Once upon a time there was a noble knight who led a very merry and graceless life, but at the same time never missed a sermon if he could help it. Of course people jeered at him and said he had better give up sermons if he could not behave himself more suitably. But the knight answered with becoming seriousness, “I trust in time I shall give up my evil ways ; and now although it is true that I do not do all the good I hear about, I am learning what is right against the time when I turn to honest manners in real earnest.”

Well this was an odd way of going to work, and not one I should recommend to anyone I know. But true it is that Heaven notices the little good we do and makes much of it, even though the greater part of our life is evil. The noble knight did mend his ways in time ; and not only gave up his sins, but left the world and all his possessions (which were very great) and became a monk.

Now it happened that at the monastery where he dwelt, getting holier and holier every day, there were six old donkeys which were really past work and no use to anyone at all. The abbot wanted to get rid of them ; and hearing that the noble knight was very well versed in the affairs of the world, he sent him to the fair, accompanied by a lay-brother, to sell the six old donkeys and bring back young ones. This task was by no means to the taste of the noble knight; however, he was a noble monk now, he remembered, and his nobility consisted in obedience ; so off he went.