Then, wandering ever in search
of solitude, he went into the woods and found a cave, and passed his
time therein in prayer, living on green herbs and wild honey, acorns
and crabs; and when he went about to gather food, he fell down on
his knees every few yards and said a prayer, and rose and went on.
After awhile he wandered on again, until at Wolsingham, in Durham,
he met with another holy hermit, who had been a monk at Durham,
living in a cave in forests in which no man dare dwell, so did they
swarm with packs of wolves; and there the two good men dwelt
together till the old hermit fell sick, and was like to die. Godric
nursed him, and sat by him, to watch for his last breath. For the
same longing had come over him which came over Marguerite
d'Angouleme when she sat by the dying bed of her favourite maid of
honour--to see if the spirit, when it left the body, were visible,
and what kind of thing it was: whether, for instance, it was really
like the little naked babe which is seen in mediaeval illuminations
flying out of the mouths of dying men. But, worn out with watching,
Godric could not keep from sleep. All but despairing of his desire,
he turned to the dying man, and spoke, says Reginald, some such
words as these:--"O spirit! who art diffused in that body in the
likeness of God, and art still inside that breast, I adjure thee by
the Highest, that thou leave not the prison of this thine habitation
while I am overcome by sleep, and know not of it.
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