The bargain was eagerly agreed upon. The confident man was delighted and began to recite the Our Father. But after only a few words, he suddenly interrupted the prayer and turned towards the waiting Saint.

"Father," the countryman asked, "will you give me the saddle and the bridle too? "

"Yes, I would have given you mule, saddle, and bridle," St. Bernard answered, a smile in his eyes. "But because you have been distracted, you have lost all, and must come with me to Clairvaux and become a monk."

And there, we can rest assured, the distracted gentleman learned from the Saint how to focus his mind in prayer.