And on that day he arose and went home according to his time for staying, and the gazelle came in to him. And the poor man, getting off the bed in haste, came and embraced it with weeping. And the gazelle said, "Be still, master; don't cry, that I may give you the news I have with me." "Ah! my gazelle, you have been lost many days, and I here behind cried and was grieved, and thought you were dead." And it said, "Ah! master, I am well enough; now sit down, master, that I may explain to you what I have with me."
His master sat down and said, "Go on, explain it." And it said, "Master, I shall explain matters to you, and you must be equal to them." And he said, "Anything whatever that you tell me, because my soul loves you so, I shall be equal to it; if you tell me, 'Master, lie on your back that I may roll you over the hill,' I should lie down." And it said, "Master, I have seen many kinds of food—food to satisfy, and other food to leave of—but this food is sweet food indeed, master."
And he said, "Are there things in the world that are nothing but good? They must be good and bad together; this is what the world is; and food is sweet and bitter, that is good food; if food was nothing but sweet, would not that be poisonous food?"
And it said, "Well then, let us sleep now; and in the morning when I go, you follow me." And they slept till the morning; and when it was light, they went out, he and his gazelle, and went into the forest. And they went the first day, and they went the second day through the forest, till, on the fifth day in the forest, the gazelle said to its master, "Stay here, here near the stream." And it took its master, and beat him soundly, till he cried out, "I repent, my master!"
And leaving him there it said, "Do not go away from
