But she, as she was running, had seen the hut of St. John of the Golden Mouth, and knocked at the door.
‘Begone!’ shouted the penitent, thinking it was the Devil come to tempt him.
But she continued knocking.
‘Begone! Out into the wild! nor disturb my peace, Evil One!’ shouted he again.
‘I am not the Evil One,’ answered the princess; ‘I am only a woman; I have lost my way, and crave shelter from the storm.’
When he heard that, he got up and let her in; but when he saw her, he could not resist treating her as he had treated the other maidens. Then he killed her, and threw her body into a well.
But the next day, when he came to think of what he had done, he said to himself,
‘How is it possible that I, who have come here to do penance for my crimes, should out here, even in my penitential hut, commit the same crime again? I must go further from temptation, and do deeper penance yet.’
So he left the shelter of his hut, and all his clothes, and went into the wild country and lived with the wild beasts, and became like one of them. After many years he grew quite accustomed to go on all fours, and his body was all covered with hair like a lion’s, and he lost the use of speech.
Then, one day the same king went out hunting. Suddenly there was a great cry of the dogs. They had found an animal of which the huntsmen had never seen the like before. So strange was it, that they said, we must not kill it, but must bring it to the king. With much difficulty they whipped the dogs off, and they brought it to the king, so like a four-footed creature had San Giovanni Bocca d’oro grown.