must needs inquire from every one he met the explanation of this,
that, and the other; and his own wits were so lively that he was ever
ready with an answer himself for any question put to him, so that
talkativeness had become, as it were, his second nature. But, just as
in the body when a boy is overgrown, some touch of youthfulness is
sure to show itself and tell the secret of his age, so for all the
lad's loquacity, the impression left on the listener was not of
arrogance, but of simplicity and warm-heartedness, and one would
gladly have heard his chatter to the end rather than have sat beside
him and found him dumb.

[4] However, as he grew in stature and the years led him to the time
when childhood passes into youth he became more chary of his words and
quieter in his tone: at times, indeed, he was so shy that he would
blush in the presence of his elders, and there was little sign left of
the old forwardness, the impulsiveness of the puppy who will jump up
on every one, master and stranger alike. Thus he grew more sedate, but
his company was still most fascinating, and little wonder: for
whenever it came to a trial of skill between himself and his comrades
he would never challenge his mates to those feats in which he himself
excelled: he would start precisely one where he felt his own
inferiority, averring that he would outdo them all,--indeed, he would
spring to horse in order to shoot or hurl the javelin before he had
got a firm seat--and then, when he was worsted, he would be the first
to laugh at his own discomfiture. [5] He had no desire to escape
defeat by giving up the effort, but took glory in the resolution to do
better another time, and thus he soon found himself as good a horseman
as his peers, and presently, such was his ardour, he surpassed them
all, and at last the thinning of the game in the king's preserves
began to show what he could do. What with the chasing and the shooting