Francis said:  “Give ear, my brothers:  brother wolf, who standeth here before ye, hath promised me and plighted troth to make his peace with you, and to offend no more in any thing; and do ye promise him to give him every day whate’er he needs:  and I am made his surety unto you that he will keep this pact of peace right steadfastly.”  Then promised all the folk with one accord to give him food abidingly.  Then quoth St. Francis to the wolf before them all:  “And thou, brother wolf, dost thou make promise to keep firm this pact of peace, that thou offend not man nor beast nor any creature?” And the wolf knelt him down and bowed his head:  and with gentle movements of his body, tail, and eyes, gave sign as best he could that he would keep their pact entire.  Quoth St. Francis:  “Brother wolf, I wish that as thou hast pledged me thy faith to this promise without the gate, even so shouldest thou pledge me thy faith to thy promise before all the people, and that thou play me not false for my promise, and the surety that I have given for thee.”  Then the wolf lifting up his right paw, laid it in the hand of St. Francis.  Therewith, this act, and the others set forth above, wrought such great joy and marvel in all the people, both through devotion to the saint, and through the newness of the miracle, and through the peace with the wolf, that all began to lift up their voices unto heaven praising and blessing God, that had sent St. Francis unto them, who by his merits had set them free from the jaws of the cruel beast.  And thereafter this same wolf lived two years in Agobio; and went like a tame beast in and out the houses, from door to door, without doing hurt to any or any doing hurt to him, and was courteously nourished by the people; and as he passed thuswise through the country and the houses, never did any dog bark behind him.  At length, after a two years’ space, brother wolf died of old age:  whereat the townsfolk sorely grieved, sith marking him pass so gently through the city, they minded them the better of the virtue and the sanctity of St. Francis.

HOW ST. FRANCIS TAMED THE WILD TURTLE-DOVES

It befell on a day that a certain young man had caught many turtle-doves:  and as he was carrying them for sale, St. Francis, who had ever a tender pity for gentle creatures, met him, and looking on those turtle-doves with pitying eyes, said to the youth:  “I pray thee give them me, that birds so gentle, unto which the Scripture likeneth chaste and humble and faithful souls, may not fall into the hands of cruel men that would kill them.”  Forthwith, inspired of God, he gave them all to St. Francis; and he receiving them into his bosom, began to speak tenderly unto them:  “O my sisters, simple-minded turtle-doves, innocent and chaste, why have ye let yourselves be caught?  Now would I fain deliver you from death and make you nests, that ye may be fruitful and multiply, according to the commandments of your