The Bee-Man of Orn | Page 9

After many hours the people were obliged to give up their
attempts, and went home to sleep; but the Minor Canon remained at his
post till early morning, and then he hurried away to the field where he
had left the Griffin.
The monster had just awakened, and rising to his fore-legs and shaking
himself, he said that he was ready to go into the town. The Minor
Canon, therefore, walked back, the Griffin flying slowly through the air,
at a short distance above the head of his guide. Not a person was to be
seen in the streets, and they proceeded directly to the front of the
church, where the Minor Canon pointed out the stone griffin.
The real Griffin settled down in the little square before the church and
gazed earnestly at his sculptured likeness. For a long time he looked at
it. First he put his head on one side, and then he put it on the other; then
he shut his right eye and gazed with his left, after which he shut his left
eye and gazed with his right. Then he moved a little to one side and
looked at the image, then he moved the other way. After a while he said
to the Minor Canon, who had been standing by all this time:
"It is, it must be, an excellent likeness! That breadth between the eyes,
that expansive forehead, those massive jaws! I feel that it must
resemble me. If there is any fault to find with it, it is that the neck
seems a little stiff. But that is nothing. It is an admirable
likeness,--admirable!"
The Griffin sat looking at his image all the morning and all the

afternoon. The Minor Canon had been afraid to go away and leave him,
and had hoped all through the day that he would soon be satisfied with
his inspection and fly away home. But by evening the poor young man
was utterly exhausted, and felt that he must eat and sleep. He frankly
admitted this fact to the Griffin, and asked him if he would not like
something to eat. He said this because he felt obliged in politeness to
do so, but as soon as he had spoken the words, he was seized with
dread lest the monster should demand half a dozen babies, or some
tempting repast of that kind.
"Oh, no," said the Griffin, "I never eat between the equinoxes. At the
vernal and at the autumnal equinox I take a good meal, and that lasts
me for half a year. I am extremely regular in my habits, and do not
think it healthful to eat at odd times. But if you need food, go and get it,
and I will return to the soft grass where I slept last night and take
another nap."
The next day the Griffin came again to the little square before the
church, and remained there until evening, steadfastly regarding the
stone griffin over the door. The Minor Canon came once or twice to
look at him, and the Griffin seemed very glad to see him; but the young
clergyman could not stay as he had done before, for he had many duties
to perform. Nobody went to the church, but the people came to the
Minor Canon's house, and anxiously asked him how long the Griffin
was going to stay.
"I do not know," he answered, "but I think he will soon be satisfied
with regarding his stone likeness, and then he will go away."
But the Griffin did not go away. Morning after morning he came to the
church, but after a time he did not stay there all day. He seemed to have
taken a great fancy to the Minor Canon, and followed him about as he
pursued his various avocations. He would wait for him at the side door
of the church, for the Minor Canon held services every day, morning
and evening, though nobody came now. "If any one should come," he
said to himself, "I must be found at my post." When the young man
came out, the Griffin would accompany him in his visits to the sick and
the poor, and would often look into the windows of the school-house

where the Minor Canon was teaching his unruly scholars. All the other
schools were closed, but the parents of the Minor Canon's scholars
forced them to go to school, because they were so bad they could not
endure them all day at home,--griffin or no griffin. But it must be said
they generally behaved very well when that great monster sat up on his
tail and looked in at the school-room window.
When it was perceived that the Griffin showed no sign of going away,
all the people who were