David went to king Saul, who was the general of the army, and offered to fight the giant. The king was very much surprised, and told him he was only a boy, while the giant had been a soldier for many years.
But David told Saul how he had killed the lion and the bear, and said that the God who helped him in his fight with these wild beasts would help him in his fight with the giant.
Then Saul allowed him to try, and offered him a suit of armor. David tried it on, but it was not what the shepherd boy had been used to wear, so he would not take it.
He went down to the brook and picked out five smooth, round stones, just right for his sling. Then, with his shepherd's staff and bag and his sling, he went out of the lines of the army to meet the giant.
When the great giant saw the shepherd lad, he laughed, and then he grew very angry.
"Am I a dog," he said, "that you come to fight me with a shepherd's stick? Come to me, and I will give thy flesh to the fowls of the air and to the beasts of the field."
Then little David answered, "Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied."
Then Goliath marched forward in all his brass armor to kill David; and David ran, too, straight toward the giant. When he was at the right distance he put a stone into his sling and took good aim. Away went the stone and struck the giant right in the middle of the forehead! Down he fell on his face with a crash.
Then David marched up and drew the giant's great sword out of its sheath and cut off his head.
What a shout arose from the army of Israel when they saw that the great giant whom they so much feared, was dead! And this is the way a brave boy killed a great boastful giant, with all his bragging words and his brass armor.
[Illustration] THE "TOMB OF RACHEL" WITH BETHLEHEM IN THE DISTANCE
From a photograph taken by Mrs. Fontaine Meriwether, and used by her kind permission.
This picture is chiefly interesting for the beautiful view it gives of Bethlehem, lying white against the hillside in the distance. [End illustration]
After David had killed the giant Goliath, King Saul would not let him go back to his father's house at Bethlehem, but made him stay at the court, and gave him a high command in the army. King Saul was not well. He had a disease of the mind which made him at times almost, if not quite, insane. At such times he was very sad and gloomy. David could play very sweetly on the harp. When the king felt this trouble in his mind, he would send for David, who would play on the harp and the playing would soothe and calm the king so that he would be himself again.