It lives in places where you would think no animal could get without falling and breaking its
neck; you would be frightened to see it sometimes, when it climbs up rough and narrow places,
or jumps from one great rock to another. But God has given it just such a kind of foot as it
needs; it has a small hoof, something like those of a sheep, excepting that it is hollow
underneath, and has a sort of ridge around it by which the animal can cling to the rock, and so
keep from slipping. I never heard of such a thing as one of them sliding off the rocks, unless it
was pursued by the hunters. Two goats once met on a high narrow path, where there was just
room for one to walk. There was a high rock rising close to their shoulders on one side, and on
the other was a place so steep that it would have made you dizzy to look down. They could not
go back without danger of falling, and they could not pass each other; what do you think they
could do, but stay there and starve? It seemed for a little while as if they were considering about
it; at last one bent his knees and laid down, and the other walked safely over his back.
The ibex feeds during the night in the highest woods that grow on the mountains; but as soon as
the sun rises it begins to climb, eating the grass or whatever it finds, till it has got up where it is
too high for trees to grow. They go in small companies of eight or ten, and lie down in sunny
places among the rocks while the sun is hot; but about three or four o'clock in the afternoon they
begin to go down again towards the woods. They can climb up rather more easily than they can
get down, because their fore legs are shorter than the others.
See how the ibex or wild goat is spoken of in the Bible. In the one hundred and fourth Psalm
you may find the words, "The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats;" and another place where
the animal is mentioned is in the twenty-fourth chapter of first Samuel: "Saul took three
thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the
wild goats." I should like to have you read with me the whole history of Saul and David in the
Bible, so that we might talk about it, for it is very interesting; but now I can only write down
what this one verse means. David had been made king over Israel by the command of God; but
Saul, who was a very wicked man, was determined to kill him. So David was obliged to fly for
his life, with only a few faithful friends; and month after month he hid himself in one place and
another, so that Saul might not find him. At last he came to a wild, gloomy place, where nobody
lived, near the Dead Sea: it was rocky, and there were many wild goats there. He thought he was
safe now; but Saul heard where he was and came after him.
One night Saul and his men went into a large dark cave among the mountains, and behold David
and his friends were already there; but they were hidden, so that Saul did not know it. David's
men wanted very much to kill Saul, now that he was in their power, but David would not allow
them. He only cut off a small piece from the robe that Saul wore, and he was sorry afterwards
that he had done even as much as this He did not hurt Saul in the least, but allowed him to go
safely out of the cave, though he might have killed him as easily as not. Was not this returning
good for evil?
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