generous to one another; and give to David and to us, his servants, such food as you have at this glad time."

But Nabal was gruff and selfish. "Who is David?" he asked, scowling at the men and speaking crossly. “He may be only a good-for-nothing rascal, who has run away from his master. Shall I take my bread, and my water, and the meat that I have prepared for the men who work for me, and give it to strangers that I know nothing about?" With this he told them harshly to be gone, and drove them from his presence.

When the messengers told David, he was filled with wrath, and said to the men who were with him: “Let every man gird on his sword. Surely, it is in vain that I have guarded the flocks of this surly fellow; for now he returns me evil for good. But I will punish him! Before the sun rises to-morrow morning there shall not be so much as one boy alive in his home." Now there were about six hundred men who followed David. Of these he took four hundred and marched away toward the fields where Nabal was shearing, leaving two hundred to guard his own camp.

In the meantime one of Nabal's workmen told Abigail what had happened. "David," he said, "sent men to give his blessing to our master, and to ask a gift from him; but Nabal flew upon them, and treated them shamefully. Yet David and his men were very good to us, when we were keeping the sheep. They

were a wall to us by night and by day against robbers, and we never missed a lamb so long as they were near. But now you must think of something to do, and do it quickly; for David and his men will be very angry, and will surely do harm to our master, and to all his house."

When Abigail heard this, she made haste and took two hundred loaves of bread, and two sheepskins, that had been made into bottles and filled with wine, and five sheep all ready for roasting, and five measures of parched corn, and a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on the backs of the asses. She did not dare to tell Nabal her plans for fear that he would stop her; and in that case she felt sure that he would be killed and perhaps all his possessions taken from him. Then she told one of the young men to go on before her, and set out toward the place where she knew that David had his camp.

She had not gone far before she met David and his companions. At once she got down from the ass, on which she rode, and bowed herself to the ground before him. She was a lovely woman, and as good as she was lovely; and taking upon herself the blame for her husband's crossness, she said: "Upon me, my lord, upon me let your anger be turned; but let your handmaid speak, and give ear to my words. Forget, I pray you, the folly and unthankfulness of my husband! Behold the present which your servant sends to you,

and to the young men who follow with you, and forgive the treatment which has made you so justly angry. God grant that through your meeting with me, He will keep you from punishing one man's sin by committing another! May God make you a prince over Israel, and guard you from all evil and harm!"

As David listened to the gracious words, his anger left him. "Blessed be God," he said, "who sent you this day to meet me; and blessed may you be for your tact and kindness, which have kept me from shedding blood, and avenging myself with my own hand. For if you had not come, by this time to-morrow morning there would not have been a boy alive in Nabal's home." So he took the present which Abigail brought to him, and said: "Go in peace to your house! See, I have hearkened to your words, and granted your petition." Then he turned and marched away to the camp with his followers, while Abigail went back to her home.

It was evening when she arrived, and Nabal and his men had returned from their work and were feasting. To her sorrow and shame she found that her husband was not himself. He had drunk so much wine that he could not think or speak or act as a man should, and he looked as if his mind had been taken from him and he had been turned into a beast. In the morning, when he was more like himself, she told him all. But her husband was so frightened by the news and so weak after his evil manner of life that he had something

like what is called a shock of paralysis, and his heart died within him, and he became like a stone. Ten days later Nabal died, and Abigail was left a widow. When David heard the news, he said, "Blessed be God, who kept back his servant from doing evil; and the evil of Nabal God has returned upon his own head." By and by he asked Abigail to come and be his wife; for she had turned away his anger, and he felt sure that a woman who was so gracious and tactful and loving would make him a happy and peaceful home.

1. Where were David and his men living?

2. How did they sometimes have to get their food?
3. Who was having his sheep sheared?

4. What kind of dinner did he give the men?

5. How had David treated Nabal's men?

6. What did David's men ask?

7. How did Nabal answer?

8. What did David decide to do?

9. What prevented this?

10. How was Nabal punished?

II. What is said about " a soft answer"?

12. What is said about " a grievous word"?