unfinished. Some of the most delightful stories ever written, like
those of Hawthorne, leave something at the end still unexplained. The
reader's imagination is then free to go on forever exploring the
mystery, and inventing new situations. So in this bas-relief, the
great sculptor does not work out the details, but allows us to
exercise our own fancy upon them. He sketches his thought in a few
noble lines, and each may round out for himself the completed ideal.




II

DAVID


Long ago in the country of Palestine lived a lad named David, who kept
his father's sheep. His free life out of doors made him strong and
manly beyond his years. The Israelites were at this time at war with
the Philistines, and David's quick wit and indomitable courage fitted
him to play an important part in the issue of the war.

The Philistine army contained a giant named Goliath, described as "six
cubits and a span" in height. That is over ten feet; but perhaps his
terrible appearance, in all his armor, made him taller than he really
was.

One day this giant came out from his army and made a proposal to the
Israelites:[6] "Choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me.
If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your