Roaring rascals, bound to please us;
Hush! For now we have a saint,
One who served the infant Jesus.
Seymour Barnard.
IX
The Giant Who Became a Saint
Sometimes he would hold them at arm’s length
Among the smooth, blue hills of an eastern country lived a simple-hearted giant lad named Offero. And though he was four times as high and four times as wide as the other boys, that did not make him proud in the least. He played with them as good-naturedly as if he had been no bigger than they. Sometimes he would hold them at arm’s length, one in each great hand. Sometimes he would toss them gently into the air. And when he was particularly good-humored he would stand still for hours at a time while they clambered up on his high shoulders.