After going on a certain time, "Is it true," he said, "that you are Brother Francis of Assisi ?" "Very well," he went on, after the answer in the affirmative, "apply yourself to be as good as folk say you are, that they may not be deceived in their expectation; that is my advice." Francis immediately got down from his beast and, prostrating himself before the peasant, thanked him warmly.[7] Meanwhile the warmest hour of the day had come on.

The peasant, exhausted with fatigue, little by little forgot his surprise and joy; one does not feel the burning of thirst the less for walking beside a saint.

He had begun to regret his kindness, when Francis pointed with his finger to a spring, unknown till then, and which has never since been seen.[8] At last they arrived at the foot of the last precipice.

Before scaling it they paused to rest a little under a great oak, and immediately flocks of birds gathered around them, testifying their joy by songs and flutterings of their wings.

Hovering around Francis, they alighted on his head, his shoulders, or his arms.