pacino rt a panera i ae phic

THE OLD SHEPHERD AND HIS STRANGE STORY OF }
THE SHEEP THAT STOOD STILL. i

N an upland meadow of the Isle of Telos two shepherds stood in
Othe crisp, clear sunlight. It had been a cloudy morning, but the
Sun God had rent the curtain and burst forth in flaming splendor. The
mountains, resisting in vain, had been overthrown and now were bathed
in glory. The chariot of the victorious Sun God was mounting into the oS

heavens.

The elder shepherd, a man well on in years, pointed out the fiery vehicle
to the younger, his nephew who was but a lad.

Light had not yet penetrated the way they had come, for down in the
valley their village lay in shadow. Here, people were waking, and tiny
voices from tiny figures came quaintly clear, and man assumed, to the
shepherds, in the vastness of the universe, his truer proportions.

This was the boy's first visit to his uncle's pasture, for he had come from
the far island of Patnaos. He was anxious to explore. Though impatient,
he listened with respect to his uncle, but as the Tale of the Sun God was
oft repeated, he fell to idly counting the sheep which he and the elder
had tallied at the fold.

There were the old ewes and their lambs; the huge ram, the patriarch of
the flock; all were there, but strangely enough, with one added to their q
number. The ram moved sedately away, and after him the flock, till but
one remained, standing quite still. Even as the boy continued to watch,

not a limb stirred. f
The uncle noticed the boy's interest and, laying his hand on the young iy
shoulder, said, "Come, let us look at the sheep that stands still."

"See, he is made of stone. He is a sheep, and yet he is not; he is like,
yet he is unlike. He must be like the sheep in the Land of the Gods.
See, | have built a little altar and pray to the unknown God for the boy
who carved this sheep.

"Fifty-three years ago a child was left on the doorstep of August, the
carver of wood and stone. No one knew by whom; for it was misty, and,

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