In my wanderings I once saw upon an island a man-headed, iron-hoofed monster who ate of the earth and drank of the sea incessantly. And for a long while I watched him. Then I approached him and said, “Have you never enough; is your hunger never satisfied and your thirst never quenched?” And he answered saying, “Yes, I am satisfied, nay, I am weary of eating and drinking; but I am afraid that tomorrow there will be no more earth to eat and no more sea to drink.” THE GREATER SELF This came to pass. After the coronation of Nufsibaäl, King of Byblus, he retired to his bed chamber--the very room which the three hermit-magicians of the mountain had built for him. He took off his crown and his royal raiment, and stood in the centre of the room thinking of himself, now the all-powerful ruler of Byblus. Suddenly he turned; and he saw stepping out of the silver mirror which his mother had given him, a naked man. The king was startled, and he cried out to the man, “What would you?” And the naked man answered, “Naught but this: Why have they crowned you king?” And the king answered, “Because I am the noblest man in the land.” Then the naked man said, “If you were still more noble, you would not be king.” And the king said, “Because I am the mightiest man in the land they crowned me.” And the naked man said, “If you were mightier yet, you would not be king.” Then the king said, “Because I am the wisest man they crowned me king.” And the naked man said, “If you were still wiser you would not choose to be king.” Then the king fell to the floor and wept bitterly. The naked man looked down upon him. Then he took up the crown and with tenderness replaced it upon the king’s bent head. And the naked man, gazing lovingly upon the king, entered into the mirror. And the king roused, and straightway he looked into the mirror. And he saw there but himself crowned. WAR AND THE SMALL NATIONS Once, high above a pasture, where a sheep and a lamb were grazing, an eagle was circling and gazing hungrily down upon the lamb. And as he was about to descend and seize his prey, another eagle appeared and hovered above the sheep and her young with the same hungry intent. Then the two rivals began to fight filling the sky with their fierce cries. The sheep looked up and was much astonished. She turned to the lamb and said, “How strange, my child, that these two noble birds should attack one another. Is not the vast sky large enough for both of them? Pray, my little one, pray in your heart that God may make peace between your winged brothers.” And the lamb prayed in his heart. [Illustration: drawing signed K. Gibran, 1920] CRITICS One nightfall a man travelling on horseback toward the sea reached an inn by the roadside. He dismounted, and confident in man and night like all riders toward the sea, he tied his horse to a tree beside the door and entered into the inn.