"And thou hast showed this day how that thou hast dealt well with me: forasmuch as when the Lord had delivered me into thine hand, thou killedst me not.
"For if a man find his enemy, will he let him go well away? wherefore the Lord reward thee good for that thou hast done unto me this day.
"And now, behold, I know well that thou shalt surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in thine hand.
"Swear now therefore unto me by the Lord, that thou wilt not cut off my seed after me, and that thou wilt not destroy my name out of my father's house."
And David swore unto Saul. And Saul went home; but David and his men went up to the stronghold.
ONE OF DAVID'S ADVENTURES IN THE WILDERNESS.
How the Sheep Master of Maon Refused to Pay Tribute.
(While David was roaming about the country followed by a company of men as young and gallant as himself, much as Robin Hood roamed about the forests of England, he had many adventures, some of them chivalrous and some of which he was perhaps afterward, when he became king, just a little ashamed. This is the story of one of these adventures.)
There was a man in Maon whose possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very rich, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
Now the name of the man was Nabal (the Fool); and the name of his wife Abigail: and the woman was of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man was churlish and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb.