And Morven dwelt in the council of the wise men.


Now the king of the tribe had one daughter, and she was stately
amongst the women of the tribe, and fair to look upon. And
Morven gazed upon her with the eyes of love, but he did not dare
to speak.

Now the son of Osslah laughed secretly at the foolishness of
men; he loved them not, for they had mocked him; he honored them
not, for he had blinded the wisest of their elders.

He shunned their feasts and merriment and lived apart and
solitary.

The austerity of his life increased the mysterious homage which
his commune with the stars had won him, and the boldest of the
warriors bowed his head to the favorite of the gods.

One day he was wandering by the side of the river, and he saw a
large bird of prey rise from the earth, and give chase to a hawk
that had not yet gained the full strength of its wings. From his
youth the solitary Morven had loved to watch, in the great
forests and by the banks of the mighty stream, the habits of the
things which nature had submitted to man; and looking now on the
birds, he said to himself, "Thus is it ever; by cunning or by
strength each thing wishes to master its kind."

While thus, moralizing, the larger bird had stricken down the