Polycrates, a prosperous prince of the Egean shore long
centuries ago, to ward off misfortune, caused a very valuable
signet ring which he kept among his treasures, set in gold and
of exquisite workmanship, to be carried far out to sea in a
fifty-oared galley fully manned, and cast overboard. He saw it
sink, to rise, as he supposed, no more. A few days afterward a
fisherman plying his profession on that coast, caught a fish of
extraordinary size and beauty, and took it to Polycrates, who
was amazed to discover, on opening the fish, his own precious
ring.
It is just as hard to lose divine grace and love which we are so apt to
throw away, but which persists in returning to us.
(1287)