a priest, one of the hearers, came to John, seeing the partridge running before him, and said within himself, fretfully, "Such a great and old man rejoices over a partridge running in the sand!" But John perceived his thoughts and said to him, "It were better if thou, too, my son, would look at a partridge running in the sand, and would not contaminate thyself with disgraceful and impure acts. He who expects the repentance and conversion of all has brought thee hither for that cause. For I have no need of a partridge running in the sand. The partridge is thy soul."
57. When the old man heard this and perceived that he was not hidden, but that Christ's apostle had said everything which filled his heart, he fell to the ground and said, "Now I know that God dwelleth in thee, blessed John. And blessed he who has not tempted God in thee! He that tempts thee, tempts him who cannot be tempted." And he asked him to pray for him. And (the apostle) instructed him, gave him commandments, and dismissed him, praising the Almighty God.<ref>In a somewhat different form we find the same story in Cassian's Collat. XXIV, 21 in Bibl. Patr. Max. VII, 246; reprinted in Fabricius, Bibl. græc. II, 774 ff.; Thilo, p. 8. The narrative reads thus: It is handed down that the most blessed evangelist John, when once playing with a partridge, suddenly noticed a hunter coming to him. He wondered that such a famous man could find pleasure in such trifles and said to him: "Art thou not that John whose great celebrity has filled me with the greatest desire to make thy acquaintance? Why, then, hast thou pleasure in such small things?" John replied: "What is that thing which thou carriest in thy hand?" A bow," replied the hunter. "Why then is it unstrung?" "Because," said the hunter, "were I
