“Alas, my dear young gentlemen,” replied the old man, “you see how white my hair is, and how wrinkled my cheeks. By reason of my age, I have grown very feeble, and my feet can carry me no further. Therefore I must certainly sit here and die, unless one of you is willing to sell me his horse.”
“Sell thee one of our horses, beggar!” exclaimed Mylio, with contemptuous voice; “and wherewithal have you to pay for it?”
“You see this hollow acorn,” answered the mendicant: “it contains a spider capable of spinning a web stronger than steel. Let me have one of your horses, and I will give you in exchange the acorn with the spider.”
The elder of the two boys burst into a loud laugh.
“Do you only hear that, Tonyk?” said he, turning to his brother. “By my baptism, there must be two calf’s feet in that fellow’s shoes.”[3]
But the younger answered gently,
“The poor can only offer what he has.”
Then dismounting, he went up to the old man, and added,
“I give you my horse, my honest friend, not in consideration of the price you offer for him, but in remembrance of Christ, who has declared the poor to be His chosen portion. Take and keep him as your own, and thank God, in whose name I bestow him.”
The old man murmured a thousand benedictions, and mounting with Tonyk’s aid, went on his way, and was soon lost in the distance.