116 THE RAVEN IN POETRY AND FOLK-LORE 



But a voice came from heaven, " There is a holier 

 man than thou, who has lived with Me in the desert, 

 not merely for seventy-five, but for ninety years." 

 The lesser saint went forth in quest of the greater, to 

 do him homage ; and, after three days' wandering, he 

 found his cell and humbly craved admittance. While 

 they were talking together, lo ! a raven brought a 

 loaf of bread and set it down between them. " For 

 sixty years," exclaimed St Paul, the Hermit, "has 

 that raven brought me half a loaf a day ; and now 

 that thou has come to me, see, he has brought a 

 whole loaf, half for me and half for thee." They 

 passed the afternoon and evening in converse sweet 

 on things divine, which proved to be a veritable 

 nunc dimittis to the elder of the two saints ; for 

 he passed peaceably away next morning, and was 

 buried by the younger, St Antony, on the spot 

 which he had consecrated by his hermit life. 



Less striking, and with a less sombre termina- 

 tion, is the service said to have been rendered by 

 his tame raven, on one occasion, to St Benedict. 

 Florentius, a neighbouring priest, who was jealous of 

 his superior sanctity, had sent him a poisoned loaf. 

 St Benedict divining his intention, flung the loaf on 

 the ground, and bade his companion remove it to a 

 place where no living thing could find it. The raven 



