The Old English Physiologus | Page 6

heard?A wondrous [tale.] [There is] a bird [men call?The partridge. Strange is she, unlike all birds?In field or wood who brood upon their eggs,?Hatching their young. The partridge lays no eggs,?Nor builds a dwelling; but instead, she steals?The well-wrought nests of others. There she sits,?Warming a stranger brood, until at last?The eggs are hatched. But when the stolen chicks?Are fledged, they straightway fly away to seek?Their proper kin, and leave the partridge there?Forsaken. In such wise the devil works?To steal the souls of those whose youthful minds?Or foolish hearts in vain resist his wiles.?But when they reach maturer age, they see?They are true children of the Lord of lords.?Then they desert the lying fiend, and seek?Their rightful Father, who with open arms?Receives them, as he long since promised them.[1]]?Fair is that word the Lord of glory spoke:?'In such time as you turn with faithful hearts?To me, and put away your hellish sins,?Abominable to me, then will I turn?To you in love for ever, for my heart?Is mild and gracious. Thenceforth you shall be
[Footnote 1: Conjecturally supplied, on the basis of other versions.]

So, too, I have heard tell a wondrous [tale[1]] about a certain bird.[2] ... fair the word[3] spoken by the King of glory: 'At whatsoever time ye turn to me with faith in your soul, and forsake the black iniquities of hell, I will turn straightway to you with love, in the gentleness of my heart; and thenceforth ye shall be reckoned to
[Footnote 1: Conjecturally supplied.]
[Footnote 2: Gap in the manuscript, probably of considerable length.]
[Footnote 3: Cf. 2 Cor. 6.17,18; Isa. 55.7; Heb. 2.10,11.]

10 torhte, t[=i]r[=e]adge, talade and r[=i]mde,
beorhte gebr[=o]tor on bearna st[=?]l.'?Uton w[=e] t[=y] geornor Gode [=o]liccan,?firene f[=e]ogan, frites earnian,?duguee t[=o] Dryhtne, tenden [=u]s d?g sc[=i]ne,?15 t?t sw[=a] ?telne eardw[=i]ca cyst
in wuldres wlite wunian m[=o]tan.
Finit.

Refulgent, glorious, numbered with the host?Of heaven, and, instead of children, called?Bright brethren of the Lord.'
Let us by this?Be taught to please God better, hating sin,?And strive to earn salvation from the Lord,?His full deliverance, so long as day?Shall shine upon us, that we may at last?Inhabit heavenly mansions, nobler far?Than earthly dwellings, gloriously bright.
Finit.

me as glorious and renowned, as my illustrious brethren, yea, in the place of children.'
Let us therefore propitiate God with all zeal, abhor evil, and gain forgiveness and salvation from the Lord while for us the day still shines, so that thus we may, in glorious beauty, inhabit a dwelling excellent beyond compare. Finit.
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