and all the chief men of the tribes of Israel to assemble at Mizpeh, there to make known to them what man among them was to be king.

Now in the village of Gibeah in Benjamin there lived at this time a man named Kish. He was the head of his family, well-to-do, and of standing in his clan; and he had an only son whose name was Saul, now in the flower of his life. In looks and stature there was none to compare with him. His eyes were of a strange clearness and brightness, and he towered head and shoulders above any man in Israel.

From his childhood he had spent a quiet and retired life with his father, and now had charge of his flocks and herds. He was known to few beyond his own family, and was not only of a natural modesty but inclined to conceal himself from the notice of his fellows. He was at times, and without cause, as it seemed, moody and downcast and dark in mind. But soon his gloom would depart from him, and his whole being would awake and shine. He could be as swift and resolute in action as a sword flashing in the sun. And when aroused, he was capable of stubbornly insisting at all costs on following his own will. He was born to be a great captain and leader, and was to win glory in Israel, though at last pride, jealousy and faithlessness gained the mastery over his better nature, brought him to ruin and darkened his fame.

Now it chanced one day that some of his father’s asses, which had not yet been broken in to saddle and bridle, strayed away from their pasturage and were lost.

When Kish heard of it, he bade Saul take one of his servants, and set off speedily in search of them.

For two whole days they looked for them, wandering in every direction through the waste and wooded solitudes of the mountains. Thus they covered upwards of forty miles. On the third day they turned south and sought them in a country of hills and cultivated valleys called Zuph. They pressed on, following the windings of a stream, until they came in sight of a walled village or city that lay on the slopes of its hillside among rich vineyards and olive-groves.

They were footsore and weary, and they sat together on the rocks in the shade of a tree, and in the coolness of running water, to rest and to eat. They shared between them their last half-loaf of bread, a cluster of raisins and some figs, and Saul told his servant that he had decided to look for the asses no further.

‘It is all in vain, and I am weary of it,’ he said. ‘Let us turn home again; for peradventure my father has by now given up all thought of the asses and is troubled only for our safety.’

But the lad was loth to return to his master without the asses, and he told Saul that in the city yonder he would find a seer who if they asked his counsel would give them his help.

‘He is a holy man,’ he said, ‘and of great renown among the people, for all that he foretells concerning the future surely comes to pass. So it may be with us. Let us go into the city and seek him out; and it may be he will tell us where the asses are to be found.’

‘But how,’ said Saul, ‘can I ask this great man to help us unless I can offer him some fitting present in return? There is not a crust left in our wallets, and I have nothing whatever that I could ask him to accept. What hast thou?’

His servant looked, and answered that he had one small piece of money left—a quarter of a shekel of silver. ‘It is little enough,’ he said, ‘to give this man of God. But if thou offer it and explain that it is all we have, it may be of his grace he will accept it and will tell us our way.’

‘Well said,’ Saul answered, rising instantly to his feet. ‘We will go at once into the city and ask where we shall find him.’