to-night after your long penance clearly proves that you have but little
strength against temptation and shows in what peril you stand of
relapsing into your deadly sin of greediness. Take my advice; return to
your convent at sunrise to-morrow and there repent, fast and scourge
yourself, for you are in great danger of becoming an ass again. Be wise
and remain here no longer, or else I may be tempted to use the whip to
you, and I should not deal so lightly with you as you would with
yourself."

[Illustration]

Brother Timothy had the grace to blush deeply at this well-deserved
reproof, but wisely made no reply, and soon the whole household sought
their beds. The next morning they awoke at sunrise, at the hour when the
cock should have crowed, only, as you know, they had eaten him for
supper the previous evening. The monk, who had recovered his good
spirits, rose betimes, and, having breakfasted, set out in haste, for he
heard the distant matin bell ringing from the convent and so made his
leave-taking a very brief one.

It was a balmy summer morning, filled with the song of birds and the
subdued lowing of cattle; the beautiful Italian countryside looked its
loveliest, but Brother Timothy cared naught for all this. His thoughts
were concerned only with his own affairs, and it was not till the
convent walls appeared before him that he quickened his steps and began
to take an interest in what was going on.

As he entered the convent gate, he saw the ass standing patiently there
just as he had found him in the wood. Brother Timothy at once hastened
to the Abbot and, after telling him a plausible tale of sickness and
weariness which had prevented him from returning to the convent on the
previous day, he went on to explain that the ass had been sent as a
present to the Brotherhood; the owner, who was a wealthy man, had
bestowed it on the convent, so that it might ease the poor monks from
always carrying such heavy burdens on their journeys to the neighboring
village.

Now this was a matter which required careful consideration, and for some
days the Abbot thought over in his mind the difficult question of how he
should dispose of the gift. On the one hand, it would be pleasant for
the monks to be spared so much toil, but, on the other, it would make
them lazy and self-indulgent, and the world would find reason for
scandal and reproof. So finally he determined to sell the ass, in order
to save the expense of his keep, and