The Lioness and Her Blind Cubs

“But in case this should perhaps seem unbelievable to anyone, I will tell of still greater things. I call Christ to witness that I am inventing nothing, and I will not tell things spread by unreliable sources, but will set out facts that trustworthy men have vouched for to me. [a]

“Many of those whom people call anchorites live in the desert with no roof over their heads. They live on the roots of plants. They settle nowhere in any fixed place, so that people will not often visit them; wherever night overtakes them, there they make their home. Well, two monks from Nitria made their way to a man living in this way and under these conditions. They did so even though they came from a very different region, because they had heard of his virtues, and because he had once been their dear and close friend when he was a member of the same monastery. They searched for him long and hard, and at last, in the seventh month, they found him staying in that far-off wilderness that borders on Memphis. He was said to have lived in those solitudes for twelve years already; but though he avoided contact with everyone, he did not shrink from meeting these friends. On the contrary, he gave himself up to their affection for three days. [b]

“On the fourth day, when he had gone some distance with them on their way home, they saw a lioness of remarkable size coming toward them. Though the animal met three people, she showed no doubt about which one she was making for, but threw herself down at the anchorite’s feet. Lying there with a kind of weeping and wailing, she showed mingled grief and pleading. The sight moved them all, and especially the one who saw that he was the one being sought. So he set off, and the others followed him. For the beast, stopping now and then and now and then looking back, plainly wanted it understood that the anchorite should follow wherever she led. Why use many words? We came to the animal’s den, where the unhappy mother was rearing five cubs, already grown. As they had come out of their mother’s womb with their eyes shut, so they had remained in lasting blindness. She brought them out one by one from the hollow of the rock and laid them down at the anchorite’s feet. Then at last the holy man understood what the creature wanted. Calling on the name of God, he touched the closed eyes of the cubs with his hand; and at once their blindness ended, and the light so long denied them streamed into the open eyes of the animals.

“So those brothers, having visited the anchorite they longed to see, went home with a very precious reward for their labor. For they had been allowed to be eyewitnesses of such power, and had seen the faith of the saint and the glory of Christ, to which they will bear witness in time to come. But I have still more wonders to tell. After five days the lioness came back to the man who had done her so great a kindness, and brought him, as a gift, the skin of a rare animal. That holy man often wore it like a cloak, and he did not disdain to receive that gift through the beast, while all the time he regarded Another as the giver.