderer and a thief. He called the cow also, and taking her by the
horns led her gently to the wolf, soothing her so that she was not
afraid of the great gray beast.

And Berach said to the cow, "See, Mother Bel, this shall be your child
now, in place of the little one which is gone. He will be a kind and
gentle son to you, I promise." And to the wolf he said, "Here, Wolf, is
the mother whom you need to make you gentle and good. You shall be kind
to her, and make her forget the wrong you have done by being a loving
and dutiful son, ever doing her bidding." So after that the cow and the
meek w