The Forerunner, His Parables and Poems

by Kahlil Gibran

And the cat purred, “Fan on, fan on, stupids. You fan but the fire that consumes you.”

TYRANNY

THUS sings the She-Dragon that guards the seven caves by the sea:

“My mate shall come riding on the waves. His thundering roar shall fill the earth with fear, and the flames of his nostrils shall set the sky afire. At the eclipse of the moon we shall be wedded, and at the eclipse of the sun I shall give birth to a Saint George, who shall slay me.”

Thus sings the She-Dragon that guards the seven caves by the sea.

THE SAINT

IN my youth I once visited a saint in his silent grove beyond the hills; and as we were conversing upon the nature of virtue a brigand came limping wearily up the ridge. When he reached the grove he knelt down before the saint and said, “O saint, I would be comforted! My sins are heavy upon me.”

And the saint replied, “My sins, too, are heavy upon me.”

And the brigand said, “But I am a thief and a plunderer.”

And the saint replied, “I too am a thief and a plunderer.”