And then the child lay and mused with fierce and rebellious
thoughts. He said to himself, "If my guardian had told me where I
might not go; if he had said to me, 'in the inner garden are
unwholesome fruits, and in the wood are savage beasts; and though I
am strong and powerful, yet I have not strength to root up the
poisonous plants and make the place a wilderness; and I cannot put
a fence about it, or a fence about the wood, that no one should
enter; but I warn you that you must not enter, and I entreat you
for the love I bear you not to go thither,'" then the child thought
that he would not have made question, but would have obeyed him
willingly; and again he thought that, if he had indeed ventured in,
and had eaten of the evil fruits, and been wounded by the savage
stag, yet if his guardian had comforted him, and prayed him
lovingly not to enter to his hurt, that then he would have loved
his guardian more abundantly and carefully. And he thought too
that, if his guardian had ever smitten him in wrath, and had then
said to him with tears that it had grieved him bitterly to hurt
him, but that thus and thus only could he learn the vileness of the
place, then he would have not only forgiven the ill-usage, but
would even have loved to endure it patiently.
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