LITERARY HISTORY OF PARNELL's ' HERMIT.* 153 



Patrum/ One of these, in the ' Bibliotheque Mazarine/* 

 which has been published by M. E. du Meril, is regarded 

 by M. Gaston Paris as the origin of the mediaeval 

 variants. In this manuscript of the fourteenth century 

 the actoi*s in the story are all hermits or ecclesiastics, 

 but the incidents, with the exception of the fire, are the 

 same. 



Goldsmith, writing of ParnelPs ' Hermit,* says that he 

 had been told that the fable was an Arabian invention. 

 In effect it is in the Koran, where Moses is said to have 

 met a nameless prophet whom the commentators style Al- 

 Khedr :— 



" And Moses said unto him, ' Shall I follow thee that 

 thou mayest teach me part of that which thou hast been 

 taught for a direction unto me?* He answered, 'Verily 

 thou canst not bear with me : for how canst thou patiently 

 suffer those things the knowledge whereof thou dost not 

 comprehend ? * Moses replied, ' Thou shalt find me patient 

 if God please, neither will I be disobedient unto thee in 

 any thing.* He said, ' If thou follow me, therefore, ask 

 me not concerning any thing until I shall declare the 

 meaning thereof unto thee.* So they both went on by 

 the sea-shore, until they went up into a ship ; and he made 

 a hole therein. And Moses said unto him, ' Hast thou 

 made a hole therein that thou mightest drown those who 

 are on board ? Now hast thou done a strange thing.* He 

 answered, ' Did I not tell thee thou couldest not bear with 

 me ?* Moses said, ' Rebuke me not, because I did forget, 

 and impose not on me a difficulty in what I commanded.* 

 Wherefore they left the ship and proceeded until they met 

 with a youth ; and he slew him. Moses said, ' Hast thou 

 slain an innocent person without his having killed another ? 

 Now hast thou committed an unjust action.* He answered, 

 * Did I not tell thee that thou couldest not bear with me ? * 



