So they set off towards the city together, its walled-in clustering white houses shining clear against the blue, only narrow silver fleeces of cloud dappling the sky above its roofs. And as they were slowly mounting the hill-side towards its gates, they met a company of damsels who, laughing and talking together, and with their pitchers on their heads, had come down to the well-spring to draw water. Saul asked them if the seer of whom he had heard were still in the city and, if so, where he might be found.

One and all they came to a standstill, and their dark eyes gazed wonderingly at him, for never before had they seen a man to compare with him in looks or stature.

‘The seer is here indeed,’ they made answer. ‘Hasten on and you will surely find him, for he came hither this very morning. There is to be a sacrifice this day in the sanctuary. The feast will soon be ready and he himself will be there. Delay not a moment then, and you will overtake him before he goes up to the high place where the guests who have been bidden are even now awaiting him to bless the sacrifice. You could not have come at a better time.’

Saul thanked them and, turning away, hastened on with his servant. And when these two were come a little beyond the gates of the city and into the main street of it, they saw an old man, dressed in a long white tunic and a mantle of fine wool, who had but just shut-to the door behind him, and come out of his house. And though Saul was unaware of it, this old man was the great prophet Samuel himself.

Anxious thoughts concerning the mission which had been deputed to him by the elders had been continually in Samuel’s mind since they had presented their petition. And, on the morning of the day next before that on which Saul had come into the city, it had been revealed to him that on the morrow at this same hour a stranger of the tribe of Benjamin would be sent to him, and that this was the man chosen of the Lord to be prince over Israel.

When then he raised his eyes and perceived Saul and his servant hastening towards him, he stood still and looked. And a voice in the silence of his mind cried, ‘Behold, this is the king!’

He was filled with joy, and waited there in the street until Saul should come up with him.

Saul bowed low in greeting before Samuel. He asked if he could direct him to the house of the seer who he had heard that day was in the city. Samuel looked up into his face, marvelling within himself at sight of him. His own sons whom he loved were severed from him beyond recall. They had brought him into reproach. Not only admiration but a tender longing and affection welled up in him as he answered this stranger.

‘I am myself,’ he said, ‘the seer whom thou seekest. I knew of thy coming hither and have much to say to thee. This day thou and thy servant shall be my guests and shall come with me to the feast at the sanctuary that is even now made ready. To-morrow I will speak with thee alone, and will tell thee all that is in thy heart to enquire of me. As for the drove of asses which thou hast been seeking these three days gone, think no more of them, for they have been found.’

He paused, then laid his trembling hand on Saul’s arm. ‘There is but one word I would say to thee now,’ he added. ‘Look into thine heart and tell me! To whom shall come that which is desired above all things in Israel? Is it not to thee, and through thee to all thy father’s house?’

Saul was filled with wonder and abashed. He gazed on into the countenance of Samuel—a face aged but serene, though marked with the cares and griefs of a long life. It was now lit up with a strange peace and happiness. Seer indeed he must be, Saul thought within himself, for he had not only read a stranger’s thoughts and foreseen his errand, but could speak of the future as if it were an open book. But what was the meaning of this dark adjuration? He bowed himself again before Samuel. ‘Am not I a Benjamite,’ he said, ‘the least and smallest of the tribes of Israel; and are not my kindred the least among the clans of Benjamin? Why askest thou this of me, then? Thy words are past my understanding. I entreat thee to make them clear to me.’