Touched and astonished at this mark of recognition, Jonah offered the little animal some meal with which he had expected to make his own supper. Then the fox lay down beside Jonah and remarked, “I am not a theologian. So I do not understand the wars of Judah and the other tribes. However, I would like to ask you something. When I go down into my hole, God goes down after me. What I want to know is this: is He a Jew, or a fox?” Jonah answered as he had been taught in the Schools: “God has the appearance of a man. From His beard, which extends to His feet and is divided into thirteen portions, fall drops of gracious balm; and from His mouth proceed the names of all things. His angels also appear as men, with long white wings, and faces shining with light.” And he gazed at the little animal in a kindly manner. “Well,” said the fox, “a beard or a tail, that is merely a matter of direction.” So saying, he put his head down between his paws, and fell asleep. Jonah also slept, watched by the stars, and by an angel, who said to him just before dawn: “Arise, Jonah, and hasten to Bethel. Say to King Jeroboam, ‘Against the insolence of Hamath, Israel shall prevail once again.’” Jonah immediately awoke, and gave thanks to God. Then he took leave of the fox, who said to him, “I dreamed that God was a raven, and was giving me some sharp pecks with His beak.” In the gray light of dawn Jonah started toward the hills which guard the Jordan. He breathed the pure air of the desert, sweet with desert flowers, fresh and cold as water; he lifted his face to the western sky, into which night was retreating like a storm; and his heart sang. “God will redeem Israel through me,” he thought. At noon he entered the valley of Jezreel, on the other side of the Jordan. There the fig trees were in blossom, and their scent mingled with almonds in the air. At every village he saw roadside altars above which were erected rude copies of the golden bulls of Tyre. The afternoon sun cast sinister shadows behind them, and Jonah averted his face as he went by. He stayed that night near Joseph’s Well, in the cottage of a poor herdsman. A faint and holy glow illuminated one corner of the kitchen where the prophet lay, while the wide wings of seraphim, like slow birds, beat overhead through the darkness. In the morning the herdsman, who had not slept all night, hurried out to purify himself in the river from such close contact with divinity. When Jonah arrived at Bethel, he went at once to the house of the High Priest Amaziah. A servant admitted the prophet, dusty with travel, into the presence of his master. And Jonah gazed proudly and without fear at the priest. Amaziah, High Priest of Israel, was a churchman; therefore he disliked confusion. For that reason also he detested the prophets who he felt were unable to understand the problems of administration. Seated upon a bench of ivory, he gazed wearily at Jonah before addressing him in these terms: