After David had killed the giant Goliath, King Saul would not let him go back to his father's house at Bethlehem, but made him stay at the court, and gave him a high command in the army. King Saul was not well. He had a disease of the mind which made him at times almost, if not quite, insane. At such times he was very sad and gloomy. David could play very sweetly on the harp. When the king felt this trouble in his mind, he would send for David, who would play on the harp and the playing would soothe and calm the king so that he would be himself again. David was a poet; he not only played upon the harp but he wrote some of the beautiful songs or psalms which he sang. In some of these songs he told about the love of God, who cares for his children as the shepherd cares for his flock. The poet Browning wrote a beautiful poem about Saul and David and how the skillful playing of the shepherd had helped the king. Here {152} is a stanza of the poem. David is supposed to be telling someone about his playing to the king. "Then I tuned my harp,--took off the lilies we twine round its chords Lest they snap 'neath the stress of the noontide --those sunbeams like swords! And I first played the tune all our sheep know, as, one after one, So docile they come to the pen-door till folding be done. They are white and untorn by the bushes, for lo, they have fed Where the long grasses stifle the water within the stream's bed; And now one after one seeks its lodging, as star follows star Into eve and the blue far above us, --so blue and so far!" But in spite of David's playing the king's health grew worse. He became very jealous of David. David was young and strong and handsome, and a favorite with everyone. Saul at last came to hate him. Once he threw his spear at David, but missed his aim and David escaped. David was afraid that the king would kill him, so he gathered a few bold men about him, and became an outlaw. Day after day Saul and his soldiers pursued David but he always managed to escape, hiding in caves by day and marching by night. {153}{154} [Illustration] THE CONVENT OF MAR-SARBA IN THE WILDERNESS OF JUDEA From an old photograph in the possession of the Springfield Public Library, and used by kind permission. It was in this wild and desolate country on the eastern edge of Palestine that David hid in caves and ravines when pursued by his enemy, King Saul. [End illustration] {155}