no one dared to question God’s messenger.

Nothing further happened just then. Samuel returned as he had come by the winding white road, and before long his visit was forgotten as the people settled to their work again.

[folio 11]

Saul tries to kill David

Only David, out in the fields, thought more and more about what had happened, and grew more and [folio 13] more certain that it had been a call from God to do some special work for Him. The wonder of it filled his mind, but it never interfered with his work.

There was little time for idle dreaming in the boy’s life. He was as watchful as ever in his care for his sheep and as courageous as ever in guarding them from prowling beasts. Even in his leisure time he was busy too, and there was not one of the sunny hours of daylight that he wasted.

He loved music, and he taught himself to play on the harp, practising so carefully and patiently that his [folio 14] fingers grew most wonderfully skilful. Then he made songs to go to the music, some of the most beautiful songs that ever have been made in all the world. Almost every child to-day knows his beautiful song about the Good Shepherd: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”

There was another thing, too, that he learned to do with the same care and patient perseverance, and that was to use his shepherd’s sling. There was no boy in all Bethlehem who could shoot as straight as he could. He never missed his mark.

It was no great thing, perhaps, to make music and aim straight, but it was a great thing to do what lay nearest his hand with all his might. Perhaps some day God would make use of his singing or have some work for a boy who had a quick eye and a sure aim. Who could tell?

So David learned to do his very best, and before very long God’s call came to him.

Saul sat day after day in his darkened tent.

Saul, the King of Israel, sat day after day in his darkened tent ill and full of misery. No one dared to go near him, and his servants whispered together, “It is an evil spirit from the Lord that troubles him.”

Then some one suggested that perhaps music might help to cheer him and drive the evil spirit from him.

“Let our lord now command thy servants to seek out a man who is a cunning player on a harp,” they said to the king, “and it shall come to pass that, when the [folio 15] evil spirit from God is upon thee, he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well.”

David drew magic music from his harp’s strings.

Saul listened to their words, and hope crept into his heart.

“Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him unto me,” he said eagerly.

Now the fame of David’s playing and singing had spread even beyond Bethlehem. “We must send for David, the son of Jesse,” said the king’s servants at once. He was the very person they wanted. Not [folio 16] only could he sing and play, but he was a good boy, brave and fearless, and best of all, as the servants said, “The Lord is with him.”

So the shepherd boy was