THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 SELMA LAGERLOF 
 
 Translated from the Swedish 
 
 VELMA SWANSTON HOWARD 
 
 DECORATIONS BY BERTHA STUART 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 
 1908 
 
 r.
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1908, 
 
 BY 
 HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 
 
 J'idilislied October, 
 
 THE QUINN * BODEN CO. PRESS 
 RAHWAY, N. J.
 
 Coflegd 
 Library 
 
 PT 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE HOLY NIGHT . i 
 
 THE EMPEROR'S VISION 13 
 
 THE WISE MEN'S WELL 25 
 
 BETHLEHEM'S CHILDREN 41 
 
 THE FLIGHT INTO EGYFF 73 
 
 IN NAZARETH --- 85 
 
 IN THE TEMPLE 9S 
 
 SAINT VERONICA'S KERCHIEF 119 
 
 ROBIN REDBREAST 
 
 191 
 
 OUR LORD AND SAINT PETER - - - - 203 
 
 THE SACRED FLAME - ... - - 221 
 
 i'WOSO
 
 THE HOLY NIGHT 
 
 WHEN I was five years old I had such a 
 great sorrow! I hardly know if I 
 have had a greater since then. 
 
 It was then that my grandmother died. Up 
 to that time, she used to sit every day on the 
 corner sofa in her room, and tell stories. 
 
 I remember grandmother told story after 
 story from morning till night, and we children 
 sat beside her, quite still, and listened. It was 
 a glorious life ! No other children had such 
 happy times as we did. 
 
 It isn't much that I recollect about my grand- 
 mother. I remember that she had very beau- 
 tiful snow-white hair, and stooped when she 
 walked, and that she always sat and knitted a 
 stocking. 
 
 And I even remember that when she had fin- 
 ished a story, she used to lay her hand on my 
 head and say: "All this is as true, as true as 
 that I see you and you see me." 
 
 3
 
 4 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 I also remember that she could sing songs, 
 but this she did not do every day. One of 
 the songs was about a knight and a sea-troll, 
 and had this refrain: "It blows cold, cold 
 weather at sea." 
 
 Then I remember a little prayer she taught 
 me, and a verse of a hymn. 
 
 Of all the stories she told me, I have but a 
 dim and imperfect recollection. Only one of 
 them do I remember so well that I should be 
 able to repeat it. It is a little story about 
 Jesus' birth. 
 
 Well, this is nearly all that I can recall about 
 my grandmother, except the thing which I re- 
 member best; and that is, the great loneliness 
 when she was gone. 
 
 I remember the morning when the corner 
 sofa stood empty and when it was impossible 
 to understand how the days would ever come 
 to an end. That I remember. That I shall 
 never forget! 
 
 And I recollect that we children were brought 
 forward to kiss the hand of the dead and that 
 we were afraid to do it. But then some one 
 said to us that it would be the last time we 
 could thank grandmother for all the pleasure 
 she had given us. 
 
 And I remember how the stories and songs 
 were driven from the homestead, shut up in a
 
 THE HOLY NIGHT 5 
 
 long black casket, and how they never came 
 back again. 
 
 I remember that something was gone from 
 our lives. It seemed as if the door to a whole 
 beautiful, enchanted world where before we 
 had been free to go in and out had been 
 closed. And now there was no one who knew 
 how to open that door. 
 
 And I remember that, little by little, we chil- 
 dren learned to play with dolls and toys, and 
 to live like other children. And then it seemed 
 as though we no longer missed our grandmother, 
 or remembered her. 
 
 But even to-day after forty years as I sit 
 here and gather together the legends about 
 Christ, which I heard out there in the 
 Orient, there awakes within me the little le- 
 gend of Jesus' birth that my grandmother 
 used to tell, and I feel impelled to tell it 
 once again, and to let it also be included in my 
 collection. 
 
 It was a Christmas Day and all the folks had 
 driven to church except grandmother and I. 
 I believe we were all alone in the house. We 
 had not been permitted to go along, because one 
 of us was too old and the other was too young. 
 And we were sad, both of us, because we had 
 not been taken to early mass to hear the sing- 
 ing and to see the Christmas candles.
 
 6 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 But as we sat there in our loneliness, grand- 
 mother began to tell a story. 
 
 ' There was a man," said she, " who went 
 out in the dark night to borrow live coals to 
 kindle a fire. He went from hut to hut and 
 knocked. ' Dear friends, help me ! ' said he. 
 ' My wife has just given birth to a child, and I 
 must make a fire to warm her and the little one/ 
 
 " But it was way in the night, and all the 
 people were asleep. No one replied. 
 
 " The man walked and walked. At last he 
 saw the gleam of a fire a long way off. Then 
 he went in that direction, and saw that the fire 
 was burning in the open. A lot of sheep were 
 sleeping around the fire, and an old shepherd 
 sat and watched over the flock. 
 
 " When the man who wanted to borrow fire 
 came up to the sheep, he saw that three big 
 dogs lay asleep at the shepherd's feet. All 
 three awoke when the man approached and 
 opened their great jaws, as though they wanted 
 to bark; but not a sound was heard. The man 
 noticed that the hair on their backs stood up 
 and that their sharp, white teeth glistened in the 
 firelight. They dashed toward him. He felt 
 that one of them bit at his leg and one at his 
 hand and that one clung to his throat. But their 
 jaws and teeth wouldn't obey them, and the man 
 didn't suffer the least harm.
 
 THE HOLY NIGHT 7 
 
 " Now the man wished to go farther, to get 
 what he needed. But the sheep lay back to 
 back and so close to one another that he couldn't 
 pass them. Then the man stepped upon their 
 backs and walked over them and up to the fire. 
 And not one of the animals awoke or moved." 
 
 Thus far, grandmother had been allowed to 
 narrate without interruption. But at this point 
 I couldn't help breaking in. " Why didn't they 
 do it, grandma ? " I asked. 
 
 " That you shall hear in a moment," said 
 grandmother and went on with her story. 
 
 " When the man had almost reached the fire, 
 the shepherd looked up. He was a surly old 
 man, who was unfriendly and harsh toward hu- 
 man beings. And when he saw the strange man 
 coming, he seized the long spiked staff, which 
 he always held in his hand when he tended his 
 flock, and threw it at him. The staff came right 
 toward the man, but, before it reached him, it 
 turned off to one side and whizzed past him, 
 far out in the meadow." 
 
 When grandmother had got this far, I inter- 
 rupted her again. " Grandma, why wouldn't 
 the stick hurt the man? " Grandmother did not 
 bother about answering me, but continued her 
 story. 
 
 " Now the man came up to the shepherd and 
 said to him : ' Good man, help me, and lend me
 
 8 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 a little fire! My wife has just given birth to 
 a child, and I must make a fire to warm her 
 and the little one.' 
 
 " The shepherd would rather have said no, 
 but when he pondered that the dogs couldn't 
 hurt the man, and the sheep had not run from 
 him, and that the staff had not wished to strike 
 him, he was a little afraid, and dared not deny 
 the man that which he asked. 
 
 " 'Take as much as you need! ' he said to 
 the man. 
 
 u But then the fire was nearly burnt out. 
 There were no logs or branches left, only a big 
 heap of live coals; and the stranger had neither 
 spade nor shovel, wherein he could carry the 
 red-hot coals. 
 
 " When the shepherd saw this, he said again : 
 ' Take as much as you need ! ' And he was glad 
 that the man wouldn't be able to take away any 
 coals. 
 
 " But the man stooped and picked coals from 
 the ashes with his bare hands, and laid them in 
 his mantle. And he didn't burn his hands when 
 he touched them, nor did the coals scorch his 
 mantle; but he carried them away as if they 
 had been nuts or apples." 
 
 But here the story-teller was interrupted for 
 the third time. " Grandma, why wouldn't the 
 coals burn the man? "
 
 THE HOLY NIGHT 9 
 
 " That you shall hear," said grandmother, 
 and went on : 
 
 " And when the shepherd, who was such a 
 cruel and hard-hearted man, saw all this, he 
 began to wonder to himself : ' What kind of a 
 night is this, when the dogs do not bite, the 
 sheep are not scared, the staff does not kill, or 
 the fire scorch? ' He called the stranger back, 
 and said to him : ' What kind of a night is this ? 
 And how does it happen that all things show 
 you compassion ? ' 
 
 " Then said the man : ' I cannot tell you i 
 you yourself do not see it.' And he wished to 
 go his way, that he might soon make a fire 
 and warm his wife and child. 
 
 " But the shepherd did not wish to lose sight 
 of the man before he had found out what all 
 this might portend. He got up and followed 
 the man till they came to the place where he 
 lived. 
 
 ' Then the shepherd saw that the man didn't 
 have so much as a hut to dwell in, but that his 
 wife and babe were lying in a mountain grotto, 
 where there was nothing except the cold and 
 naked stone walls. 
 
 " But the shepherd thought that perhaps the 
 poor innocent child might freeze to death there 
 in the grotto; and, although he was a hard man, 
 he was touched, and thought he would like to
 
 10 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 help it. And he loosened his knapsack from 
 his shoulder, took from it a soft white sheep- 
 skin, gave it to the strange man, and said that he 
 should let the child sleep on it. 
 
 " But just as soon as he showed that he, too, 
 could be merciful, his eyes were opened, and he 
 saw what he had not been able to see before 
 and heard what he could not have heard before. 
 
 " He saw that all around him stood a ring of 
 little silver-winged angels, and each held a 
 stringed instrument, and all sang in loud tones 
 that to-night the Saviour was born who should 
 redeem the world from its sins. 
 
 " Then he understood how all things were so 
 happy this night that they didn't want to do 
 anything wrong. 
 
 " And it was not only around the shepherd 
 that there were angels, but he saw them every- 
 where. They sat inside the grotto, they sat out- 
 side on the mountain, and they flew under the 
 heavens. They came marching in great com- 
 panies, and, as they passed, they paused and 
 cast a glance at the child. 
 
 " There were such jubilation and such glad- 
 ness and songs and play! And all this he saw 
 in the dark night, whereas before he could not 
 have made out anything. He was so happy be- 
 cause his eyes had been opened that he fell upon 
 his knees and thanked God."
 
 THE HOLY NIGHT II 
 
 Here grandmother sighed and said: "What 
 that shepherd saw we might also see, for the 
 angels fly down from heaven every Christmas 
 Eve, if we could only see them." 
 
 Then grandmother laid her hand on my head, 
 and said: " You must remember this, for it is 
 as true, as true as that I see you and you see 
 me. It is not revealed by the light of lamps 
 or candles, and it does not depend upon sun and 
 moon; but that which is needful is, that we have 
 such eyes as can see God's glory."
 
 THE EMPEROR'S VISION 
 
 IT happened at the time when Augustus was 
 Emperor in Rome and Herod was King in 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 It was then that a very great and holy night 
 sank down over the earth. It was the darkest 
 night that any one had ever seen. One could 
 have believed that the whole earth had fallen 
 into a cellar-vault. It was impossible to distin- 
 guish water from land, and one could not find 
 one's way on the most familiar road. And 
 it couldn't be otherwise, for not a ray of light 
 came from heaven. All the stars stayed at home 
 in their own houses, and the fair moon held her 
 face averted. 
 
 The silence and the stillness were as profound 
 as the darkness. The rivers stood still in their 
 courses, the wind did not stir, and even the 
 aspen leaves had ceased to quiver. Had any 
 one walked along the seashore, he would have 
 found that the waves no longer dashed upon 
 the sands; and had one wandered in the desert, 
 the sand would not have crunched under one's 
 feet. Everything was as motionless as if turned 
 to stone, so as not to disturb the holy night. 
 
 15
 
 1 6 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 The grass was afraid to grow, the dew could 
 not fall, and the flowers dared not exhale their 
 perfume. 
 
 On this night the wild beasts did not seek 
 their prey, the serpents did not sting, and the 
 dogs did not bark. And what was even more 
 glorious, inanimate things would have been un- 
 willing to disturb the night's sanctity, by lending 
 themselves to an evil deed. No false key could 
 have picked a lock, and no knife could possibly 
 have drawn a drop of blood. 
 
 In Rome, during this very night, a small com- 
 pany of people came from the Emperor's palace 
 at the Palatine and took the path across the 
 Forum which led to the Capitol. During the 
 day just ended the Senators had asked the Em- 
 peror if he had any objections to their erecting 
 a temple to him on Rome's sacred hill. But 
 Augustus had not immediately given his consent. 
 He did not know if it would be agreeable to 
 the gods that he should own a temple next to 
 theirs, and he had replied that first he wished 
 to ascertain their will in the matter by offering 
 a nocturnal sacrifice to his genius. It was he 
 who, accompanied by a few trusted friends, was 
 on his way to perform this sacrifice. 
 
 Augustus let them carry him in his litter, for 
 he was old, and it was an effort for him to 
 climb the long stairs leading to the Capitol. He
 
 THE EMPEROR'S VISION 17 
 
 himself held the cage with the doves for the 
 sacrifice. No priests or soldiers or senators 
 accompanied him, only his nearest friends. 
 Torch-bearers walked in front of him in order 
 to light the way in the night darkness and be- 
 hind him followed the slaves, who carried the 
 tripod, the knives, the charcoal, the sacred fire, 
 and all the other things needed for the sacrifice. 
 
 On the way the Emperor chatted gaily with 
 his faithful followers, and therefore none of 
 them noticed the infinite silence and stillness of 
 the night. Only when they had reached the 
 highest point of the Capitol Hill and the vacant 
 spot upon which they contemplated erecting the 
 temple, did it dawn upon them that something 
 unusual was taking place. 
 
 It could not be a night like all others, for 
 up on the very edge of the cliff they saw the 
 most remarkable being ! At first they thought 
 it was an old, distorted olive-trunk; later they 
 imagined that an ancient stone figure from the 
 temple of Jupiter had wandered out on the cliff. 
 Finally it was apparent to them that it could 
 be only the old sibyl. 
 
 Anything so aged, so weather-beaten, and so 
 giant-like in stature they had never seen. This 
 old woman was awe-inspiring! If the Emperor 
 had not been present, they would all have fled 
 to their homes.
 
 1 8 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 " It is she," they whispered to each other, 
 " who has lived as many years as there are sand- 
 grains on her native shores. Why has she come 
 out from her cave just to-night? What does 
 she foretell for the Emperor and the Empire- 
 she, who writes her prophecies on the leaves of 
 the trees and knows that the wind will carry 
 the words of the oracle to the person for whom 
 they are intended? " 
 
 They were so terrified that they would have 
 dropped on their knees with their foreheads 
 pressed against the earth, had the sibyl stirred. 
 But she sat as still as though she were lifeless. 
 Crouching upon the outermost edge of the cliff, 
 and shading her eyes with her hand, she peered 
 out into the night. She sat there as if she had 
 gone up on the hill that she might see more 
 clearly something that was happening far away. 
 She could see things on a night like this! 
 
 At that moment the Emperor and all his 
 retinue marked how profound the darkness was. 
 None of them could see a hand's breadth in 
 front of him. And what stillness! What si- 
 lence ! Not even the Tiber's hollow murmur 
 could they hear. The air seemed to suffocate 
 them, cold sweat broke out on their foreheads, 
 and their hands were numb and powerless. 
 They feared that some dreadful disaster was 
 impending.
 
 THE EMPERORS VISION 19 
 
 But no one cared to show that he was afraid, 
 and everyone told the Emperor that this was 
 a good omen. All Nature held its breath to 
 greet a new god. 
 
 They counseled Augustus to hurry with the 
 sacrifice, and said that the old sibyl had 
 evidently come out of her cave to greet his 
 genius. 
 
 But the truth was that the old sibyl was so 
 absorbed in a vision that she did not even know 
 that Augustus had come up to the Capitol. She 
 was transported in spirit to a far-distant land, 
 where she imagined that she was wandering 
 over a great plain. In the darkness she stubbed 
 her foot continually against something, which 
 she believed to be grass-tufts. She stooped down 
 and felt with her hand. No, it was not grass, 
 but sheep. She was walking between great 
 sleeping flocks of sheep. 
 
 Then she noticed the shepherds' fire. It 
 burned in the middle of the field, and she groped 
 her way to it. The shepherds lay asleep by the 
 fire, and beside them were the long, spiked 
 staves with which they defended their flocks 
 from wild beasts. But the little animals with 
 the glittering eyes and the bushy tails that stole 
 up to the fire, were they not jackals? And yet 
 the shepherds did not fling their staves at them, 
 the dogs continued to sleep, the sheep did not
 
 20 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 flee, and the wild animals lay down to rest beside 
 the human beings. 
 
 This the sibyl saw, but she knew nothing of 
 what was being enacted on the hill back of her. 
 She did not know that there they were raising 
 an altar, lighting charcoal and strewing incense, 
 and that the Emperor took one of the doves 
 from the cage to sacrifice it. But his hands were 
 so benumbed that he could not hold the bird. 
 With one stroke of the wing, it freed itself and 
 disappeared in the night darkness. 
 
 When this happened, the courtiers glanced 
 suspiciously at the old sibyl. They believed that 
 it was she who caused the misfortune. 
 
 Could they know that all the while the sibyl 
 thought herself standing beside the shepherds' 
 fire, and that she listened to a faint sound which 
 came trembling through the dead-still night? 
 She heard it long before she marked that it 
 did not come from the earth, but from the sky. 
 At last she raised her head; then she saw light, 
 shimmering forms glide forward in the dark- 
 ness. They were little flocks of angels, who, 
 singing joyously, and apparently searching, flew 
 back and forth above the wide plain. 
 
 While the sibyl was listening to the angel- 
 song, the Emperor was making preparations for 
 a new sacrifice. He washed his hands, cleansed 
 the altar, and took up the other dove. And,
 
 THE EMPEROR'S VISION 21 
 
 although he exerted his full strength to hold 
 it fast, the dove's slippery body slid from his 
 hand, and the bird swung itself up into the 
 impenetrable night. 
 
 The Emperor was appalled ! He fell upon 
 his knees and prayed to his genius. He im- 
 plored him for strength to avert the disasters 
 which this night seemed to foreshadow. 
 
 Nor dicf the sibyl hear any of this either. She 
 was listening with her whole soul to the angel- 
 song, which grew louder and louder. At last 
 it became so powerful that it wakened the shep- 
 herds. They raised themselves on their elbows 
 and saw shining hosts of silver-white angels 
 move in the darkness in long, swaying lines, like 
 migratory birds. Some held lutes and cymbals 
 in their hands; others held zithers and harps, 
 and their song rang out as merry as child- 
 laughter, and as care-free as the lark's trill. 
 When the shepherds heard this, they rose up 
 to go to the mountain city, where they lived, to 
 tell of the miracle. 
 
 They groped their way forward on a narrow, 
 winding path, and the sibyl followed them. Sud- 
 denly it grew light up there on the mountain : 
 a big, clear star kindled right over it, and the 
 -city on the mountain summit glittered like silver 
 in the starlight. All the fluttering angel throngs 
 hastened thither, shouting for joy, and the shep-
 
 22 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 herds hurried so that they almost ran. When 
 they reached the city, they found that the angels 
 had assembled over a low stable near the city 
 gate. It was a wretched structure, with a roof 
 of straw and the naked cliff for a back wall. 
 Over it hung the Star, and hither flocked more 
 and more angels. Some seated themselves on 
 the straw roof or alighted upon the steep moun- 
 tain-wall back of the house; others, again, held 
 themselves in the air on outspread wings, and 
 hovered over it. High, high up, the air was 
 illuminated by the shining wings. 
 
 The instant the Star kindled over the moun- 
 tain city, all Nature awoke, and the men who 
 stood upon Capitol Hill could not help seeing 
 it. They felt fresh, but caressing winds which 
 traveled through space; delicious perfumes 
 streamed up about them; trees swayed; the 
 Tiber began to murmur; the stars twinkled, and 
 suddenly the moon stood out in the sky and lit 
 up the world. And out of the clouds the two 
 doves came circling down and lighted upon the 
 Emperor's shoulders. 
 
 When this miracle happened, Augustus rose, 
 proud and happy, but his friends and his slaves 
 fell on their knees. 
 
 "Hail, Caesar!" they cried. "Thy genius- 
 hath answered thee. Thou art the god who 
 shall be worshiped on Capitol Hill! "
 
 THE EMPEROR S VISION 23 
 
 And this cry of homage, which the men in 
 their transport gave as a tribute to the Emperor, 
 was so loud that the old sibyl heard it. It waked 
 her from her visions. She rose from her place 
 on the edge of the cliff, and came down among 
 the people. It was as if a dark cloud had 
 arisen from the abyss and rushed down the 
 mountain height. She was terrifying in her 
 extreme age ! Coarse hair hung in matted 
 tangles around her head, her joints were 
 enlarged, and the dark skin, hard as the bark 
 of a tree, covered her body with furrow upon 
 furrow. 
 
 Potent and awe-inspiring, she advanced to- 
 ward the Emperor. With one hand she clutched 
 his wrist, with the other she pointed toward 
 the distant East. 
 
 " Look ! " she commanded, and the Emperor 
 raised his eyes and saw. The vaulted heavens 
 opened before his eyes, and his glance traveled 
 to the distant Orient. He saw a lowly stable 
 behind a steep rock wall, and in the open door- 
 way a few shepherds kneeling. Within the 
 stable he saw a young mother on her knees 
 before a little child, who lay upon a bundle of 
 straw on the floor. 
 
 And the sibyl's big, knotty fingers pointed to- 
 ward the poor babe. " Hail, Caesar ! " cried the 
 sibyl, in a burst of scornful laughter. " There
 
 24 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 is the god who shall be worshiped on Capitol 
 Hill!" 
 
 Then Augustus shrank back from her, as 
 from a maniac. But upon the sibyl fell the 
 mighty' spirit of prophecy. Her dim eyes be- 
 gan to burn, her hands were stretched toward 
 heaven, her voice was so changed that it seemed 
 not to be her own, but rang out with such 
 resonance and power that it could have been 
 heard over the whole world. And she uttered 
 words which she appeared to be reading among 
 the stars. 
 
 " Upon Capitol Hill shall the Redeemer of 
 the world be worshiped, Christ but not 
 frail mortals." 
 
 When she had said this, she strode past the 
 terror-stricken men, walked slowly down the 
 mountain, and disappeared. 
 
 But, on the following day, Augustus strictly 
 forbade the people to raise any temple to him 
 on Capitol Hill. In place of it he built a sanc- 
 tuary to the new-born God-Child, and called it 
 HEAVEN'S ALTAR Ara Coeli.
 
 THE WISE MEN'S WELL 
 
 IN old Judea the Drought crept, gaunt and 
 hollow-eyed, between shrunken thistles and 
 yellowed grass. 
 
 It was summertime. The sun beat down upon 
 the backs of unshaded hills, and the slightest 
 breath of wind tore up thick clouds of lime dust 
 from the grayish-white ground. The herds 
 stood huddled together in the valleys, by the 
 dried-up streams. 
 
 The Drought walked about and viewed the 
 water supplies. He wandered over to Solomon's 
 Pools, and sighed as he saw that they still held 
 a small quantity of water from their mountain 
 sources. Then he journeyed down to the fa- 
 mous David's Well, near Bethlehem, and found 
 water even there. Finally, he tramped with 
 shuffling gait toward the great highway which 
 leads from Bethlehem to Jerusalem. 
 
 When he had arrived about half-way, he saw 
 the Wise Men's Well, where it stands close by 
 the roadside. He saw at a glance that it was 
 almost dry. He seated himself on the curb, 
 which consists of a single stone hollowed out, 
 and looked into the well. The shining water- 
 27
 
 28 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 mirror, which usually was seen very near the 
 opening, had sunk deep down, and the dirt and 
 slime at the bottom of the well made it muddy 
 and impure. 
 
 When the Well beheld the Drought's bronzed 
 visage reflected in her clouded mirror, she shook 
 with anguish. 
 
 " I wonder when you will be exhausted," said 
 the Drought. " Surely, you do not expect to 
 find any fresh water source, down there in the 
 deep, to come and give you new life; and as for 
 rain God be praised ! there can be no question 
 of that for the next two or three months." 
 
 " You may rest content," sighed the Well, 
 " for nothing can help me now. It would take 
 no less than a well-spring from Paradise to save 
 me!" 
 
 ' Then I will not forsake you until every drop 
 has been drained," said the Drought. He saw 
 that the old Well was nearing its end, and now 
 he wanted to have the pleasure of seeing it die 
 out drop by drop. 
 
 He seated himself comfortably on the edge of 
 the curb, and rejoiced as he heard how the 
 Well sighed down there in the deep. He also 
 took a keen delight in watching the thirsty way- 
 farers come up to the well-curb, let down the 
 bucket, and draw it up again, with only a few 
 drops of muddy water.
 
 THE WISE MEN'S WELL 29 
 
 Thus the whole day passed; and when dark- 
 ness descended, the Drought looked again into 
 the Well. A little water still shimmered down 
 there. " I'll stay here all night," cried he, " so 
 do not hurry yourself ! When it grows so light 
 that I can look into you once more, I am certain 
 that all will be over with you." 
 
 The Drought curled himself up on the edge 
 of the well-curb, while the hot night, which was 
 even more cruel, and more full of torment than 
 the day had been, descended over Judea. Dogs 
 and jackals howled incessantly, and thirsty cows 
 and asses answered them from their stuffy stalls. 
 
 When the breeze stirred a little now and then, 
 it brought with it no relief, but was as hot and 
 suffocating as a great sleeping monster's panting 
 breath. The stars shone with the most resplen- 
 dent brilliancy, and a little silvery new moon cast 
 a pretty blue-green light over the gray hills. 
 And in this light the Drought saw a great cara- 
 van come marching toward the hill where the 
 Wise Men's Well was situated. 
 
 The Drought sat and gazed at the long pro- 
 cession, and rejoiced again at the thought of 
 all the thirst which was coming to the well, and 
 would not find one drop of water with which 
 to slake itself. There were so many animals 
 and drivers they could easily have emptied the 
 Well, even if it had been quite full. Suddenly
 
 30 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 he began to think there was something unusual, 
 something ghost-like, about this caravan which 
 came marching forward in the night. First, all 
 the camels came within sight on a hill, which 
 loomed up, high and distinct, against the hori- 
 zon; it was as though they had stepped straight 
 down from heaven. They also appeared to be 
 larger than ordinary camels, and bore all too 
 lightly the enormous burdens which weighted 
 them. 
 
 Still he could not understand anything but 
 that they were absolutely real, for to him they 
 were just as plain as plain could be. He could 
 even see that the three foremost animals were 
 dromedaries, with gray, shiny skins; and that 
 they were richly bridled and saddled, with 
 fringed coverings, and were ridden by hand- 
 some, noble-looking knights. 
 
 The whole procession stopped at the well. 
 With three sharp jerks, the dromedaries lay 
 down on the ground, and their riders dis- 
 mounted. The pack-camels remained standing, 
 and as they assembled they seemed to form a 
 long line of necks and humps and peculiarly 
 piled-up packs. 
 
 Immediately, the riders came up to the 
 Drought and greeted him by laying their hands 
 upon their foreheads and breasts. He saw that 
 they wore dazzling white robes and huge tur-
 
 THE WISE MEN'S WELL 31 
 
 bans, on the front of each of which there was a 
 clear, glittering star, which shone as if it had 
 been taken direct from the skies. 
 
 ' We come from a far-off land," said one of 
 the strangers, " and we bid thee tell us if this 
 is in truth the Wise Men's Well? " 
 
 " It is called so to-day," said the Drought, 
 " but by to-morrow there will be no well here. 
 It shall die to-night." 
 
 " I can understand this, as I see thee here," 
 said the man. " But is not this one of the 
 sacred wells, which never run dry? or whence 
 hath it derived its name? " 
 
 " I know it is sacred," said the Drought, " but 
 what good will that do? The three wise men 
 are in Paradise." 
 
 The three travelers exchanged glances. 
 " Dost thou really know the history of this 
 ancient well? " asked they. 
 
 " I know the history of all wells and fountains 
 and brooks and rivers," said the Drought, with 
 pride. 
 
 ' Then grant us a pleasure, and tell us the 
 story! " begged the strangers; and they seated 
 themselves around the old enemy to everything 
 growing, and listened. 
 
 The Drought shook himself and crawled up 
 on the well-curb, like a story-teller upon his 
 improvised throne, and began his tale.
 
 32 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 " In Gebas, in Media, a city which lies near 
 the border of the desert and, therefore, it has 
 often been a free and well-beloved city to me, 
 there lived, many, many years ago, three men 
 who were famed for their wisdom. 
 
 " They were also very poor, which was a most 
 uncommon state of affairs; for, in Gebas, knowl- 
 edge was held in high esteem, and was well 
 recompensed. With these men, however, it 
 could hardly have been otherwise, for one of 
 them was very old, one was afflicted with lep- 
 rosy, and the third was a black, thick-lipped 
 negro. People regarded the first as much too 
 old to teach them anything; the second they 
 avoided for fear of contagion; and the third 
 they would not listen to, because they thought 
 they knew that no wisdom had ever come from 
 Ethiopia. 
 
 " Meanwhile, the three wise ones became 
 united through their common misery. They 
 begged during the day at the same temple gate, 
 and at night they slept on the same roof. In 
 this way they at least had an opportunity to 
 while away the hours, by meditating upon all 
 the wonderful things which they observed in 
 Nature and in the human race. 
 
 " One night, as they slept side by side on a 
 roof, which was overgrown with stupefying red 
 poppies, the eldest among them awoke; and
 
 THE WISE MEN'S WELL 33 
 
 hardly had he cast a glance around him, be- 
 fore he wakened the other two. 
 
 " ' Praised be our poverty, which compels us 
 to sleep in the open ! ' he said to them. ' Awake ! 
 and raise your eyes to heaven ! ' 
 
 " Well," said the Drought, in a somewhat 
 milder tone, " this was a night which no one 
 who witnessed it can ever forget! The skies 
 were so bright that the heavens, which usually 
 resemble an arched vault, looked deep and trans- 
 parent and full of waves, like a sea. The light 
 surged backwards and forwards and the stars 
 swam in their varying depths: some in among 
 the light-waves; others upon the surface. 
 
 " But farthest away and highest up, the three 
 men saw a faint shadow appear. This shadow 
 traveled through space like a ball, and came 
 nearer and nearer, and, as the ball approached, 
 it began to brighten. But it brightened as roses 
 do may God let them all wither! when they 
 burst from their buds. It grew bigger and 
 bigger, the dark cover about it turned back by 
 degrees, and light broke forth on its sides into 
 four distinct leaves. Finally, when it had de- 
 scended to the nearest of the stars, it came to a 
 standstill. Then the dark lobes curled them- 
 selves back and unfolded leaf upon leaf of beau- 
 tiful, shimmering, rose-colored light, until it 
 was perfect, and shone like a star among stars.
 
 34 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 " When the poor men beheld this, their wis- 
 dom told them that at this moment a mighty 
 king was born on earth: one, whose majesty 
 and power should rise higher than that of Cyrus 
 or of Alexander; and they said to one another: 
 4 Let us go to the father and mother of the 
 new-born babe and tell them what we have seen ! 
 Mayhap they will reward us with a purse of coin 
 or a bracelet of gold.' 
 
 " They grasped their long traveling staves 
 and went forth. They wandered through the 
 city and out from the city gate; but there they 
 felt doubtful for a moment as they saw before 
 them the great stretch of dry, smooth desert, 
 which human beings dread. Then they saw the 
 new star cast a narrow stream of light across 
 the desert sand, and they wandered confidently 
 forward with the star as their guide. 
 
 " All night long they tramped over the wide 
 sand-plain, and throughout the entire journey 
 they talked about the young, new-born king, 
 whom they should find reposing in a cradle of 
 gold, playing with precious stones. They whiled 
 away the hours by talking over how they should 
 approach his father, the king, and his mother, 
 the queen, and tell them that the heavens au- 
 gured for their son power and beauty and joy, 
 greater than Solomon's. They prided them- 
 selves upon the fact that God had called them
 
 THE WISE MEN S WELL 35 
 
 to see the Star. They said to themselves that 
 the parents of the new-born babe would not 
 reward them with less than twenty purses of 
 gold; perhaps they would give them so much 
 gold that they no longer need suffer the pangs 
 of poverty. 
 
 " I lay in wait on the desert like a lion," said 
 the Drought, " and intended to throw myself 
 upon these wanderers with all the agonies of 
 thirst, but they eluded me. All night the Star 
 had led them, and on the morrow, when the 
 heavens brightened and all the other stars grew 
 pale, it remained steady and illumined the desert, 
 and then guided them to an oasis where they 
 found a spring and a ripe, fruit-bearing tree. 
 There they rested all that day. And toward 
 night, as they saw the Star's rays border the 
 sands, they went on. 
 
 " From the human way of looking at things," 
 continued the Drought, " it was a delightful 
 journey. The Star led them in such a way that 
 they did not have to suffer either hunger or 
 thirst. It led them past the sharp thistles, it 
 avoided the thick, loose, flying sand; they 
 escaped the burning sunshine and the hot 
 desert storms. The three wise men said re- 
 peatedly to one another: 'God is protecting 
 us and blessing our journey. We are His 
 messengers.'
 
 36 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 " Then, by degrees, they fell into my power," 
 said the Drought. ' These star-wanderers' 
 hearts became transformed into as dry a desert 
 as the one which they traveled through. They 
 were filled with impotent pride and destructive 
 greed. 
 
 " ' We are God's messengers ! ' repeated the 
 three wise ones. ' The father of the new-born 
 king will not reward us too well, even if he 
 gives us a caravan laden with gold.' 
 
 " By and by, the Star led them over the far- 
 famed River Jordan, and up among the hills 
 of Judea. One night it stood still over the little 
 city of Bethlehem, which lay upon a hill-top, and 
 shone among the olive trees. 
 
 " But the three wise ones looked around for 
 castles and fortified towers and walls, and all 
 the other things that belong to a royal city; but 
 of such they saw nothing. And what was still 
 worse, the Star's light did not even lead them 
 into the city, but remained over a grotto near 
 the wayside. There, the soft light stole in 
 through the opening and revealed to the three 
 wanderers a little Child, who was being lulled 
 to sleep in its mother's arms. 
 
 " Although the three men saw how the Star's 
 light encircled the Child's head, like a crown, 
 they remained standing outside the grotto. They 
 did not enter to prophesy honors and kingdoms
 
 THE WISE MEN'S WELL 37 
 
 for this little One. They turned away without 
 betraying their presence. They fled from the 
 Child, and wandered down the hill again. 
 
 " ' Have we come in search of beggars as 
 poor as ourselves? ' said they. ' Has God 
 brought us hither that we might mock Him, 
 and predict honors for a shepherd's son? This 
 Child will never attain any higher distinction 
 than to tend sheep here in the valleys.' ' 
 
 The Drought chuckled to himself and nod- 
 ded to his hearers, as much as to say: " Am 
 I not right? There are things which are drier 
 than the desert sands, but there is nothing more 
 barren than the human heart." 
 
 " The three wise ones had not wandered very 
 far before they thought they had gone astray 
 and had not followed the Star rightly," con- 
 tinued the Drought. " They turned their gaze 
 upward to find again the Star, and the right 
 road; but then the Star which they had followed 
 all the way from the Orient had vanished from 
 the heavens." 
 
 The three strangers made a quick movement, 
 and their faces expressed deep suffering. 
 
 " That which now happened," continued the 
 Drought, " is in accord with the usual manner 
 of mankind in judging of what is, perhaps, a 
 blessing. 
 
 " To be sure, when the three wise men no
 
 38 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 longer saw the Star, they understood at once 
 that they had sinned against God. 
 
 " And it happened with them," continued the 
 Drought furiously, " just as it happens with the 
 ground in the autumn, when the heavy rains 
 begin to fall. They shook with terror, as one 
 shakes when it thunders and lightens; their 
 whole being softened, and humility, like green 
 grass, sprang up in their souls. 
 
 " For three nights and days they wandered 
 about the country, in quest of the Child whom 
 they would worship; but the Star did not ap- 
 pear to them. They grew more and more be- 
 wildered, and suffered the most overwhelming 
 anguish and despair. On the third day they 
 came to this well to drink. Then God had par- 
 doned their sin. And, as they bent over the 
 water, they saw in its depths the reflection of the 
 Star which had brought them from the Orient. 
 Instantly they saw it also in the heavens and it 
 led them again to the grotto in Bethlehem, 
 where they fell upon their knees before the 
 Child and said: ' We bring thee golden vessels 
 filled with incense and costly spices. Thou shalt 
 be the greatest king that ever lived upon earth, 
 from its creation even unto its destruction.' 
 
 ' Then the Child laid his hand upon their 
 lowered heads, and when they rose, lo ! the Child 
 had given them gifts greater than a king could
 
 THE WISE MEN S WELL 39 
 
 have granted; for the old beggar had grown 
 young, the leper was made whole, and the negro 
 was transformed into a beautiful white man. 
 And it is said of them that they were glorious ! 
 and that they departed and became kings each 
 in his own kingdom." 
 
 The Drought paused in his story, and the 
 three strangers praised it. " Thou hast spoken 
 well," said they. " But it surprises me," said 
 one of them, " that the three wise men do noth- 
 ing for the well which showed them the Star. 
 Shall they entirely forget such a great blessing?" 
 
 " Should not this well remain perpetually," 
 said the second stranger, " to remind mankind 
 that happiness, which is lost on the heights of 
 pride and vainglory, will let itself be found 
 again in the depths of humility? " 
 
 "Are the departed worse than the living?" 
 asked the third. " Does gratitude die with those 
 who live in Paradise? " 
 
 But as he heard this, the Drought sprang up 
 with a wild cry. He had recognized the 
 strangers! He understood who the strangers 
 were, and fled from them like a madman, that 
 he might not witness how The Three Wise Men 
 called their servants and led their camels, laden 
 with water-sacks, to the Well and filled the poor 
 dying Well with water, which they had brought 
 with them from Paradise.
 
 BETHLEHEM'S CHILDREN 
 
 JUST outside the Bethlehem gate stood a 
 Roman soldier, on guard. He was arrayed 
 in full armor, with helmet. At his side he wore 
 a short sword, and held in his hand a long 
 spear. He stood there all day almost motion- 
 less, so that one could readily have believed 
 him to be a man made of iron. The city people 
 went in and out of the gate and beggars lolled 
 in the shade under the archway, fruit venders 
 and wine dealers set their baskets and jugs down 
 on the ground beside the soldier, but he scarcely 
 took the trouble to turn his head to look at 
 them. 
 
 It seemed as though he wanted to say: This 
 is nothing to see. What do I care about you 
 who labor and barter and come driving with 
 oil casks and wine sacks ! Let me see an army 
 prepare to meet the enemy! Let me see the 
 excitement and the hot struggle, when horsemen 
 charge down upon a troop of foot-soldiers ! 
 Let me see the brave men who rush forward 
 to scale the walls of a beleaguered city ! Noth- 
 ing is pleasing to my sight but war. I long 
 to see the Roman Eagles glisten in the air! I 
 
 43
 
 44 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 long for the trumpets' blast, for shining weap- 
 ons, for the splash of red blood ! 
 
 Just beyond the city gate lay a fine meadow, 
 overgrown with lilies. Day by day the soldier 
 stood with his eyes turned toward this meadow, 
 but never for a moment did he think of admiring 
 the extraordinary beauty of the flowers. Some- 
 times he noticed that the passers-by stopped to 
 admire the lilies, and it amazed him to think 
 that people would delay their travels to look 
 at anything so trivial. These people do not 
 know what is beautiful, thought he. 
 
 And as he thought thus, he saw no more the 
 green fields and olive groves round about Beth- 
 lehem; but dreamed himself away in a burning- 
 hot desert in sunny Libya. He saw a legion of 
 soldiers march forward in a long, straight line 
 over the yellow, trackless sand. There was no 
 protection against the sun's piercing rays, no 
 cooling stream, no apparent boundaries to the 
 desert, and no goal in sight, no end to their 
 wanderings. He saw soldiers, exhausted by 
 hunger and thirst, march forward with faltering 
 step; he saw one after another drop to the 
 ground, overcome by the scorching heat. Never- 
 theless, they marched onward without a mur- 
 mur, without a thought of deserting their leader 
 and turning back. 
 
 Now, there is something beautiful! thought
 
 BETHLEHEM S CHILDREN 45 
 
 the soldier, something that is worth the glance 
 of a valiant man! 
 
 Since the soldier stood on guard at the same 
 post day after day, he had the best opportu- 
 nity to watch the pretty children who played 
 about him. But it was with the children as 
 with the flowers: he didn't understand that it 
 could be worth his while to notice them. What 
 is this to rejoice over? thought he, when he saw 
 people smile as they watched the children's 
 games. It is strange that any one can find pleas- 
 ure in a mere nothing. 
 
 One day when the soldier was standing at his 
 accustomed post, he saw a little boy about three 
 years old come out on the meadow to play. He 
 was a poor lad, who was dressed in a scanty 
 sheepskin, and who played quite by himself. 
 The soldier stood and regarded the newcomer 
 almost without being aware of it himself. The 
 first thing that attracted him was that the little 
 one ran so lightly over the field that he seemed 
 scarcely to touch the tips of the grass-blades. 
 Later, as he followed the child's play, he was 
 even more astonished. "By my sword!" he 
 exclaimed, " this child does not play like the 
 others. What can it be that occupies him? " 
 
 As the child played only a few paces away, he 
 could see well enough what the little one was 
 doing. He saw how he reached out his hand
 
 46 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 to capture a bee that sat upon the edge of a 
 flower and was so heavily laden with pollen 
 that it could hardly lift its wings for flight. He 
 saw, to his great surprise, that the bee let itself 
 be taken without trying to escape, and without 
 using its sting. When the little one held the 
 bee secure between his fingers, he ran over to a 
 crack in the city wall, where a swarm of bees 
 had their home, and set the bee down. As soon 
 as he had helped one bee in this way, he hastened 
 back to help another. All day long the soldier 
 saw him catch bees and carry them to their 
 home. 
 
 ' That boy is certainly more foolish than 
 any I've seen hitherto," thought the soldier. 
 " What put it into his head to try and help 
 these bees, who can take such good care of 
 themselves without him, and who can sting him 
 at that? What kind of a man will he become 
 if he lives, I wonder? " 
 
 The little one came back day after day and 
 played in the meadow, and the soldier couldn't 
 help marveling at him and his games. 
 
 " It is very strange," thought he. " Here I 
 have stood on guard for fully three years, and 
 thus far I have seen nothing that could interest 
 me, except this infant." 
 
 But the soldier was in nowise pleased with 
 the child; quite the reverse! For this child re-
 
 BETHLEHEM'S CHILDREN 47 
 
 minded him of a dreadful prediction made by 
 an old Hebrew seer, who had prophesied that 
 a time of peace should come to this world some 
 day; during a period of a thousand years no 
 blood would be shed, no wars waged, but human 
 beings would love one another like brethren. 
 When the soldier thought that anything so 
 dreadful might really come to pass, a shudder 
 passed through his body, and he gripped his 
 spear hard, as if he sought support. 
 
 And now, the more the soldier saw of the 
 little one and his play, the more he thought of 
 the Thousand-year Reign of Peace. He did not 
 fear that it had come already, but he did not 
 like to be reminded of anything so hateful! 
 
 One day, when the little one was playing 
 among the flowers on the pretty meadow, a very 
 heavy shower came bursting through the clouds. 
 When he noticed how big and heavy the drops 
 were that beat down upon the sensitive lilies, 
 he seemed anxious for his pretty friends. He 
 hurried away to the biggest and loveliest among 
 them, and bent towards the ground the stiff 
 stalk which held up the lily, so that the rain- 
 drops caught the chalices on their under side. 
 As soon as he had treated one flower like this, 
 he ran to another and bent its stem in the same 
 way, so that the flower-cups were turned to- 
 ward the ground. And then to a third and a
 
 48 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 fourth, until all the flowers in the meadow were 
 protected against the rainfall. 
 
 The soldier smiled to himself when he saw 
 the boy's work. " I'm afraid the lilies won't 
 thank him for this," said he. " Naturally, every 
 stalk is broken. It will never do to bend such 
 stiff growths in that way! " 
 
 But when the shower was over, the soldier 
 saw the little lad hurry over to the lilies and 
 raise them up. To his utter astonishment, the 
 boy straightened the stiff stalks without the least 
 difficulty. It was apparent that not one of them 
 was either broken or bruised. He ran from 
 flower to flower, and soon all the rescued lilies 
 shone in their full splendor in the meadow. 
 
 When th,e soldier saw this, he was seized with 
 a singular rage. "What a queer child ! " thought 
 he. " It is incredible that he can undertake any- 
 thing so idiotic. What kind of a man will he 
 make, who cannot even bear to see a lily de- 
 stroyed? How would it turn out if such a one 
 had to go to war? What would he do if they 
 ordered him to burn a house filled with women 
 and children, or to sink a ship with all souls 
 on board? " 
 
 Again he thought of the old prophecy, and he 
 began to fear that the time had actually come 
 for its fulfilment. " Since a child like this is 
 here," thought he, " perhaps this awful time is
 
 BETHLEHEM'S CHILDREN 49 
 
 very close at hand. Already, peace prevails over 
 the whole earth; and surely the day of war will 
 nevermore dawn. From this time forth, all peo- 
 ples will be of the same mind as this child: they 
 will be afraid to injure one another, yea, they 
 will not have the heart even to crush a bee or a 
 flower ! No great deeds will be done, no glori- 
 ous battles won, and no brilliant triumvirate will 
 march up to the Capitol. Nothing more will 
 happen that a brave man could long for." 
 
 And the soldier who all the while hoped he 
 would soon live through new wars and longed, 
 through daring feats, to raise himself to power 
 and riches felt so exasperated with the little 
 three-year-old that he raised his spear threat- 
 eningly the next time the child ran past. 
 
 Another day it was neither the bees nor the 
 lilies the little one sought to protect, but he 
 undertook something which struck the soldier 
 as being much more needless and thankless. 
 
 It was a fearfully hot day, and the sunrays 
 fell upon the soldier's helmet and armor and 
 heated them until he felt as if he wore a suit 
 of fire. To the passers-by it looked as if he 
 must suffer tortures from the heat. His blood- 
 shot eyes were ready to burst from their sockets, 
 and his lips were dry and shriveled. But as he 
 was inured to the burning heat of African des- 
 erts, he thought this a mere trifle, and it didn't
 
 50 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 occur to him to move from his accustomed place. 
 On the contrary, he took pleasure in showing 
 the passers-by that he was so strong and hardy 
 and did not need to seek shelter from the sun. 
 
 While he stood thus, and let himself be nearly 
 broiled alive, the little boy who was wont to 
 play in the meadow came suddenly up to him. 
 He knew very well that the soldier was not one 
 of his friends and so he was always careful not 
 to come within reach of his spear; but now he 
 ran up to him, and regarded him long and 
 carefully; then he hurried as fast as he could 
 towards the road. When he came back, he 
 held both hands like a bowl, and carried in this 
 way a few drops of water. 
 
 " Mayhap this infant has taken it upon him- 
 self to run and fetch water for me," thought the 
 soldier. " He is certainly wanting in common 
 sense. Should not a Roman soldier be able to 
 stand a little heat ! What need for that young- 
 ster to run around and help those who require 
 no help ! I don't want his compassion. I wish 
 he and all like him were out of the world! " 
 
 The little one came walking very slowly. He 
 held his fingers close together, so that nothing 
 should be spilled or wasted. All the while, as 
 he was nearing the soldier, he kept his eyes 
 anxiously fixed upon the little water which he 
 brought with him, and did not see that the man
 
 BETHLEHEM S CHILDREN 51 
 
 stood there frowning, with a forbidding look 
 in his eye. Then the child came up to the 
 soldier and offered him the water. 
 
 On the way his heavy blond curls had tum- 
 bled down over his forehead and eyes. He 
 shook his head several times to get the hair out 
 of his eyes, so that he could look up. When 
 he succeeded at last, and became conscious of 
 the hard expression on the soldier's face, he was 
 not frightened, but stood still and begged him, 
 with a bewitching smile, to taste of the water 
 which he had brought with him. But the soldier 
 felt no desire to accept a kindness from the 
 child, whom he regarded as his enemy. He did 
 not look down into his pretty face, but stood 
 rigid and immovable, and showed no sign 
 that he understood what the child wished to do 
 for him. 
 
 Nor could the child understand that the man 
 wished to repel him. He smiled all the while 
 just as confidently, raised himself on the tips of 
 his toes, and stretched his hands as high as he 
 could that the big soldier might more easily get 
 at the water. 
 
 The soldier felt so insulted because a mere 
 child wished to help him that he gripped his 
 spear to drive the little one away. 
 
 But just at that moment the extreme heat 
 and sunshine beat down upon the soldier with
 
 52 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 such intensity that he saw red flames dance be- 
 fore his eyes and felt his brains melt within 
 his head. He feared the sun would kill him, if 
 he could not find instant relief. 
 
 Beside himself with terror at the danger hov- 
 ering over him, the soldier threw his spear on 
 the ground, seized the child with both hands, 
 lifted him up, and absorbed as much as he could 
 of the water which the little one held in his 
 hands. 
 
 Only a few drops touched his tongue, but 
 more was not needed. As soon as he had 
 tasted of the water, a delicious coolness surged 
 through his body, and he felt no more that the 
 helmet and armor burnt and oppressed him. 
 The sunrays had lost their deadly power. 
 His dry lips became soft and moist again, 
 and red flames no longer danced before his 
 eyes. 
 
 Before he had time to realize all this, he 
 had already put down the child, who ran back 
 to the meadow to play. Astonished, the soldier 
 began to say to himself: " What kind of water 
 was this that the child gave me? It was a 
 glorious drink! I must really show him my 
 gratitude." 
 
 But inasmuch as he hated the little one, he 
 soon dismissed this idea. " It is only a child," 
 thought he, " and does not know why he acts in
 
 BETHLEHEM'S CHILDREN 53 
 
 this way or that way. He plays only the play 
 that pleases him best. Does he perhaps receive 
 any gratitude from the bees or the lilies? On 
 that youngster's account I need give myself no 
 trouble. He doesn't even know that he has suc- 
 cored me." 
 
 The soldier felt, if possible, even more ex- 
 asperated with the child a moment later, when 
 he saw the commander of the Roman soldiers, 
 who were encamped in Bethlehem, come out 
 through the gate. " Just see what a risk I have 
 run through that little one's rash behavior! " 
 thought he. " If by chance Voltigius had come 
 a moment earlier, he would have seen me stand- 
 ing with a child in my arms." 
 
 Meanwhile, the Commander walked straight 
 up to the soldier and asked him if they might 
 speak together there without danger of being 
 overheard. He had a secret to impart to him. 
 " If we move ten paces from the gate," replied 
 the soldier, " no one can hear us." 
 
 ' You know," said the Commander, " that 
 King Herod, time and again, has tried to get 
 possession of a child that is growing up here 
 in Bethlehem. His soothsayers and priests have 
 told him that this child shall ascend his throne. 
 Moreover, they have predicted that the new 
 King will inaugurate a thousand-year reign of 
 peace and holiness. You understand, of course,
 
 54 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 that Herod would willingly make him 
 HARMLESS! " 
 
 " I understand ! " said the soldier eagerly. 
 " But that ought to be the easiest thing in the 
 world." 
 
 " It would certainly be very easy," said the 
 Commander, " if the King only knew which 
 one of all the children here in Bethlehem is 
 THE ONE." 
 
 The soldier knit his brows. " It is a pity 
 his soothsayers can not enlighten him about 
 this," said he. 
 
 " But now Herod has hit upon a ruse, whereby 
 he believes he can make the young Peace-Prince 
 harmless," continued the Commander. " He 
 promises a handsome gift to each and all who 
 will help him." 
 
 " Whatsoever Voltigius commands shall be 
 carried out, even without money or gifts," said 
 the soldier. 
 
 " I thank you," replied the Commander. 
 " Listen, now, to the King's plan ! He intends 
 to celebrate the birthday of his youngest son by 
 arranging a festival, to which all male children 
 in Bethlehem, who are between the ages of two 
 and three years, shall be bidden, together with 
 
 their mothers. And during this festival " 
 
 He checked himself suddenly, and laughed when 
 he saw the look of disgust on the soldier's face.
 
 BETHLEHEM S CHILDREN 55 
 
 " My friend," he continued, " you need not 
 fear that Herod thinks of using us as child- 
 nurses. Now bend your ear to my mouth, and 
 I'll confide to you his design." 
 
 The Commander whispered long with the sol- 
 dier, and when he had disclosed all, he said: 
 
 " I need hardly tell you that absolute si- 
 lence is imperative, lest the whole undertaking 
 miscarry." 
 
 " You know, Voltigius, that you can rely on 
 me," said the soldier. 
 
 When the Commander had gone and the sol- 
 dier once more stood alone at his post, he looked 
 around for the child. The little one played all 
 the while among the flowers, and the soldier 
 caught himself thinking that the boy swayed 
 above them as light and attractive as a butterfly. 
 
 Suddenly he began to laugh. " True," said 
 he, " I shall not have to vex myself very long 
 over this child. He shall be bidden to the feast 
 of Herod this evening." 
 
 He remained at his post all that day, until 
 the even was come, and it was time to close 
 the city gate for the night. 
 
 When this was done, he wandered through 
 narrow and dark streets, to a splendid palace 
 which Herod owned in Bethlehem. 
 
 In the center of this immense palace was a 
 large stone-paved court encircled by buildings,
 
 56 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 aroundwhich ran three open galleries, one above 
 the other. The King had ordered that the fes- 
 tival for the Bethlehem children should be held 
 on the uppermost of these galleries. 
 
 This gallery, by the King's express command, 
 was transformed so that it looked like a covered 
 walk in a beautiful flower-garden. The ceiling 
 was hidden by creeping vines hung with thick 
 clusters of luscious grapes, and alongside the 
 walls, and against the pillars stood small pome- 
 granate trees, laden with ripe fruit. The floors 
 were strewn with rose-leaves, lying thick and 
 soft like a carpet. And all along the balus- 
 trades, the cornices, the tables, and the low 
 divans, ran garlands of lustrous white lilies. 
 
 Here and there in this flower garden stood 
 great marble basins where glittering gold and 
 silver fish played in the transparent water. 
 Multi-colored birds from distant lands sat in 
 the trees, and in a cage sat an old raven that 
 chattered incessantly. 
 
 When the festival began children and mothers 
 filed into the gallery. Immediately after they 
 had entered the palace, the children were ar- 
 rayed in white dresses with purple borders and 
 were given wreaths of roses for their dark, 
 curly heads. The women came in, regal, in 
 their crimson and blue robes, and their white 
 veils, which hung in long, loose folds from high-
 
 BETHLEHEM S CHILDREN 57 
 
 peaked head-dresses, adorned with gold coins 
 and chains. Some carried their children mounted 
 upon their shoulders; others led their sons by 
 the hand; some, again, whose children were 
 afraid or shy, had taken them up in their arms. 
 
 The women seated themselves on the floor of 
 the gallery. As soon as they had taken their 
 places, slaves came in and placed before them 
 low tables, which they spread with the choicest 
 of foods and wines as befitting a King's feast 
 and all these happy mothers began to eat and 
 drink, maintaining all the while that proud, 
 graceful dignity, which is the greatest ornament 
 of the Bethlehem women. 
 
 Along the farthest wall of the gallery, and 
 almost hidden by flower-garlands and fruit trees, 
 was stationed a double line of soldiers in full 
 armor. They stood, perfectly immovable, as if 
 they had no concern with that which went on 
 around them. The women could not refrain 
 from casting a questioning glance, now and then, 
 at this troop of iron-clad men. " For what are 
 they needed here?" they whispered. "Does 
 Herod think we women do not know how to 
 conduct ourselves? Does he believe it is neces- 
 sary for so many soldiers to guard us? " 
 
 But others whispered that this was as it should 
 be in a King's home. Herod himself never gave 
 a banquet without having his house filled with
 
 58 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 soldiers. It was to honor them that the heavily 
 Armored warriors stood there on guard. 
 
 During the first few moments of the feast, 
 the children felt timid and uncertain, and sat 
 quietly beside their mothers. But soon they 
 began to move about and take possession of all 
 the good things which Herod offered them. 
 
 It was an enchanted land that the King had 
 created for his little guests. When they wan- 
 dered through the gallery, they found bee-hives 
 whose honey they could pillage without the in- 
 terference of a single crotchety bee. They found 
 trees which, bending, lowered their fruit-laden 
 branches down to them. In a corner they found 
 magicians who, on the instant, conjured their 
 pockets full of toys; and in another corner they 
 discovered a wild-beast tamer who showed them 
 a pair of tigers, so tame that they could ride 
 them. 
 
 But in this paradise with all its joys there was 
 nothing which so attracted the attention of these 
 little ones as the long line of soldiers who stood 
 immovable at the extreme end of the gallery. 
 Their eyes were captivated by their shining 
 helmets, their stern, haughty faces, and their 
 short swords, which reposed in richly jeweled 
 sheaths. 
 
 All the while, as they played and romped with 
 one another, they thought continually about the
 
 BETHLEHEM S CHILDREN 59 
 
 soldiers. They still held themselves at a dis- 
 tance, but they longed to get near the men to 
 see if they were alive and really could move 
 themselves. 
 
 The play and festivities increased every mo- 
 ment, but the soldiers stood all the while im- 
 movable. It seemed incredible to the little ones 
 that people could stand so near the clusters of 
 grapes and all the other dainties, without reach- 
 ing out a hand to take them. 
 
 Finally, there was one toy who couldn't re- 
 strain his curiosity any longer. Slowly, but pre- 
 pared for hasty retreat, he approached one of 
 the armored men; and when he remained just 
 as rigid and motionless, the child came nearer 
 and nearer. At last he was so close to him that 
 he could touch his shoe latchets and his shins. 
 
 Then as though this had been an unheard-of 
 crime all at once these iron-men set themselves 
 in motion. With indescribable fury they threw 
 themselves upon the children, and seized them! 
 Some swung them over their heads, like missiles, 
 and flung them between lamps and garlands over 
 the balustrade and down to the court, where 
 they were killed the instant they struck the 
 stone pavement. Others drew their swords and 
 pierced the children's hearts; others, again, 
 crushed their heads against the walls before they 
 threw them down into the dark courtyard.
 
 60 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 The first moment after the onslaught, there 
 was an ominous stillness. While the tiny bodies 
 still swayed in the air, the women were petrified 
 with amazement! But simultaneously all these 
 unhappy mothers awoke to understand what 
 had happened, and with one great cry they 
 rushed toward the soldiers. There were still 
 a few children left up in the gallery who had 
 not been captured during the first attack. The 
 soldiers pursued them and their mothers threw 
 themselves in front of them and clutched with 
 bare hands the naked swords, to avert the death- 
 blow. Several women, whose children were 
 already dead, threw themselves upon the sol- 
 diers, clutched them by the throat, and sought 
 to avenge the death of their little ones by 
 strangling their murderers. 
 
 During this wild confusion, while fearful 
 shrieks rang through the palace, and the most 
 inhuman death cruelties were being enacted, the 
 soldier who was wont to stand on guard at the 
 city gate stood motionless at the head of the 
 stairs which led down from the gallery. He 
 took no part in the strife and the murder: only 
 against the women who had succeeded in snatch- 
 ing their children and tried to fly down the 
 stairs with them did he lift his sword. And 
 just the sight of him, where he stood, grim and 
 inflexible, was so terrifying that the fleeing ones
 
 BETHLEHEM'S CHILDREN 61 
 
 chose rather to cast themselves over the balus- 
 trade or turn back into the heat of the strug- 
 gle, than risk the danger of crowding past 
 him. 
 
 " Voltigius certainly did the right thing when 
 he gave me this post," thought the soldier. " A 
 young and thoughtless warrior would have left 
 his place and rushed into the confusion. If I 
 had let myself be tempted away from here, ten 
 children at least would have escaped." 
 
 While he was thinking of this, a young 
 woman, who had snatched up her child, came 
 rushing towards him in hurried flight. None 
 of the warriors whom she had to pass could stop 
 her, because they were in the midst of the strug- 
 gle with other women, and in this way she had 
 reached the end of the gallery. 
 
 " Ah, there's one who is about to escape ! " 
 thought the soldier. " Neither she nor the child 
 is wounded." 
 
 The woman came toward the soldier with 
 such speed that she appeared to be flying, and 
 he didn't have time to distinguish the features 
 of either the woman or her child. He only 
 pointed his sword at them, and the woman, with 
 the child in her arms, dashed against it. He 
 expected that the next second both she and 
 the child would fall to the ground pierced 
 through and through.
 
 62 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 But just then the soldier heard an angry buzz- 
 ing over his head, and the next instant he felt 
 a sharp pain in one eye. It was so intense that 
 he was stunned, bewildered, and the sword 
 dropped from his hand. He raised his hand 
 to his eye and caught hold of a bee, and under- 
 stood that that which caused this awful suf- 
 fering was only the sting of the tiny creature. 
 Quick as a flash, he stooped down and picked 
 up his sword, in the hope that as yet it was 
 not too late to intercept the runaways. 
 
 But the little bee had done its work very 
 well. 
 
 During the short time that the soldier was 
 blinded, the young mother had succeeded in 
 rushing past him and down the stairs; and al- 
 though he hurried after her with all haste, he 
 could not find her. She had vanished; and in 
 all that great palace there was no one who could 
 discover any trace of her. 
 
 The following morning, the soldier, together 
 with several of his comrades, stood on guard, 
 just within the city gate. The hour was early, 
 and the city gates had only just been opened. 
 But it appeared as though no one had expected 
 that they would be opened that morning; for no 
 throngs of field laborers streamed out of the 
 city, as they usually did of a morning. All the 
 Bethlehem inhabitants were so filled with terror
 
 BETHLEHEM'S CHILDREN 63 
 
 over the night's bloodshed that no one dared to 
 leave his home. 
 
 " By my sword ! " said the soldier, as he stood 
 and stared down the narrow street which led 
 toward the gate, " I believe Voltigius has made 
 a stupid blunder. It would have been better 
 had he kept the gates closed and ordered a 
 thorough search of every house in the city, until 
 he had found the boy who managed to escape 
 from the feast. Voltigius expects that his 
 parents will try to get him away from here as 
 soon as they learn that the gates are open. I 
 fear this is not a wise calculation. How easily 
 they could conceal a child ! " 
 
 He wondered if they would try to hide the 
 child in a fruit basket or in some huge oil cask, 
 or amongst the grain-bales of a caravan. 
 
 While he stood there on the watch for any 
 attempt to deceive him in this way, he saw a man 
 and a woman who came hurriedly down the 
 street and were nearing the gate. They walked 
 rapidly and cast anxious looks behind them, as 
 though they were fleeing from some danger. 
 The man held an ax in his hand with a firm 
 grip, as if determined to fight should any one 
 bar his way. But the soldier did not look at 
 the man as much as he did at the woman. He 
 thought that she was just as tall as the young 
 mother who got away from him the night be-
 
 64 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 fore. He observed also that she had thrown 
 her skirt over her head. " Perhaps she wears 
 it like this," thought he, " to conceal the fact 
 that she holds a child on her arm." 
 
 The nearer they approached, the plainer he 
 saw the child which the woman bore on her 
 arm outlined under the raised robe. " I'm posi- 
 tive it is the one who got away last night. I 
 didn't see her face, but I recognize the tall 
 figure. And here she comes now, with the child 
 on her arm, and without even trying to keep 
 it concealed. I had not dared to hope for such 
 a lucky chance," said the soldier to himself. 
 
 The man and woman continued their rapid 
 pace all the way to the city gate. Evidently, 
 they had not anticipated being intercepted here. 
 They trembled with fright when the soldier 
 leveled his spear at them, and barred their 
 passage. 
 
 ' Why do you refuse to let us go out in the 
 fields to our work? " asked the man. 
 
 ' You may go presently," said the soldier, 
 " but first I must see what your wife has hidden 
 behind her robe." 
 
 " What is there to see? " said the man. " It 
 is only bread and wine, which we must live 
 upon to-day." 
 
 ' You speak the truth, perchance," said the 
 soldier, " but if it is as you say, why does she
 
 BETHLEHEM'S CHILDREN 65 
 
 turn away? Why does she not willingly let me 
 see what she carries? " 
 
 " I do not wish that you shall see it," said 
 the man, " and I command you to let us pass! " 
 
 With this he raised his ax, but the woman laid 
 her hand on his arm. 
 
 " Enter thou not into strife! " she pleaded. 
 " I will try some other way. I shall let him 
 see what I bear, and I know that he can not harm 
 it." With a proud and confident smile she 
 turned toward the soldier, and threw back a fold 
 of her robe. 
 
 Instantly the soldier staggered back and 
 closed his eyes, as if dazed by a strong light. 
 That which the woman held concealed under 
 her robe reflected such a dazzling white light 
 that at first he did not know what he saw. 
 
 " I thought you held a child on your arm," 
 he said. 
 
 " You see what I hold," the woman answered. 
 
 Then the soldier finally saw that that which 
 dazzled and shone was only a cluster of white 
 lilies, the same kind that grew in the meadow; 
 but their luster was much richer and more ra- 
 diant. He could hardly bear to look at them. 
 
 He stuck his hand in among the flowers. He 
 couldn't help thinking that it must be a child 
 the woman carried, but he felt only the cool 
 flower-petals.
 
 66 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 He was bitterly deceived, and in his wrath 
 he would gladly have taken both the man and 
 the woman prisoners, but he knew that he could 
 give no reason for such a proceeding. 
 
 When the woman saw his confusion, she said: 
 " Will you not let us go now? " 
 
 The soldier quietly lowered the spear and 
 stepped aside. 
 
 The woman drew her robe over the flowers 
 once more, and at the same time she looked 
 with a sweet smile upon that which she bore 
 on her arm. " I knew that you could not 
 harm it, did you but see it," she said to the 
 soldier. 
 
 With this, they hastened away; and the sol- 
 dier stood and stared after them as long as they 
 were within sight. 
 
 While he followed them with his eyes, he al- 
 most felt sure that the woman did not carry 
 on her arm a cluster of lilies, but an actual, 
 living child. 
 
 While he still stood and stared after the 
 wanderers, he heard loud shouts from the street. 
 It was Voltigius, with several of his men, who 
 came running. 
 
 " Stop them! " they cried. " Close the gates 
 on them ! Don't let them escape ! " 
 
 And when they came up to the soldier, they 
 said that they had tracked the runaway boy.
 
 BETHLEHEM'S CHILDREN 67 
 
 They had sought him in his home, but then 
 he had escaped again. They had seen his par- 
 ents hasten away with him. The father was a 
 strong, gray-bearded man who carried an ax; the 
 mother was a tall woman who held a child con- 
 cealed under a raised robe. 
 
 The same moment that Voltigius related this, 
 there came a Bedouin riding in through the 
 gate on a good horse. Without a word, the 
 soldier rushed up to the rider, jerked him down 
 oft the horse and threw him to the ground, and, 
 with one bound, jumped into the saddle and 
 dashed away toward the road. 
 
 Two days later, the soldier rode forward 
 through the dreary mountain-desert, which is 
 the whole southern part of Judea. All the while 
 he was pursuing the three fugitives from Bethle- 
 hem, and he was beside himself because the 
 fruitless hunt never came to an end. 
 
 " It looks, forsooth, as though these creatures 
 had the power to sink into the earth," he grum- 
 bled. " How many times during these days 
 have I not been so close to them that I've been 
 on the point of throwing my spear at the child, 
 and yet they have escaped me ! I begin to think 
 that I shall never catch up with them." 
 
 He felt despondent, like one who believes he 
 is struggling against some superior power. He
 
 68 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 asked himself if it might not be possible that 
 the gods protected these people against him. 
 
 ' This trouble is in vain. Let me turn back be- 
 fore I perish from hunger and thirst in this bar- 
 ren land ! " he said to himself, again and again. 
 Then he was seized with fear of that which 
 awaited him on his home-coming, should he turn 
 back without having accomplished his mission. 
 
 Twice he had permitted the child to escape, 
 and neither Voltigius nor Herod would pardon 
 him for anything of the kind. 
 
 " As long as Herod knows that one of the 
 Bethlehem children still lives, he will always 
 be haunted by the same anxiety and dread," said 
 the soldier. " Most likely he will try to ease 
 his worries by nailing me to a cross." 
 
 It was a hot noonday hour, and he suffered 
 tortures from the ride through this mountain 
 district on a road which wound around steep 
 cliffs where no breeze stirred. Both horse and 
 rider were ready to drop. 
 
 Several hours before he had lost every trace 
 of the fugitives, and he felt more disheartened 
 than ever. 
 
 " I must give it up," thought he. " I verily 
 believe it is time wasted to pursue them 
 further. They must perish anyway in this awful 
 wilderness." 
 
 As he thought this, he discovered, in a moun-
 
 BETHLEHEM'S CHILDREN 69 
 
 tain-wall near the roadside, the vaulted entrance 
 to a grotto. 
 
 Immediately he rode up to the opening. " I 
 will rest a while in this cool mountain cave," 
 thought he. " Then, mayhap, I can continue the 
 pursuit with renewed strength." 
 
 As he was about to enter, he was struck with 
 amazement ! On each side of the opening grew 
 a beautiful lily. The two stalks stood there 
 tall and erect and full of blossoms. They sent 
 forth an intoxicating odor of honey, and many 
 bees buzzed around them. 
 
 It was such an uncommon sight in this wil- 
 derness that the soldier did something extraordi- 
 nary. He broke oft a large white flower and 
 took it with him into the cave. 
 
 The cave was neither deep nor dark, and as 
 soon as he entered he saw that there were al- 
 ready three travelers within : a man, a woman, 
 and a child, who lay stretched out upon the 
 ground, lost in deep slumber. 
 
 The soldier had never before felt his heart 
 beat as it did at this vision. They were the 
 three runaways whom he had hunted so long. 
 He recognized them instantly. And here they 
 lay sleeping, unable to defend themselves and 
 wholly in his power. 
 
 He drew his sword quickly and bent over the 
 sleeping child.
 
 70 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 Cautiously he lowered the sword toward the 
 infant's heart, and measured carefully, in order 
 to kill with a single thrust. 
 
 He paused an instant to look at the child's 
 countenance. Now, when he was certain of 
 victory, he felt a grim pleasure in beholding his 
 victim. 
 
 But when he saw the child his joy increased, 
 for he recognized the little boy whom he had 
 seen play with bees and lilies in the meadow be- 
 yond the city gate. 
 
 " Why, of course I should have understood 
 this all the time! " thought he. " This is why 
 I have always hated the child. This is the 
 pretended Prince of Peace." 
 
 He lowered his sword again while he thought: 
 " When I lay this child's head at Herod's feet, 
 he will make me Commander of his Life 
 Guard." 
 
 As he brought the point of the sword nearer 
 and nearer the heart of the sleeping child, he 
 reveled in the thought: "This time, at least, 
 no one shall come between us and snatch him 
 from my power." 
 
 But the soldier still held in his hand the lily 
 which he had broken off at the grotto entrance; 
 and while he was thinking of his good fortune, 
 a bee that had been hidden in its chalice flew 
 towards him and buzzed around his head.
 
 BETHLEHEM S CHILDREN 71 
 
 He staggered back. Suddenly he remembered 
 the bees which the boy* had carried to their 
 home, and he remembered that it was a bee that 
 had helped the child escape from Herod's feast. 
 This thought struck him with surprise. He held 
 the sword suspended, and stood still and listened 
 for the bee. 
 
 Now he did not hear the tiny creature's 
 buzzing. As he stood there, perfectly still, he 
 became conscious of the strong, delicious per- 
 fume which came from the lily that he held in 
 his hand. 
 
 Then he began to think of the lilies that the 
 little one had saved; he remembered that it was 
 a cluster of lilies that had hidden the child from 
 his view and made possible the escape through 
 the city gate. 
 
 He became more and more thoughtful, and 
 he drew back the sword. 
 
 ' The bees and the lilies have requited his 
 good deeds," he whispered to himself. Then 
 he was struck by the thought that the little one 
 had once shown even him a kindness, and a 
 deep crimson flush mounted to his brow. 
 
 " Can a Roman soldier forget to requite an 
 accepted service?" he whispered. 
 
 He fought a short battle with himself. He 
 thought of Herod, and of his own desire to 
 destroy the young Peace-Prince.
 
 72 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 " It does not become me to murder this child 
 who has saved my life," he said, at last. 
 
 And he bent down and laid his sword beside 
 the child, that the fugitives on awakening should 
 understand the danger they had escaped. 
 
 Then he saw that the child was awake. He 
 lay and regarded the soldier with the beautiful 
 eyes which shone like stars. 
 
 And the warrior bent a knee before the child. 
 
 " Lord, thou art the Mighty One! " said he. 
 "Thou art the strong Conqueror! Thou art 
 He whom the gods love! Thou art He who 
 shall tread upon adders and scorpions ! " 
 
 He kissed his feet and stole softly out from 
 the grotto, while the little one smiled and smiled 
 after him with great, astonished child-eyes.
 
 FLfOTT 
 
 - fiGYPT
 
 THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT 
 
 FAR away in one of theEastern deserts many, 
 many years ago grew a palm tree, which 
 was both exceedingly old and exceedingly tall. 
 
 All who passed through the desert had to stop 
 and gaze at it, for it was much larger than other 
 palms; and they used to say of it, that some 
 day it would certainly be taller than the obelisks 
 and pyramids. 
 
 Where the huge palm tree stood in its solitude 
 and looked out over the desert, it saw something 
 one day which made its mighty leaf-crown sway 
 back and forth on its slender trunk with as- 
 tonishment. Over by the desert borders walked 
 two human beings. They were still at the dis- 
 tance at which camels appear to be as tiny as 
 moths; but they were certainly two human be- 
 ings two who were strangers in the desert; for 
 the palm knew the desert-folk. They were a 
 man and a woman who had neither guide nor 
 pack-camels; neither tent nor water-sack. 
 
 ' Verily," said the palm to itself, " these two 
 have come hither only to meet certain death." 
 
 The palm cast a quick, apprehensive glance 
 around. 
 
 75
 
 76 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 " It surprises me," it said, " that the lions 
 are not already out to hunt this prey, but I do 
 not see a single one astir; nor do I see any of the 
 desert robbers, but they'll probably soon come." 
 
 " A seven-fold death awaits these travelers," 
 thought the palm. " The lions will devour 
 them, thirst will parch them, the sand-storm will 
 bury them, robbers will trap them, sunstroke will 
 blight them, and fear will destroy them." 
 
 And the palm tried to think of something else. 
 The fate of these people made it sad at heart. 
 
 But on the whole desert plain, which lay 
 spread out beneath the palm, there was noth- 
 ing which it had not known and looked upon 
 these thousand years. Nothing in particular 
 could arrest its attention. Again it had to think 
 of the two wanderers. 
 
 " By the drought and the storm! " said the 
 palm, calling upon Life's most dangerous ene- 
 mies. " What is' that that the woman carries 
 on her arm? I believe these fools also bring 
 a little child with them! " 
 
 The palm, who was far-sighted as the old 
 usually are, actually saw aright. The woman 
 bore on her arm a child, that leaned against her 
 shoulder and slept. 
 
 ' The child hasn't even sufficient clothing on," 
 said the palm. " I see that the mother has 
 tucked up her skirt and thrown it over the child.
 
 THE FLIGHT TO EGYPT 77 
 
 She must have snatched him from his bed in 
 great haste and rushed off with him. I under- 
 stand now : these people are runaways. 
 
 " But they are fools, nevertheless," continued 
 the palm. " Unless an angel protects them, they 
 would have done better to have let their ene- 
 mies do their worst, than to venture into this 
 wilderness. 
 
 " I can imagine how the whole thing came 
 about. The man stood at his work; the child 
 slept in his crib; the woman had gone out to 
 fetch water. When she was a few steps from 
 the door, she saw enemies coming. She rushed 
 back to the house, snatched up her child, and 
 fled. 
 
 " Since then, they have been fleeing for sev- 
 eral days. It is very certain that they have not 
 rested a moment. Yes, everything has hap- 
 pened in this way, but still I say that unless 
 an angel protects them 
 
 " They are so frightened that, as yet, they 
 feel neither fatigue nor suffering. But I see 
 their thirst by the strange gleam in their eyes. 
 Surely I ought to know a thirsty person's face ! " 
 
 And when the palm began to think of thirst, 
 a shudder passed through its tall trunk, and the 
 long leaves' numberless lobes rolled up, as 
 though they had been held over a fire. 
 
 " Were I a human being," it said, " I should
 
 78 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 never venture into the desert. He is pretty 
 brave who dares come here without having roots 
 that reach down to the never-dying water veins. 
 Here it can be dangerous even for palms; yea, 
 even for a palm such as I. 
 
 " If I could counsel them, I should beg them 
 to turn back. Their enemies could never be as 
 cruel toward them as the desert. Perhaps they 
 think it is easy to live in the desert! But I 
 know that, now and then, even I have found it 
 hard to keep alive. I recollect one time in my 
 youth when a hurricane threw a whole mountain 
 of sand over me. I came near choking. If I 
 could have died that would have been my last 
 moment." 
 
 The palm continued to think aloud, as the 
 aged and solitary habitually do. 
 
 " I hear a wondrously beautiful melody rush 
 through my leaves," it said. " All the lobes 
 on my leaves are quivering. I know not what 
 it is that takes possession of me at the sight 
 of these poor strangers. But this unfortunate 
 woman is so beautiful! She carries me back, in 
 memory, to the most wonderful thing that I ever 
 experienced." 
 
 And while the leaves continued to move in a 
 soft melody, the palm was reminded how once, 
 very long ago, two illustrious personages had 
 visited the oasis. They were the Queen of Sheba
 
 THE FLIGHT TO EGYPT 79 
 
 and Solomon the Wise. The beautiful Queen 
 was to return to her own country ; the King had 
 accompanied her on the journey, and now they 
 were going to part. " In remembrance of this 
 hour," said the Queen then, " I now plant a date 
 seed in the earth, and I wish that from it shall 
 spring a palm which shall grow and live until 
 a King shall arise in Judea, greater than Solo- 
 mon." And when she had said this, she planted 
 the seed in the earth and watered it with her 
 tears. 
 
 " How does it happen that I am thinking of 
 this just to-day?" said the palm. "Can this 
 woman be so beautiful that she reminds me of 
 the most glorious of queens, of her by whose 
 word I have lived and flourished until this 
 day? 
 
 " I hear my leaves rustle louder and louder," 
 said the palm, " and it sounds as melancholy as 
 a dirge. It is as though they prophesied that 
 some one would soon leave this life. It is well 
 to know that it does not apply to me, since I 
 can not die." 
 
 The palm assumed that the death-rustle in 
 its leaves must apply to the two lone wanderers. 
 It is certain that they too believed that their 
 last hour was nearing. One saw it from their 
 expression as they walked past the skeleton of 
 a camel which lay in their path. One saw it
 
 8o CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 from the glances they cast back at a pair of 
 passing vultures. It couldn't be otherwise ; they 
 must perish ! 
 
 They had caught sight of the palm and oasis 
 and hastened thither to find water. But when 
 they arrived at last, they collapsed from despair, 
 for the well was dry. The woman, worn out, 
 laid the child down and seated herself beside 
 the well-curb, and wept. The man flung him- 
 self down beside her and beat upon the dry earth 
 with his fists. The palm heard how they talked 
 with each other about their inevitable death. It 
 also gleaned from their conversation that King 
 Herod had ordered the slaughter of all male 
 children from two to three years old, because 
 he feared that the long-looked-for King of the 
 Jews had been born. 
 
 " It rustles louder and louder in my leaves," 
 said the palm. " These poor fugitives will soon 
 see their last moment." 
 
 It perceived also that they dreaded the desert. 
 The man said it would have been better if they 
 had stayed at home and fought with the sol- 
 diers, than to fly hither. He said that they 
 would have met an easier death. 
 
 " God will help us," said the woman. 
 
 " We are alone among beasts of prey and 
 serpents," said the man. " We have no food 
 and no water. How should God be able to
 
 THE FLIGHT TO EGYPT 8 1 
 
 help us? " In despair he rent his garments and 
 pressed his face against the dry earth. He was 
 hopeless like a man with a death-wound in his 
 heart. 
 
 The woman sat erect, with her hands clasped 
 over her knees. But the looks she cast towards 
 the desert spoke of a hopelessness beyond 
 bounds. 
 
 The palm heard the melancholy rustle in its 
 leaves growing louder and louder. The woman 
 must have heard it also, for she turned her gaze 
 upward toward the palm-crown. And instantly 
 she involuntarily raised her arms. 
 
 "Oh, dates, dates!" she cried. There was 
 such intense agony in her voice that the old palm 
 wished itself no taller than a broom and that 
 the dates were as easy to reach as the buds on 
 a brier bush. It probably knew that its crown 
 was full of date clusters, but how should a 
 human being reach such a height? 
 
 The man had already seen how beyond all 
 reach the date clusters hung. He did not even 
 raise his head. He begged his wife not to 
 long for the impossible. 
 
 But the child, who had toddled about by him- 
 self and played with sticks and straws, had heard 
 the mother's outcry. 
 
 Of course the little one could not imagine that 
 his mother should not get everything she wished
 
 82 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 for. The instant she said dates, he began to 
 stare at the tree. He pondered and pondered 
 how he should bring down the dates. His fore- 
 head was almost drawn into wrinkles under the 
 golden curls. At last a smile stole over his 
 face. He had found the way. He went up 
 to the palm and stroked it with his little hand, 
 and said, in a sweet, childish voice: 
 " Palm, bend thee ! Palm, bend thee ! " 
 But what was that, what was that? The 
 palm leaves rustled as if a hurricane had passed 
 through them, and up and down the long trunk 
 traveled shudder upon shudder. And the tree 
 felt that the little one was its superior. It could 
 not resist him. 
 
 And it bowed its long trunk before the child, 
 as people bow before princes. In a great bow it 
 bent itself towards the ground, and finally it 
 came down so far that the big crown with the 
 trembling leaves swept the desert sand. 
 
 The child appeared to be neither frightened 
 nor surprised; with a joyous cry he loosened 
 cluster after cluster from the old palm's crown. 
 When he had plucked enough dates, and the 
 tree still lay on the ground, the child came 
 back again and caressed it and said, in the 
 gentlest voice : 
 
 " Palm, raise thee ! Palm, raise thee ! " 
 Slowly and reverently the big tree raised it-
 
 THE FLIGHT TO EGYPT 83 
 
 self on its slender trunk, while the leaves played 
 like harps. 
 
 " Now I know for whom they are playing the 
 death melody," said the palm to itself when it 
 stood erect once more. " It is not for any of 
 these people." 
 
 The man and the woman sank upon their 
 knees and thanked God. 
 
 " Thou hast seen our agony and removed it. 
 Thou art the Powerful One who bendest the 
 palm-trunk like a reed. What enemy should 
 we fear when Thy strength protects us? " 
 
 The next time a caravan passed through the 
 desert, the travelers saw that the great palm's 
 leaf-crown had withered. 
 
 " How can this be? " said a traveler. " This 
 palm was not to die before it had seen a King 
 greater than Solomon." 
 
 " Mayhap it hath seen him," answered an- 
 other of the desert travelers.
 
 IN NAZARETH 
 
 ONCE, when Jesus was only five years old, 
 he sat on the doorstep outside his father's 
 workshop, in Nazareth, and made clay cuckoos 
 from a lump of clay which the potter across 
 the way had given him. He was happier than 
 usual. All the children in the quarter had told 
 Jesus that the potter was a disobliging man, who 
 wouldn't let himself be coaxed, either by soft 
 glances or honeyed words, and he had never 
 dared ask aught of him. But, you see, he hardly 
 knew how it had come about. He had only 
 stood on his doorstep and, with yearning eyes, 
 looked upon the neighbor working at his molds, 
 and then that neighbor had come over from his 
 stall and given him so much clay that it would 
 have been enough to finish a whole wine jug. 
 
 On the stoop of the next house sat Judas, his 
 face covered with bruises and his clothes full 
 of rents, which he had acquired during his con- 
 tinual fights with street urchins. For the mo- 
 ment he was quiet, he neither quarreled nor 
 fought, but worked with a bit of clay, just as 
 Jesus did. But this clay he had not been able 
 to procure for himself. He hardly dared ven- 
 
 87
 
 88 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 ture within sight of the potter, who complained 
 that he was in the habit of throwing stones at 
 his fragile wares, and would have driven him 
 away with a good beating. It was Jesus who 
 had divided his portion with him. 
 
 When the two children had finished their clay 
 cuckoos, they stood the birds up in a ring in 
 front of them. These looked just as clay 
 cuckoos have always looked. They had big, 
 round lumps to stand on in place of feet, short 
 tails, no necks, and almost imperceptible wings. 
 
 But, at all events, one saw at once a difference 
 in the work of the little playmates. Judas' birds 
 were so crooked that they tumbled over con- 
 tinually; and no matter how hard he worked 
 with his clumsy little fingers, he couldn't get their 
 bodies neat and well formed. Now and then 
 he glanced slyly at Jesus, to see how he man- 
 aged to make his birds as smooth and even as 
 the oak-leaves in the forests on Mount Tabor. 
 
 As bird after bird was finished, Jesus became 
 happier and happier. Each looked more beau- 
 tiful to him than the last, and he regarded 
 them all with pride and affection. They were 
 to be his playmates, his little brothers; they 
 should sleep in his bed, keep him company, and 
 sing to him when his mother left him. Never 
 before had he thought himself so rich; never 
 again could he feel alone or forsaken.
 
 IN NAZARETH 89 
 
 The big brawny water-carrier came walking 
 along, and right after him came the huckster, 
 who sat joggingly on his donkey between the 
 large empty willow baskets. The water-carrier 
 laid his hand on Jesus' curly head and asked 
 him about his birds; and Jesus told him that 
 they had names and that they could sing. 
 All the little birds were come to him from 
 foreign lands, and told him things which only 
 he and they knew. And Jesus spoke in such 
 a way that both the water-carrier and the 
 huckster forgot about their tasks for a full 
 hour, to listen to him. 
 
 But when they wished to go farther, Jesus 
 pointed to Judas. " See what pretty birds Judas 
 makes! " he said. 
 
 Then the huckster good-naturedly stopped 
 his donkey and asked Judas if his birds also 
 had names and could sing. But Judas knew 
 nothing of this. He was stubbornly silent and 
 did not raise his eyes from his work, and the 
 huckster angrily kicked one of his birds and 
 rode on. 
 
 In this manner the afternoon passed, and the 
 sun sank so far down that its beams could come 
 in through the low city gate, which stood at 
 the end of the street and was decorated with 
 a Roman Eagle. This sunshine, which came 
 at the close of the day, was perfectly rose-red
 
 90 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 as if it had become mixed with blood and 
 it colored everything which came in its path, 
 as it filtered through the narrow street. It 
 painted the potter's vessels as well as the log 
 which creaked under the woodman's saw, and 
 the white veil that covered Mary's face. 
 
 But the loveliest of all was the sun's reflection 
 as it shone on the little water-puddles which 
 had gathered in the big, uneven cracks in the 
 stones that covered the street. Suddenly Jesus 
 stuck his hand in the puddle nearest him. He 
 had conceived the idea that he would paint his 
 gray birds with the sparkling sunbeams which 
 had given such pretty color to the water, the 
 house-walls, and everything around him. 
 
 The sunshine took pleasure in letting itself 
 be captured by him, like paint in a paint pot; 
 and when Jesus spread it over the little clay 
 birds, it lay still and bedecked them from head 
 to feet with a diamond-like luster. 
 
 Judas, who every now and then looked at 
 Jesus to see if he made more and prettier birds 
 than his, gave a shriek of delight when he saw 
 how Jesus painted his clay cuckoos with the 
 sunshine, which he caught from the water pools. 
 Judas also dipped his hand in the shining water 
 and tried to catch the sunshine. 
 
 But the sunshine wouldn't be caught by him. 
 It slipped through his fingers; and no matter
 
 IN NAZARETH 9 1 
 
 how fast he tried to move his hands to get 
 hold of it, it got away, and he couldn't procure 
 a pinch of color for his poor birds. 
 
 " Wait, Judas! " said Jesus. " I'll come and 
 paint your birds." 
 
 " No, you shan't touch them! " cried Judas. 
 ' They're good enough as they are." 
 
 He rose, his eyebrows contracted into an ugly 
 frown, his lips compressed. And he put his 
 broad foot on the birds and transformed them, 
 one after another, into little flat pieces of clay. 
 
 When all his birds were destroyed, he walked 
 
 over to Jesus, who sat and caressed his birds 
 
 'that glittered like jewels. Judas regarded them 
 
 for a moment in silence, then he raised his 
 
 foot and crushed one of them. 
 
 When Judas took his foot away and saw 
 the entire little bird changed into a cake of 
 clay, he felt so relieved that he began to laugh, 
 and raised his foot to crush another. 
 
 "Judas," said Jesus, "what are you doing? 
 Don't you see that they are alive and can sing? " 
 
 But Judas laughed and crushed still another 
 bird. 
 
 Jesus looked around for help. Judas was 
 heavily built and Jesus had not the strength to 
 hold him back. He glanced around for his 
 mother. She was not far away, but before she 
 could have gone there, Judas would have had
 
 92 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 ample time to destroy the birds. The tears 
 sprang to Jesus' eyes. Judas had already 
 crushed four of his birds. There were only 
 three left. 
 
 He was annoyed with his birds, who stood 
 so calmly and let themselves be trampled upon 
 without paying the slightest attention to the 
 danger. Jesus clapped his hands to awaken 
 them; then he shouted: " Fly, fly! " 
 
 Then the three birds began to move their 
 tiny wings, and, fluttering anxiously, they suc- 
 ceeded in swinging themselves up to the eaves 
 of the house, where they were safe. 
 
 But when Judas saw that the birds took to 
 their wings and flew at Jesus' command, he be- 
 gan to weep. He tore his hair, as he had seen 
 his elders do when they were in great trouble, 
 and he threw himself at Jesus' feet. 
 
 Judas lay there and rolled in the dust before 
 Jesus like a dog, and kissed his feet and begged 
 that he would raise his foot and crush him, as 
 he had done with the clay cuckoos. For Judas 
 loved Jesus and admired and worshiped him, 
 and at the same time hated him. 
 
 Mary, who sat all the while and watched 
 the children's play, came up and lifted Judas in 
 her arms and seated him on her lap, and 
 caressed him. 
 
 "You poor child! " she said to him, "you
 
 IN NAZARETH 93 
 
 do not know that you have attempted some- 
 thing which no mortal can accomplish. Don't 
 engage in anything of this kind again, if you do 
 not wish to become the unhappiest of mortals ! 
 What would happen to any one of us who 
 undertook to compete with one who paints with 
 sunbeams and blows the breath of life into dead 
 clay?"
 
 IN THE TEMPLE 
 
 ONCE there was a poor family a man, 
 his wife, and their little son who walked 
 about in the big Temple at Jerusalem. The son 
 was such a pretty child! He had hair which 
 fell in long, even curls, and eyes that shone 
 like stars. 
 
 The son had not been in the Temple since 
 he was big enough to comprehend what he saw; 
 and now his parents showed him all its glories. 
 There were long rows of pillars and gilded 
 altars; there were holy men who sat and in- 
 structed their pupils; there was the high priest 
 with his breastplate of precious stones. There 
 were the curtains from Babylon, interwoven 
 with gold roses; there were the great copper 
 gates, which were so heavy that it was hard 
 work for thirty men to swing them back and 
 forth on their hinges. 
 
 But the little boy, who was only twelve years 
 old, did not care very much about seeing all 
 this. His mother told him that that which she 
 showed him was the most marvelous in all the 
 world. She told him that it would probably 
 be a long time before he should see anything 
 
 97
 
 9 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 like it again. In the poor town of Nazareth, 
 where they lived, there was nothing to be seen 
 but gray streets. 
 
 Her exhortations did not help matters much. 
 The little boy looked as though he would will- 
 ingly have run away from the magnificent Tem- 
 ple, if instead he could have got out and played 
 on the narrow street in Nazareth. 
 
 But it was singular that the more indifferent 
 the boy appeared, the more pleased and happy 
 were the parents. They nodded to each other 
 over his head, and were thoroughly satisfied. 
 
 At last, the little one looked so tired and 
 bored that the mother felt sorry for him. 
 " Now we have walked too far with you," said 
 she. " Come, you shall rest a while." 
 
 She sat down beside a pillar and told him to 
 lie down on the ground and rest his head on 
 her knee. He did so, and fell asleep instantly. 
 
 He had barely closed his eyes when the wife 
 said to the husband: " I have never feared any- 
 thing so much as the moment when he should 
 come here to Jerusalem's Temple. I believed 
 that when he saw this house of God, he would 
 wish to stay here forever." 
 
 " I, too, have been afraid of this journey," 
 said the man. " At the time of his birth, many 
 signs and wonders appeared which betokened 
 that he would become a great ruler. But what
 
 IN THE TEMPLE 99 
 
 could royal honors bring him except worries 
 and dangers? I have always said that it would 
 be best, both for him and for us, if he never 
 became anything but a carpenter in Nazareth." 
 
 " Since his fifth year," said the mother re- 
 flectively, " no miracles have happened around 
 him. And he does not recall any of the won- 
 ders which occurred during his early childhood. 
 Now he is exactly like a child among other chil- 
 dren. God's will be done above all else ! But 
 I have almost begun to hope that our Lord in 
 His mercy will choose another for the great 
 destinies, and let me keep my son with me." 
 
 " For my part," said the man, " I am certain 
 that if he learns nothing of the signs and won- 
 ders which occurred during his first years, then 
 all will go well." 
 
 " I never speak with him about any of these 
 marvels," said the wife. " But I fear all the 
 while that, without my having aught to do 
 with it, something will happen which will make 
 him understand who he is. I feared most of 
 all to bring him to this Temple." 
 
 ' You may be glad that the danger is over 
 now," said the man. " We shall soon have him 
 back home in Nazareth." 
 
 " I have feared the wise men in the Temple," 
 said the woman. " I have dreaded the sooth- 
 sayers who sit here on their rugs. I believed
 
 100 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 that when he should come to their notice, they 
 would stand up and bow before the child, and 
 greet him as Judea's King. It is singular that 
 they do not notice his beauty. Such a child 
 has never before come under their eyes." She 
 sat in silence a moment and regarded the child. 
 " I can hardly understand it," said she. " I 
 believed that when he should see these judges, 
 who sit in the house of the Holy One and settle 
 the people's disputes, and these teachers who 
 talk with their pupils, and these priests who 
 serve the Lord, he would wake up and say : ' It 
 is here, among these judges, these teachers, these 
 priests, that I am born to live.' ' 
 
 " What happiness would there be for him to 
 sit shut in between these pillar-aisles?" inter- 
 posed the man. " It is better for him to roam 
 on the hills and mountains round about 
 Nazareth." 
 
 The mother sighed a little. " He is so happy 
 at home with us! " said she. " How contented 
 he seems when he can follow the shepherds 
 on their lonely wanderings, or when he can 
 go out in the fields and see the husbandmen 
 labor. I can not believe that we are treating 
 him wrongly, when we seek to keep him for 
 ourselves." 
 
 " We only spare him the greatest suffering," 
 said the man.
 
 IN THE TEMPLE IOI 
 
 They continued talking together in this strain 
 until the child awoke from his slumber. 
 
 " Well," said the mother, " have you had a 
 good rest? Stand up now, for it is drawing 
 on toward evening, and we must return to the 
 camp." 
 
 They were in the most remote part of the 
 building and so began the walk towards the 
 entrance. 
 
 They had to go through an old arch which 
 had been there ever since the time when the 
 first Temple was erected on this spot; and near 
 the arch, propped against a wall, stood an 
 old copper trumpet, enormous in length and 
 weight, almost like a pillar to raise to the mouth 
 and play upon. It stood there dented and bat- 
 tered, full of dust and spiders' webs, inside and 
 outside, and covered with an almost invisible 
 tracing of ancient letters. Probably a thousand 
 years had gone by since any one had tried to 
 coax a tone out of it. 
 
 But when the little boy saw the huge trum- 
 pet, he stopped astonished! "What is that? " 
 he asked. 
 
 " That is the great trumpet called the Voice 
 of the Prince of this World," replied the 
 mother. " With this, Moses called together the 
 Children of Israel, when they were scattered 
 over the wilderness. Since his time no one has
 
 102 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 been able to coax a single tone from it. But 
 he who can do this, shall gather all the peoples 
 of earth under his dominion." 
 
 She smiled at this, which she believed to be 
 an old myth; but the little boy remained stand- 
 ing beside the big trumpet until she called him. 
 This trumpet was the first thing he had seen 
 in the Temple that he liked. 
 
 They had not gone far before they came to a 
 big, wide Temple-court. Here, in the mountain- 
 foundation itself, was a chasm, deep and wide 
 just as it had been from time immemorial. This 
 chasm King Solomon had not wished to fill in 
 when he built the Temple. No bridge had been 
 laid over it; no inclosure had he built around 
 the steep abyss. But instead, he had stretched 
 across it a sword of steel, several feet long, 
 sharpened, and with the blade up. And after 
 ages and ages and many changes, the sword 
 still lay across the chasm. Now it had almost 
 rusted away. It was no longer securely fastened 
 at the ends, but trembled and rocked as soon as 
 any one walked with heavy steps in the Temple 
 Court. 
 
 When the mother took the boy in a round- 
 about way past the chasm, he asked: "What 
 bridge is this? " 
 
 " It was placed there by King Solomon," 
 answered the mother, " and we call it Paradise
 
 IN THE TEMPLE 103 
 
 Bridge. If you can cross the chasm on this 
 trembling bridge, whose surface is thinner than 
 a sunbeam, then you can be sure of getting to 
 Paradise." 
 
 She smiled and moved away; but the boy 
 stood still and looked at the narrow, trembling 
 steel blade until she called him. 
 
 When he obeyed her, she sighed because she 
 had not shown him these two remarkable things 
 sooner, so that he might have had sufficient time 
 to view them. 
 
 Now they walked on without being detained, 
 till they came to the great entrance portico with 
 its columns, five-deep. Here, in a corner, were 
 two black marble pillars erected on the same 
 foundation, and so close to each other that hardly 
 a straw could be squeezed in between them. 
 They were tall and majestic, with richly orna- 
 mented capitals around which ran a row of 
 peculiarly formed beasts' heads. And there 
 was not an inch on these beautiful pillars that 
 did not bear marks and scratches. They were 
 worn and damaged like nothing else in the 
 Temple. Even the floor around them was worn 
 smooth, and was somewhat hollowed out from 
 the wear of many feet. 
 
 Once more the boy stopped his mother and 
 asked: "What pillars are these?" 
 
 " They are pillars which our father Abraham
 
 104 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 brought with him to Palestine from far-away 
 Chaldea, and which he called Righteousness' 
 Gate. He who can squeeze between them is 
 righteous before God and has never committed 
 a sin." 
 
 The boy stood still and regarded these pillars 
 with great, open eyes. 
 
 ' You, surely, do not think of trying to 
 squeeze yourself in between them?" laughed 
 the mother. " You see how the floor around 
 them is worn away by the many who have 
 attempted to force their way through the nar- 
 row space; but, believe me, no one has suc- 
 ceeded. Make haste! I hear the sound of the 
 copper gates as the thirty Temple servants put 
 their shoulders against them to bring them into 
 motion." 
 
 But all night the little boy lay awake in the 
 tent, and he saw before him nothing but Right- 
 eousness' Gate and Paradise Bridge and the 
 Voice of the Prince of this World. Never be- 
 fore had he heard of such wonderful things, and 
 he couldn't get them out of his head. 
 
 And on the morning of the next day it was 
 the same thing: he couldn't think of anything 
 else. That morning they were to leave for 
 home. The parents had much to do before they 
 took the tent down and loaded it upon a big 
 camel, and before everything else was in order.
 
 IN THE TEMPLE 105 
 
 They were not going to travel alone, but in 
 company with many relatives and neighbors. 
 And since there were so many, the packing nat- 
 urally went on very slowly. 
 
 The little boy did not assist in the work, 
 but in the midst of the hurry and confusion he 
 sat still and thought about the three wonderful 
 things. 
 
 Suddenly he concluded that he would have 
 time enough to go back to the Temple and take 
 another look at them. There was still much 
 to be packed away. He could probably manage 
 to get back from the Temple before the 
 departure. 
 
 He hastened away without telling any one 
 where he was going to. He didn't think it was 
 necessary. He would soon return, of course. 
 
 It wasn't long before he reached the Temple 
 and entered the portico where the two pillars 
 stood. 
 
 As soon as he saw them, his eyes danced with 
 joy. He sat down on the floor beside them, and 
 gazed up at them. As he thought that he who 
 could squeeze between these two pillars was ac- 
 counted righteous before God and had never 
 committed sin, he fancied he had never seen 
 anything so wonderful. 
 
 He thought how glorious it would be to be 
 able to squeeze in between the two pillars, but
 
 106 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 they stood so close together that it was impossi- 
 ble even to try it. In this way, he sat motion- 
 less before the pillars for well-nigh an hour; 
 but this he did not know. He thought he had 
 looked at them only a few moments. 
 
 But it happened that, in the portico where 
 the little boy sat, the judges of the high 
 court were assembled to help folks settle their 
 differences. 
 
 The whole portico was filled with people, who 
 complained about boundary lines that had been 
 moved, about sheep which had been carried 
 away from the flocks and branded with false 
 marks, about debtors who wouldn't pay. 
 
 Among them came a rich man dressed in a 
 trailing purple robe, who brought before the 
 court a poor widow who was supposed to owe 
 him a few silver shekels. The poor widow cried 
 and said that the rich man dealt unjustly with 
 her; she had already paid her debt to him once, 
 and now he tried to force her to pay it again, 
 but this she could not afford to do; she was so 
 poor that should the judges condemn her to 
 pay, she must give her daughters to the rich 
 man as slaves. 
 
 Then he who sat in the place of honor on 
 the judges' bench, turned to the rich man and 
 said: " Do you dare to swear on oath that this 
 poor woman has not already paid you? "
 
 IN THE TEMPLE 107 
 
 Then the rich man answered: "Lord, I am 
 a rich man. Would I take the trouble to de- 
 mand my money from this poor widow, if I 
 did not have the right to it? I swear to you 
 that as certain as that no one shall ever walk 
 through Righteousness' Gate does this woman 
 owe me the sum which I demand." 
 
 When the judges heard this oath they be- 
 lieved him, and doomed the poor widow to 
 leave him her daughters as slaves. 
 
 But the little boy sat close by and heard 
 all this. He thought to himself: What a good 
 thing it would be if some one could squeeze 
 through Righteousness' Gate ! That rich man 
 certainly did not speak the truth. It is a great 
 pity about the poor old woman, who will be 
 compelled to send her daughters away to become 
 slaves ! 
 
 He jumped upon the platform where the two 
 pillars towered into the heights, and looked 
 through the crack. 
 
 " Ah, that it were not altogether impossible ! " 
 thought he. 
 
 He was deeply distressed because of the poor 
 woman. Now he didn't think at all about the 
 saying that he who could squeeze through 
 Righteousness' Gate was holy, and without sin. 
 He wanted to get through only for the sake 
 of the poor woman.
 
 108 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 He put his shoulder in the groove between 
 the two pillars, as if to make a way. 
 
 That instant all the people who stood under 
 the portico, looked over toward Righteousness' 
 Gate. For it rumbled in the vaults, and it sang 
 in the old pillars, and they glided apart one 
 to the right, and one to the left and made a 
 space wide enough for the boy's slender body 
 to pass between them ! 
 
 Then there arose the greatest wonder and 
 excitement! At first no one knew what to say. 
 The people stood and stared at the little boy 
 who had worked so great a miracle. 
 
 The oldest among the judges was the first one 
 who came to his senses. He called out that 
 they should lay hold on the rich merchant, and 
 bring him before the judgment seat. And he 
 sentenced him to leave all his goods to the poor 
 widow, because he had sworn falsely in God's 
 Temple. 
 
 When this was settled, the judge asked after 
 the boy who had passed through Righteousness' 
 Gate; but when the people looked around for 
 him, he had disappeared. For the very moment 
 the pillars glided apart, he was awakened, as 
 from a dream, and remembered the home-jour- 
 ney and his parents. " Now I must hasten away 
 from here, so that my parents will not have to 
 wait for me," thought he.
 
 IN THE TEMPLE 1 09 
 
 He knew not that he had sat a whole hour 
 before Righteousness' Gate, but believed he had 
 lingered there only a few minutes; therefore, he 
 thought that he would even have time to take 
 a look at Paradise Bridge before he left the 
 Temple. 
 
 And he- slipped through the throng of people 
 and came to Paradise Bridge, which was situated 
 in another part of the big temple. 
 
 But when he saw the sharp steel sword which 
 was drawn across the chasm, he thought how the 
 person who could walk across that bridge was 
 sure of reaching Paradise. He believed that 
 this was the most marvelous thing he had ever 
 beheld; and he seated himself on the edge of 
 the chasm to look at the steel sword. 
 
 There he sat down and thought how delight- 
 ful it would be to reach Paradise, and how 
 much he would like to walk across the bridge; 
 but at the same time he saw that it would be 
 simply impossible even to attempt it. 
 
 Thus he sat and mused for two hours, but 
 he did not know how the time had flown. He 
 sat there and thought only of Paradise. 
 
 But it seems that in the court where the 
 deep chasm was, a large altar had been erected, 
 and all around it walked white-robed priests, 
 who tended the altar fire and received sac- 
 rifices. In the court there were many with offer-
 
 HO CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 ings, and a big crowd who only watched the 
 service. 
 
 Then there came a poor old man who brought 
 a lamb which was very small and thin, and 
 which had been bitten by a dog and had a large 
 wound. 
 
 The man went up to the priests with the lamb 
 and begged that he might offer it, but they 
 refused to accept it. They told him that such 
 a miserable gift he could not offer to our Lord. 
 The old man implored them to accept the lamb 
 out of compassion, for his son lay at the point 
 of death, and he possessed nothing else that 
 he could offer to God for his restoration. " You 
 must let me offer it," said he, " else my prayers 
 will not come before God's face, and my son 
 will die!" 
 
 " You must not believe but that I have the 
 greatest sympathy with you," said the priest, 
 " but in the law it is forbidden to sacrifice a 
 damaged animal. It is just as impossible to 
 grant your prayers, as it is to cross Paradise 
 Bridge." 
 
 The little boy did not sit very far away, so 
 he heard all this. Instantly he thought what 
 a pity it was that no one could cross the bridge. 
 Perhaps the poor man might keep his son if 
 the lamb were sacrificed. 
 
 The old man left the Temple Court disconso-
 
 IN THE TEMPLE III 
 
 late, but the boy got up, walked over to the 
 trembling bridge, and put his foot on it. 
 
 He didn't think at all about wanting to cross 
 it to be certain of Paradise. His thoughts were 
 with the poor man, whom he desired to help. 
 
 But he drew back his foot, for he thought: 
 ' This is impossible. It is much too old and 
 rusty, and would not hold even me ! " 
 
 But once again his thoughts went out to the 
 old man whose son lay at death's door. Again 
 he put his foot down upon the blade. 
 
 Then he noticed that it ceased to tremble, 
 and that beneath his foot it felt broad and 
 secure. 
 
 And when he took the next step upon it, he 
 felt that the air around him supported him, so 
 that he could not fall. It bore him as though 
 he were a bird, and had wings. 
 
 But from the suspended sword a sweet tone 
 trembled when the boy walked upon it, and one 
 of those who stood in the court turned around 
 when he heard the tone. He gave a cry, and 
 then the others turned and saw the little boy 
 tripping across the sword. 
 
 There was great consternation among all who 
 stood there. The first who came to their senses 
 were the priests. They immediately sent a mes- 
 senger after the poor man, and when he came 
 back they said to him: " God has performed a
 
 112 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 miracle to show us that He will accept your 
 offering. Give us your lamb and we will sac- 
 rifice it." 
 
 When this was done they asked for the little 
 boy who had walked across the chasm; but 
 when they looked around for him they could 
 not find him. 
 
 For just after the boy had crossed the chasm, 
 he happened to think of the journey home, and 
 of his parents. He did not know that the morn- 
 ing and the whole forenoon were gone, but 
 thought: " I must make haste and get back, so 
 that they will not have to wait. But first I want 
 to run over and take a look at the Voice of the 
 Prince of this World." 
 
 And he stole away through the crowd and 
 ran over to the damp pillar-aisle where the cop- 
 per trumpet stood leaning against the wall. 
 
 When he saw it, and thought about the pre- 
 diction that he who could coax a tone from it 
 should one day gather all the peoples of earth 
 under his dominion, he fancied that never had 
 he seen anything so wonderful! and he sat 
 down beside it and regarded it. 
 
 He thought how great it would be to win 
 all the peoples of earth, and how much he 
 wished that he could blow in the old trumpet. 
 But he understood that it was impossible, so 
 he didn't even dare try.
 
 IN THE TEMPLE 1 13 
 
 He sat like this for several hours, but he did 
 not know how the time passed. He thought 
 only how marvelous it would be to gather all 
 the peoples of earth under his dominion. 
 
 But it happened that in this cool passageway 
 sat a holy man who instructed his pupils, that 
 sat at his feet. 
 
 And now this holy man turned toward one 
 of his pupils and told him that he was an im- 
 postor. He said the spirit had revealed to him 
 that this youth was a stranger, and not an 
 Israelite. And he demanded why he had 
 sneaked in among his pupils under a false name. 
 
 Then the strange youth rose and said that 
 he had wandered through deserts and sailed 
 over great seas that he might hear wisdom and 
 the doctrine of the only true God expounded. 
 " My soul was faint with longing," he said to 
 the holy man. " But I knew that you would 
 not teach me if I did not say that I was an 
 Israelite. Therefore, I lied to you, that my 
 longing should be satisfied. And I pray that 
 you will let me remain here with you." 
 
 But the holy man stood up and raised his 
 arms toward heaven. " It is just as impossible 
 to let you remain here with me, as it is that 
 some one shall arise and blow in the huge cop- 
 per trumpet, which we call the Voice of the 
 Prince of this World! You are not even per-
 
 114 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 mitted to enter this part of the Temple. Leave 
 this place at once, or my pupils will throw them- 
 selves upon you and tear you in pieces, for your 
 presence desecrates the Temple." 
 
 But the youth stood still, and said: " I do not 
 wish to go elsewhere, where my soul can find 
 no nourishment. I would rather die here at 
 your feet." 
 
 Hardly was this said when the holy man's 
 pupils jumped to their feet, to drive him away, 
 and when he made resistance, they threw him 
 down and wished to kill him. 
 
 But the boy sat very near, so he heard and 
 saw all this, and he thought: "This is a great 
 injustice. Oh! if I could only blow in the big 
 copper trumpet, he would be helped." 
 
 He rose and laid his hand on the trumpet. 
 At this moment he no longer wished that he 
 could raise it to his lips because he who could 
 do so should be a great ruler, but because he 
 hoped that he might help one whose life was 
 in danger. 
 
 And he grasped the copper trumpet with his 
 tiny hands, to try and lift it. 
 
 Then he felt that the huge trumpet raised 
 itself to his lips. And when he only breathed, 
 a strong, resonant tone came forth from the 
 trumpet, and reverberated all through the great 
 Temple.
 
 IN THE TEMPLE 5 
 
 Then they all turned their eyes and saw that 
 it was a little boy who stood with the trumpet 
 to his lips and coaxed from it tones which made 
 foundations and pillars tremble. 
 
 Instantly, all the hands which had been lifted 
 to strike the strange youth fell, and the holy 
 teacher said to him: 
 
 " Come and sit thee here at my feet, as thou 
 didst sit before ! God hath performed a miracle 
 to show me that it is His wish that thou shouldst 
 be consecrated to His service." 
 
 As it drew on toward the close of day, a man 
 and a woman came hurrying toward Jerusalem. 
 They looked frightened and anxious, and called 
 out to each and every one whom they met: 
 " We have lost our son ! We thought he had 
 followed our relatives, but none of them have 
 seen him. Has any one of you passed a child 
 alone?" 
 
 Those who came from Jerusalem answered 
 them : " Indeed, we have not seen your son, but 
 in the Temple we saw a most beautiful child! 
 He was like an angel from heaven, and he has 
 passed through Righteousness' Gate." 
 
 They would gladly have related, very mi- 
 nutely, all about this, but the parents had no 
 time to listen.
 
 Il6 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 When they had walked on a little farther, 
 they met other persons and questioned them. 
 
 But those who came from Jerusalem wished 
 to talk only about a most beautiful child who 
 looked as though he had come down from 
 heaven, and who had crossed Paradise 
 Bridge. 
 
 They would gladly have stopped and talked 
 about this until late at night, but the man and 
 woman had no time to listen to them, and hur- 
 ried into the city. 
 
 They walked up one street and down another 
 without finding the child. At last they reached 
 the Temple. As they came up to it, the woman 
 said: " Since we are here, let us go in and see 
 what the child is like, which they say has come 
 down from heaven ! " They went in and asked 
 where they should find the child. 
 
 " Go straight on to where the holy teachers 
 sit with their students. There you will find the 
 child. The old men have seated him in their 
 midst. They question him and he questions 
 them, and they are all amazed at him. But all 
 the people stand below in the Temple court, 
 to catch a glimpse of the one who has raised 
 the Voice of the Prince of this World to his 
 lips." 
 
 The man and the woman made their way 
 through the throng of people, and saw that
 
 IN THE TEMPLE 1 17 
 
 the child who sat among the wise teachers was 
 their son. 
 
 But as soon as the woman recognized the 
 child she began to weep. 
 
 And the boy who sat among the wise men 
 heard that some one wept, and he knew that 
 it was his mother. Then he rose and came 
 over to her, and the father and mother took 
 him between them and went from the Temple 
 with him. 
 
 But as the mother continued to weep, the 
 child asked: "Why weepest thou? I came to 
 thee as soon as I heard thy voice." 
 
 " Should I not weep? " said the mother. " I 
 believed that thou wert lost to me." 
 
 They went out from the city and darkness 
 came on, and all the while the mother wept. 
 
 " Why weepest thou? " asked the child. " I 
 did not know that the day was spent. I thought 
 it was still morning, and I came to thee as soon 
 as I heard thy voice." 
 
 " Should I not weep? " said the mother. " I 
 have sought for thee all day long. I believed 
 that thou wert lost to me." 
 
 They walked the whole night, and the mother 
 wept all the while. 
 
 When day began to dawn, the child said : 
 " Why dost thou weep ? I have not sought 
 mine own glory, but God has let me perform
 
 Ii8 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 miracles because He wanted to help the three 
 poor creatures. As soon as I heard thy voice, 
 I came to thee." 
 
 " My son," replied the mother. " I weep 
 because thou art none the less lost to me. Thou 
 wilt never more belong to me. Henceforth thy 
 life ambition shall be righteousness; thy long- 
 ing, Paradise; and thy love shall embrace all 
 the poor human beings who people this earth."
 
 SAINT VERONICA'S KERCHIEF 
 
 DURING one of the latter years of Em- 
 peror Tiberius' reign, a poor vine-dresser 
 and his wife came and settled in a solitary 
 hut among the Sabine mountains. They were 
 strangers, and lived in absolute solitude with- 
 out ever receiving a visit from a human being. 
 But one morning when the laborer opened his 
 door, he found, to his astonishment, that an 
 old woman sat huddled up on the threshold. She 
 was wrapped in a plain gray mantle, and looked 
 very poor. Nevertheless, she impressed him as 
 being so respect-compelling, as she rose and 
 came to meet him, that it made him think of 
 what the legends had to say about goddesses 
 who, in the form of old women, had visited 
 mortals. 
 
 " My friend," said the old woman to the vine- 
 dresser, " you must not wonder that I have slept 
 this night on your threshold. My parents lived 
 in this hut, and here I was born nearly ninety 
 years ago. I expected to find it empty and de- 
 
 121
 
 122 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 serted. I did not know that people still occu- 
 pied it." 
 
 " I do not wonder that you thought a hut 
 which lies so high up among these desolate hills 
 should stand empty and deserted," said the vine- 
 dresser. " But my wife and I come from a 
 foreign land, and as poor strangers we have 
 not been able to find a better dwelling-place. 
 But to you, who must be tired and hungry after 
 the long journey, which you at your extreme age 
 have undertaken, it is perhaps more welcome 
 that the hut is occupied by people than by Sabine 
 mountain wolves. You will at least find a bed 
 within to rest on, and a bowl of goats' milk, and 
 a bread-cake, if you will accept them." 
 
 The old woman smiled a little, but this smile 
 was so fleeting that it could not dispel the ex- 
 pression of deep sorrow which rested upon her 
 countenance. 
 
 u I spent my entire youth up here among these 
 mountains," she said. " I have not yet forgot- 
 ten the trick of driving a wolf from his lair." 
 
 And she actually looked so strong and vigor- 
 ous that the laborer didn't doubt that she still 
 possessed strength enough, despite her great 
 age, to fight with the wild beasts of the forest. 
 
 He repeated his invitation, and the old 
 woman stepped into the cottage. She sat down 
 to the frugal meal, and partook of it without
 
 SAINT VERONICA'S KERCHIEF 123 
 
 hesitancy. Although she seemed to be well sat- 
 isfied with the fare of coarse bread soaked in 
 goats' milk, both the man and his wife thought: 
 '' Where can this old wanderer come from? 
 She has certainly eaten pheasants served on sil- 
 ver plates oftener than she has drunk goats' 
 milk from earthen bowls." 
 
 Now and then she raised her eyes from the 
 food and looked around, as if to try and 
 realize that she was back in the hut. The poor 
 old home with its bare clay walls and its earth 
 floor was certainly not much changed. She 
 pointed out to her hosts that on the walls there 
 were still visible some traces of dogs and deer 
 which her father had sketched there to amuse 
 his little children. And on a shelf, high up, she 
 thought she saw fragments of an earthen dish 
 which she herself had used to measure milk in. 
 
 The man and his wife thought to themselves : 
 " It must be true that she was born in this hut, 
 but she has surely had much more to attend to 
 in this life than milking goats and making but- 
 ter and cheese." 
 
 They observed also that her thoughts were 
 often far away, and that she sighed heavily and 
 anxiously every time she came back to herself. 
 
 Finally she rose from the table. She thanked 
 them graciously for the hospitality she had en- 
 joyed, and walked toward the door.
 
 124 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 But then it seemed to the vine-dresser that 
 she was pitifully poor and lonely, and he ex- 
 claimed: "If I am not mistaken, it was not 
 your intention, when you dragged yourself up 
 here last night, to leave this hut so soon. If 
 you are actually as poor as you seem, it must 
 have been your intention to remain here for 
 the rest of your life. But now you wish to 
 leave because my wife and I have taken pos- 
 session of the hut." 
 
 The old woman did not deny that he had 
 guessed rightly. " But this hut, which for many 
 years has been deserted, belongs to you as much 
 as to me," she said. " I have no right to drive 
 you from it." 
 
 " It is still your parents' hut," said the la- 
 borer, " and you surely have a better right to 
 it than we have. Besides, we are young and 
 you are old; therefore, you shall remain and 
 we will go." 
 
 When the old woman heard this, she was 
 greatly astonished. She turned around on the 
 threshold and stared at the man, as though she 
 had not understood what he meant by his words. 
 
 But now the young wife joined in the con- 
 versation. 
 
 " If I might suggest," said she to her hus- 
 band, " I should beg you to ask this old woman 
 if she won't look upon us as her own children,
 
 SAINT VERONICA'S KERCHIEF 125 
 
 and permit us to stay with her and take care 
 of her. What service would we render her if we 
 gave her this miserable hut and then left her? 
 It would be terrible for her to live here in this 
 wilderness alone ! And what would she live 
 on? It would be just like letting her starve 
 to death." 
 
 The old woman went up to the man and his 
 wife and regarded them carefully. " Why do 
 you speak thus?" she asked. "Why are you 
 so merciful to me? You are strangers." 
 
 Then the young wife answered: " It is be- 
 cause we ourselves once met with great mercy." 
 
 II 
 
 This is how the old woman came to live in 
 the vine-dresser's hut. And she conceived a 
 great friendship for the young people. But for 
 all that she never told them whence she had 
 come, or who she was, and they understood 
 that she would not have taken it in good part 
 had they questioned her. 
 
 But one evening, when the day's work was 
 done, and all three sat on the big, flat rock 
 which lay before the entrance, and partook of 
 their evening meal, they saw an old man com- 
 ing up the path. 
 
 He was a tall and powerfully built man, with
 
 126 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 shoulders as broad as a gladiator's. His face 
 wore a cheerless and stern expression. The 
 brows jutted far out over the deep-set eyes, and 
 the lines around the mouth expressed bitterness 
 and contempt. He walked with erect bearing 
 and quick movements. 
 
 The man wore a simple dress, and the instant 
 the vine-dresser saw him, he said: " He is an 
 old soldier, one who has been discharged from 
 service and is now on his way home." 
 
 When the stranger came directly before them 
 he paused, as if in doubt. The laborer, who 
 knew that the road terminated a short distance 
 beyond the hut, laid down his spoon and called 
 out to him : " Have you gone astray, stranger, 
 since you come hither? Usually, no one takes 
 the trouble to climb up here, unless he has an 
 errand to one of us who live here." 
 
 When he questioned in this manner, the 
 stranger came nearer. " It is as you say," said 
 he. "I have taken the wrong road, and now 
 I know not whither I shall direct my steps. If 
 you will let me rest here a while, and then tell 
 me which path I shall follow to get to some 
 farm, I shall be grateful to you." 
 
 As he spake he sat down upon one of the 
 stones which lay before the hut. The young 
 woman asked him if he wouldn't share their 
 supper, but this he declined with a smile. On
 
 SAINT VERONICA S KERCHIEF 127 
 
 the other hand it was very evident that he was 
 inclined to talk with them, while they ate. He 
 asked the young folks about their manner of 
 living, and their work, and they answered him 
 frankly and cheerfully. 
 
 Suddenly the laborer turned toward the 
 stranger and began to question him. " You see 
 in what a lonely and isolated way we live," 
 said he. " It must be a year at least since I 
 have talked with any one except shepherds and 
 vineyard laborers. Can not you, who must come 
 from some camp, tell us something about Rome 
 and the Emperor? " 
 
 Hardly had the man said this than the young 
 wife noticed that the old woman gave him a 
 warning glance, and made with her hand the 
 sign which means Have a care what you say. 
 
 The stranger, meanwhile, answered very 
 affably: "I understand that you take me for 
 a soldier, which is not untrue, although I have 
 long since left the service. During Tiberius' 
 reign there has not been much work for us 
 soldiers. Yet he was once a great commander. 
 Those were the days of his good fortune. Now 
 he thinks of nothing except to guard himself 
 against conspiracies. In Rome, every one is 
 talking about how, last week, he let Senator 
 Titius be seized and executed on the merest 
 suspicion."
 
 123 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 ' The poor Emperor no longer knows what 
 he does!" exclaimed the young woman; and 
 shook her head in pity and surprise. 
 
 " You are perfectly right," said the stranger, 
 as an expression of the deepest melancholy 
 crossed his countenance. " Tiberius knows that 
 every one hates him, and this is driving him 
 insane." 
 
 "What say you?" the woman retorted. 
 " Why should we hate him? We only deplore 
 the fact that he is no longer the great Emperor 
 he was in the beginning of his reign." 
 
 " You are mistaken," said the stranger. 
 " Every one hates and detests Tiberius. Why 
 should they do otherwise? He is nothing but 
 a cruel and merciless tyrant. In Rome they 
 think that from now on he will become even 
 more unreasonable than he has been." 
 
 " Has anything happened, then, which will 
 turn him into a worse beast than he is already? " 
 queried the vine-dresser. 
 
 When he said this, the wife noticed that 
 the old woman gave him a new warning signal, 
 but so stealthily that he could not see it. 
 
 The stranger answered him in a kindly man- 
 ner, but at the same time a singular smile played 
 about his lips. 
 
 " You have heard, perhaps, that until now 
 Tiberius has had a friend in his household on
 
 SAINT VERONICA'S KERCHIEF 129 
 
 whom he could rely, and who has always told 
 him the truth. All the rest who live in his 
 palace are fortune-hunters and hypocrites, who 
 praise the Emperor's wicked and cunning acts 
 just as much as his good and admirable ones. 
 But there was, as we have said, one alone who 
 never feared to let him know how his conduct 
 was actually regarded. This person, who was 
 more courageous than senators and generals, 
 was the Emperor's old nurse, Faustina." 
 
 " I have heard of her," said the laborer. 
 " I've been told that the Emperor has always 
 shown her great friendship." 
 
 " Yes, Tiberius knew how to prize her af- 
 fection and loyalty. He treated this poor peas- 
 ant woman, who came from a miserable hut 
 in the Sabine mountains, as his second mother. 
 As long as he stayed in Rome, he let her live 
 in a mansion on the Palatine, that he might 
 always have her near him. None of Rome's 
 noble matrons has fared better than she. She 
 was borne through the streets in a litter, and 
 her dress was that of an empress. When the 
 Emperor moved to Capri, she had to accom- 
 pany him, and he bought a country estate for 
 her there, and filled it with slaves and costly 
 furnishings." 
 
 " She has certainly fared well," said the 
 husband.
 
 130 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 Now it was he who kept up the conversation 
 with the stranger. The wife sat silent and 
 observed with surprise the change which had 
 come over the old woman. Since the stranger 
 arrived, she had not spoken a word. She had 
 lost her mild and friendly expression. She had 
 pushed her food aside, and sat erect and rigid 
 against the door-post, and stared straight ahead, 
 with a severe and stony countenance. 
 
 " It was the Emperor's intention that she 
 should have a happy life," said the stranger. 
 " But, despite all his kindly acts, she too has 
 deserted him." 
 
 The old woman gave a start at these words, 
 but the young one laid her hand quietingly on 
 her arm. Then she began to speak in her soft, 
 sympathetic voice. " I can not believe that 
 Faustina has been as happy at court as you 
 say," she said, as she turned toward the 
 stranger. " I am sure that she has loved 
 Tiberius as if he had been her own son. I can 
 understand how proud she has been of his noble 
 youth, and I can even understand how it must 
 have grieved her to see him abandon himself in 
 his old age to suspicion and cruelty. She has 
 certainly warned and admonished him every day. 
 It has been terrible for her always to plead in 
 vain. At last she could no longer bear to see 
 him sink lower and lower."
 
 SAINT VERONICA'S KERCHIEF 131 
 
 The stranger, astonished, leaned forward a 
 bit when he heard this; but the young woman 
 did not glance up at him. She kept her eyes 
 lowered, and spoke very calmly and gently. 
 
 " Perhaps you are right in what you say of 
 the old woman," he replied. " Faustina has 
 really not been happy at court. It seems strange, 
 nevertheless, that she has left the Emperor in 
 his old age, when she had endured him the span 
 of a lifetime." 
 
 " What say you? " asked the husband. " Has 
 old Faustina left the Emperor? " 
 
 " She has stolen away from Capri without 
 any one's knowledge," said the stranger. " She 
 left just as poor as she came. She has not 
 taken one of her treasures with her." 
 
 " And doesn't the Emperor really know 
 where she has gone? " asked the wife. 
 
 " No ! No one knows for certain what road 
 the old woman has taken. Still, one takes it 
 for granted that she has sought refuge among 
 her native mountains." 
 
 " And the Emperor does not know, either, 
 why she has gone away? " asked the young 
 woman. 
 
 " No, the Emperor knows nothing of this. 
 He can not believe she left him because he 
 once told her that she served him for money 
 and gifts only, like all the rest. She knows,
 
 132 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 however, that he has never doubted her un- 
 selfishness. He has hoped all along that she 
 would return to him voluntarily, for no one 
 knows better than she that he is absolutely with- 
 out friends." 
 
 " I do not know her," said the young woman, 
 " but I think I can tell you why she has left 
 the Emperor. The old woman was brought up 
 among these mountains in simplicity and piety, 
 and she has always longed to come back here 
 again. Surely she never would have abandoned 
 the Emperor if he had not insulted her. But 
 I understand that, after this, she feels she has 
 the right to think of herself, since her days are 
 numbered. If I were a poor woman of the 
 mountains, I certainly would have acted as 
 she did. I would have thought that I had done 
 enough when I had served my master during 
 a whole lifetime. I would at last have aban- 
 doned luxury and royal favors to give my soul 
 a taste of honor and integrity before it left me 
 for the long journey." 
 
 The stranger glanced with a deep and tender 
 sadness at the young woman. " You do not 
 consider that the Emperor's propensities will 
 become worse than ever. Now there is no one 
 who can calm him when suspicion and misan- 
 thropy take possession of him. Think of this," 
 he continued, as his melancholy gaze penetrated
 
 SAINT VERONICA'S KERCHIEF 133 
 
 deeply into the eyes of the young woman, " in 
 all the world there is no one now whom he does 
 not hate; no one whom he does not despise 
 no one ! " 
 
 As he uttered these words of bitter despair, 
 the old woman made a sudden movement and 
 turned toward him, but the young woman looked 
 him straight in the eyes and answered: "Ti- 
 berius knows that Faustina will come back to 
 him whenever he wishes it. But first she must 
 know that her old eyes need never more behold 
 vice and infamy at his court." 
 
 They had all risen during this speech; but the 
 vine-dresser and his wife placed themselves in 
 front of the old woman, as if to shield her. 
 
 The stranger did not utter another syllable, 
 but regarded the old woman with a questioning 
 glance. Is this your last word also? he seemed 
 to want to say. The old woman's lips quivered, 
 but words would not pass them. 
 
 " If the Emperor has loved his old servant, 
 then he can also let her live her last days in 
 peace," said the young woman. 
 
 The stranger hesitated still, but suddenly his 
 dark countenance brightened. " My friends," 
 said he, " whatever one may say of Tiberius, 
 there is one thing which he has learned better 
 than others; and that is renunciation. I have 
 only one thing more to say to you: If this old
 
 134 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 woman, of whom we have spoken, should come 
 to this hut, receive her well ! The Emperor's 
 favor rests upon any one who succors her." 
 
 He wrapped his mantle about him and de- 
 parted the same way that he had come. 
 
 Ill 
 
 After this, the vine-dresser and his wife never 
 again spoke to the old woman about the Em- 
 peror. Between themselves they marveled that 
 she, at her great age, had had the strength 
 to renounce all the wealth and power to which 
 she had become accustomed. " I wonder if she 
 will not soon go back to Tiberius? " they asked 
 themselves. " It is certain that she still loves 
 him. It is in the hope that it will awaken him 
 to reason and enable him to repent of his low 
 conduct, that she has left him." 
 
 " A man as old as the Emperor will never 
 begin a new life," said the laborer. " How are 
 you going to rid him of his great contempt for 
 mankind ? Who could go to him and teach him 
 to love his fellow man? Until this happens, he 
 can not be cured of suspicion and cruelty." 
 
 " You know that there is one who could 
 actually do it," said the wife. " I often think 
 of how it would turn out, if the two should 
 meet. But God's ways are not our ways."
 
 SAINT VERONICA'S KERCHIEF 135 
 
 The old woman did not seem to miss her 
 former life at all. After a time the young wife 
 gave birth to a child. The old woman had the 
 care of it; she seemed so content in consequence 
 that one could have thought she had forgotten 
 all her sorrows. 
 
 Once every half-year she used to wrap her 
 l n g> g ra y mantle around her, and wander down 
 to Rome. There she did not seek a soul, but 
 went straight to the Forum. Here she stopped 
 outside a little temple, which was erected on 
 one side of the superbly decorated square. 
 
 All there was of this temple was an uncom- 
 monly large altar, which stood in a marble- 
 paved court under the open sky. On the top 
 of the altar, Fortuna, the goddess of happiness, 
 was enthroned, and at its foot was a statue of 
 Tiberius. Encircling the court were buildings 
 for the priests, storerooms for fuel, and stalls 
 for the beasts of sacrifice. 
 
 Old Faustina's journeys never extended be- 
 yond this temple, where those who would pray 
 for the welfare of Tiberius were wont to come. 
 When she cast a glance in there and saw that 
 both the goddess' and the Emperor's statue 
 were wreathed in flowers; that the sacrificial fire 
 burned; that throngs of reverent worshipers 
 were assembled before the altar, and heard the 
 priests' low chants sounding thereabouts, she
 
 136 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 turned around and went back to the moun- 
 tains. 
 
 In this way she learned, without having to 
 question a human being, that Tiberius was still 
 among the living, and that all was well with 
 him. 
 
 The third time she undertook this journey, 
 she met with a surprise. When she reached the 
 little temple, she found it empty and deserted. 
 No fire burned before the statue, and not a 
 worshiper was seen. A couple of dried garlands 
 still hung on one side of the altar, but this 
 was all that testified to its former glory. The 
 priests were gone, and the Emperor's statue, 
 which stood there unguarded, was damaged and 
 mud-bespattered. 
 
 The old woman turned to the first passer-by. 
 " What does this mean? " she asked. " Is Ti- 
 berius dead? Have we another Emperor? " 
 
 " No," replied the Roman, " Tiberius is still 
 Emperor, but we have ceased to pray for him. 
 Our prayers can no longer benefit him." 
 
 " My friend," said the old woman, " I live 
 far away among the mountains, where one learns 
 nothing of what happens out in the world. 
 Won't you tell me what dreadful misfortune 
 has overtaken the Emperor? " 
 
 " The most dreadful of all misfortunes! He 
 has been stricken with a disease which has never
 
 SAINT VERONICA'S KERCHIEF 137 
 
 before been known in Italy, but which seems to 
 be common in the Orient. Since this evil has 
 befallen the Emperor, his features are changed, 
 his voice has become like an animal's grunt, and 
 his toes and fingers are rotting away. And for 
 this illness there appears to be no remedy. They 
 believe that he will die within a few weeks. But 
 if he does not die, he will be dethroned, for 
 such an ill and wretched man can no longer con- 
 duct the affairs of State. You understand, of 
 course, that his fate is a foregone conclusion. 
 It is useless to invoke the gods for his success, 
 and it is not worth while," he added, with a 
 faint smile. " No one has anything more 
 either to fear or hope from him. Why, 
 then, should we trouble ourselves on his 
 account? " 
 
 He nodded and walked away; but the old 
 woman stood there as if stunned. 
 
 For the first time in her life she collapsed, and 
 looked like one whom age has subdued. She 
 stood with bent back and trembling head, and 
 with hands that groped feebly in the air. 
 
 She longed to get away from the place, but 
 she moved her feet slowly. She looked around 
 to find something which she could use as a staff. 
 
 But after a few moments, by a tremendous 
 effort of the will, she succeeded in conquering 
 the faintness.
 
 I3 8 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 IV 
 
 A week later, old Faustina wandered up the 
 steep inclines on the Island of Capri. It was 
 a warm day and the dread consciousness of old 
 age and feebleness came over her as she labored 
 up the winding roads and the hewn-out steps 
 in the mountain, which led to Tiberius' villa. 
 
 This feeling increased when she observed how 
 changed everything had become during the time 
 she had been away. In truth, on and alongside 
 these steps there had always before been throngs 
 of people. Here it used fairly to swarm with 
 senators, borne by giant Libyans; with mes- 
 sengers from the provinces attended by long 
 processions of slaves; with office-seekers; with 
 noblemen invited to participate in the Emperor's 
 feasts. 
 
 But to-day the steps and passages were en- 
 tirely deserted. Gray-greenish lizards were the 
 only living things which the old woman saw in 
 her path. 
 
 She was amazed to see that already everything 
 appeared to be going to ruin. At most, the 
 Emperor's illness could not have progressed 
 more than two months, and yet the grass had 
 already taken root in the cracks between the 
 marble stones. Rare growths, planted in beau- 
 tiful vases, were already withered and here and
 
 SAINT VERONICA'S KERCHIEF 139 
 
 there mischievous spoilers, whom no one had 
 taken the trouble to stop, had broken down the 
 balustrade. 
 
 But to her the most singular thing of all 
 was the entire absence of people. Even if 
 strangers were forbidden to appear on the 
 island, attendants at least should still be found 
 there : the endless crowds of soldiers and slaves ; 
 of dancers and musicians; of cooks and stewards; 
 of palace-sentinels and gardeners, who belonged 
 to the Emperor's household. 
 
 When Faustina reached the upper terrace, she 
 caught sight of tw r o slaves, who sat on the steps 
 in front of the villa. As she approached, they 
 rose and bowed to her. 
 
 " Be greeted, Faustina ! " said one of them. 
 " It is a god who sends thee to lighten our 
 sorrows." 
 
 " What does this mean, Milo? " asked Faus- 
 tina. " Why is it so deserted here? Yet they 
 have told me that Tiberius still lives at Capri." 
 
 ' The Emperor has driven away all his slaves 
 because he suspects that one of us has given 
 him poisoned wine to drink, and that this has 
 brought on the illness. He would have driven 
 even Tito and myself away, if we had not re- 
 fused to obey him; yet, as you know, we have all 
 our lives served the Emperor and his mother." 
 
 " I do not ask after slaves only," said Faus-
 
 140 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 tina. " Where are the senators and field mar- 
 shals? Where are the Emperor's intimate 
 friends, and all the fawning fortune-hunters? " 
 
 ' Tiberius does not wish to show himself 
 before strangers," said the slave. " Senator 
 Lucius and Marco, Commander of the Life 
 Guard, come here every day and receive orders. 
 No one else may approach him." 
 
 Faustina had gone up the steps to enter the 
 villa. The slave went before her, and on the 
 way she asked : " What say the physicians of 
 Tiberius' illness? " 
 
 " None of them understands how to treat this 
 illness. They do not even know if it kills quickly 
 or slowly. But this I can tell you, Faustina, 
 Tiberius must die if he continues to refuse all 
 food for fear it may be poisoned. And I know 
 that a sick man can not stay awake night and 
 day, as the Emperor does, for fear he may be 
 murdered in his sleep. If he will trust you as in 
 former days, you might succeed in making him 
 eat and sleep. Thereby you can prolong his 
 life for many days." 
 
 The slave conducted Faustina through several 
 passages and courts to a terrace which Tiberius 
 used to frequent to enjoy the view of the beau- 
 tiful bays and proud Vesuvius. 
 
 When Faustina stepped out upon the terrace, 
 she saw a hideous creature with a swollen face
 
 SAINT VERONICA'S KERCHIEF 141 
 
 and animal-like features. His hands and feet 
 were swathed in white bandages, but through 
 the bandages protruded half-rotted fingers and 
 toes. And this being's clothes were soiled and 
 dusty. It was evident he could not walk erect, 
 but had been obliged to crawl out upon the 
 terrace. He lay with closed eyes near the balus- 
 trade at the farthest end, and did not move 
 when the slave and Faustina came. 
 
 Faustina whispered to the slave, who walked 
 before her: " But, Milo, how can such a creature 
 be found here on the Emperor's private terrace? 
 Make haste, and take him away! " 
 
 But she had scarcely said this when she saw 
 the slave bow to the ground before the miserable 
 creature who lay there. 
 
 " Caesar Tiberius," said he, " at last I have 
 glad tidings to bring thee." 
 
 At the same time the slave turned toward 
 Faustina, but he shrank back, aghast ! and could 
 not speak another word. 
 
 He did not behold the proud matron who had 
 looked so strong that one might have expected 
 that she would live to the age of a sibyl. In 
 this moment, she had drooped into impotent 
 age, and the slave saw before him a bent old 
 woman with misty eyes and fumbling hands. 
 
 Faustina had certainly heard that the Em- 
 peror was terribly changed, yet never for a
 
 142 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 moment had she ceased to think of him as 
 the strong man he was when she last saw him. 
 She had also heard some one say that this 
 illness progressed slowly, and that it took years 
 to transform a human being. But here it had 
 advanced with such virulence that it had made 
 the Emperor unrecognizable in just two months. 
 
 She tottered up to the Emperor. She could 
 not speak, but stood silent beside him, and 
 wept. 
 
 "Are you come now, Faustina?" he said, 
 without opening his eyes. " I lay and fancied 
 that you stood here and wept over me. I dare 
 not look up for fear I will find that it was only 
 an illusion." 
 
 Then the old woman sat down beside him. 
 She raised his head and placed it on her 
 knee. 
 
 But Tiberius lay still, without looking at her. 
 A sense of sweet repose enfolded him, and the 
 next moment he sank into a peaceful slumber. 
 
 A few weeks later, one of the Emperor's 
 slaves came to the lonely hut in the Sabine moun- 
 tains. It drew on toward evening, and the vine- 
 dresser and his wife stood in the doorway and 
 saw the sun set in the distant west. The slave
 
 SAINT VERONICA'S KERCHIEF 143 
 
 turned out of the path, and came up and greeted 
 them. Thereupon he took a heavy purse, which 
 he carried in his girdle, and laid it in the hus- 
 band's hand. 
 
 ' This, Faustina, the old woman to whom 
 you have shown compassion, sends you," said 
 the slave. " She begs that with this money 
 you will purchase a vineyard of your own, and 
 build you a house that does not lie as high in 
 the air as the eagles' nests." 
 
 "Old Faustina still lives, then?" said the 
 husband. '' We have searched for her in cleft 
 and morass. When she did not come back 
 to us, I thought that she had met her death in 
 these wretched mountains." 
 
 " Don't you remember," the wife interposed, 
 "that I would not believe that she was dead? 
 Did I not say to you that she had gone back 
 to the Emperor? " 
 
 This the husband admitted. " And I am 
 glad," he added, " that you were right, not 
 only because Faustina has become rich enough 
 to help us out of our poverty, but also on 
 the poor Emperor's account." 
 
 The slave wanted to say farewell at once, in 
 
 order to reach densely settled quarters before 
 
 dark, but this the couple would not permit. 
 
 ' You must stop with us until morning," said 
 
 they. " We can not let you go before you
 
 144 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 have told us all that has happened to Faustina. 
 Why has she returned to the Emperor? What 
 was their meeting like? Are they glad to be 
 together again? " 
 
 The slave yielded to these solicitations. He 
 followed them into the hut, and during the 
 evening meal he told them all about the Em- 
 peror's illness and Faustina's return. 
 
 When the slave had finished his narrative, 
 he saw that both the man and the woman sat 
 motionless dumb with amazement. Their gaze 
 was fixed on the ground, as though not to be- 
 tray the emotion which affected them. 
 
 Finally the man looked up and said to his 
 wife: "Don't you believe God has decreed 
 this?" 
 
 " Yes," said the wife, " surely it was for this 
 that our Lord sent us across the sea to this lonely 
 hut. Surely this was His purpose when He 
 sent the old woman to our door." 
 
 As soon as the wife had spoken these words, 
 the vine-dresser turned again to the slave. 
 
 " Friend! " he said to him, " you shall carry 
 a message from me to Faustina. Tell her this 
 word for word ! Thus your friend the vineyard 
 laborer from the Sabine mountains greets you. 
 You have seen the young woman, my wife. Did 
 she not appear fair to you, and blooming with 
 health? And yet this young woman once suf-
 
 SAINT VERONICA S KERCHIEF 145 
 
 fered from the same disease which now has 
 stricken Tiberius." 
 
 The slave made a gesture of surprise, but the 
 vine-dresser continued with greater emphasis on 
 his words. 
 
 " If Faustina refuses to believe my word, tell 
 her that my wife and I came from Palestine, 
 in Asia, a land where this disease is common. 
 There the law is such that the lepers are driven 
 from the cities and towns, and must live in tombs 
 and mountain grottoes. Tell Faustina that my 
 wife was born of diseased parents in a mountain 
 grotto. As long as she was a child she was 
 healthy, but when she grew up into young 
 maidenhood she was stricken with the disease." 
 
 The slave bowed, smiled pleasantly, and said: 
 " How can you expect that Faustina will be- 
 lieve this? She has seen your wife in her beauty 
 and health. And she must know that there is 
 no remedy for this illness." 
 
 The man replied : " It were best for her that 
 she believed me. But I am not without wit- 
 nesses. She can send inquiries over to Nazareth, 
 in Galilee. There every one will confirm my 
 statement." 
 
 " Is it perchance through a miracle of some 
 god that your wife has been cured? " asked the 
 slave. 
 
 " Yes, it is as you say," answered the laborer.
 
 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 " One day a rumor reached the sick who lived 
 in the wilderness : ' Behold, a great Prophet has 
 arisen in Nazareth of Galilee. He is filled with 
 the power of God's spirit, and he can cure your 
 illness just by laying his hand upon your fore- 
 head! ' But the sick, who lay in their misery, 
 would not believe that this rumor was the truth. 
 ' No one can heal us,' they said. ' Since the 
 days of the great prophets no one has been able 
 to save one of us from this misfortune.' 
 
 " But there was one amongst them who be- 
 lieved, and that was a young maiden. She left 
 the others to seek her way to the city of Naz- 
 areth, where the Prophet lived. One day, when 
 she wandered over wide plains, she met a man 
 tall of stature, with a pale face and hair which 
 lay in even, black curls. His dark eyes shone 
 like stars and drew her toward him. But be- 
 fore they met, she called out to him : ' Come 
 not near me, for I am unclean, but tell me where 
 I can find the Prophet from Nazareth ! ' But 
 the man continued to walk towards her, and 
 when he stood directly in front of her, he said: 
 ' Why seekest thou the Prophet of Nazareth? ' 
 ' I seek him that he may lay his hand on my 
 forehead and heal me of my illness.' Then 
 the man went up and laid his hand upon her 
 brow. But she said to him : ' What doth it avail 
 me that you lay your hand upon my forehead?
 
 SAINT VERONICA S KERCHIEF 147 
 
 You surely are no prophet?' Then he smiled 
 on her and said : ' Go now into the city which 
 lies yonder at the foot of the mountain, and 
 show thyself before the priests ! ' 
 
 "The sick maiden thought to herself: 'He 
 mocks me because I believe I can be healed. 
 From him I can not learn what I would know.' 
 And she went farther. Soon thereafter she saw 
 a man, who was going out to hunt, riding across 
 the wide field. When he came so near that 
 he could hear her, she called to him : ' Come 
 not close to me, I am unclean ! But tell me 
 where I can find the Prophet of Nazareth ! ' 
 ' What do you want of the Prophet? ' asked the 
 man, riding slowly toward her. ' I wish only 
 that he might lay his hand on my forehead and 
 heal me of my illness.' The man rode still 
 nearer. ' Of what illness do you wish to be 
 healed?' said he. 'Surely you need no phy- 
 sician!' 'Can't you see that I am a leper?' 
 said she. ' I was born of diseased parents in a 
 mountain grotto.' But the man continued to 
 approach, for she was beautiful and fair, like 
 a new-blown rose. ' You are the most beauti- 
 ful maiden in Judea ! ' he exclaimed. ' Ah, 
 taunt me not you, too ! ' said she. ' I know 
 that my features are destroyed, and that my 
 voice is like a wild beast's growl.' 
 
 " He looked deep into her eyes and said to
 
 148 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 her : ' Your voice is as resonant as the spring 
 brook's when it ripples over pebbles, and your 
 face is as smooth as a coverlet of soft satin.' 
 
 ' That moment he rode so close to her that 
 she could see her face in the shining mountings 
 which decorated his saddle. ' You shall look 
 at yourself here,' said he. She did so, and saw 
 a face smooth and soft as a newly-formed but- 
 terfly wing. ' What is this that I see? ' she said. 
 ' This is not my face ! ' ' Yes, it is your face,' 
 said the rider. ' But my voice, is it not rough? 
 Does it not sound as when wagons are drawn 
 over a stony road?' 'No! It sounds like a 
 zither player's sweetest songs,' said the rider. 
 
 " She turned and pointed toward the road. 
 ' Do you know who that man is just disappear- 
 ing behind the two oaks? ' she asked. 
 
 ' It is he whom you lately asked after; it is 
 the Prophet from Nazareth,' said the man. 
 Then she clasped her hands in astonishment, 
 and tears filled her eyes. ' Oh, thou Holy One ! 
 Oh, thou Messenger of God's power! ' she 
 cried. ' Thou hast healed me ! ' 
 
 " Then the rider lifted her into the saddle 
 and bore her to the city at the foot of the 
 mountain and went with her to the priests and 
 eldars, and told them how he had found her. 
 They questioned her carefully; but when they 
 heard that the maiden was born in the wilder-
 
 149 
 
 ness of diseased parents, they would not believe 
 that she was healed. * Go back thither whence 
 you came ! ' said they. ' If you have been ill, 
 you must remain so as long as you live. You 
 must not come here to the city, to infect the 
 rest of us with your disease.' 
 
 " She said to them : ' I know that I am well, 
 for the Prophet from Nazareth hath laid his 
 hand upon my forehead.' 
 
 ; ' When they heard this they exclaimed: 
 ' Who is he, that he should be able to make 
 clean the unclean? All this is but a delusion 
 of the evil spirits. Go back to your own, that 
 you may not bring destruction upon all of us ! ' 
 
 ' They would not declare her healed, and 
 they forbade her to remain in the city. They 
 decreed that each and every one who gave her 
 shelter should also be adjudged unclean. 
 
 ; ' When the priests had pronounced this judg- 
 ment, the young maiden turned to the man who 
 had found her -in the field: 'Whither shall I 
 go now? Must I go back again to the lepers 
 in the wilderness? ' 
 
 " But the man lifted her once more upon his 
 horse, and said to her: 'No, under no condi- 
 tions shall you go out to the lepers in their 
 mountain caves, but we two shall travel across 
 the sea to another land, where there are no 
 laws for clean and unclean.' And they
 
 150 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 But when the vineyard laborer had got thus 
 far in his narrative, the slave arose and inter- 
 rupted him. "You need not tell any more," 
 said he. " Stand up rather and follow me on 
 the way, you who know the mountains, so that 
 I can begin my home journey to-night, and not 
 wait until morning. The Emperor and Faustina 
 can not hear your tidings a moment too soon." 
 
 When the vine-dresser had accompanied the 
 slave, and come home again to the hut, he found 
 his wife still awake. 
 
 " I can not sleep," said she. " I am think- 
 ing that these two will meet: he who loves all 
 mankind, and he who hates them. Such a 
 meeting would be enough to sweep the earth out 
 of existence ! " 
 
 VI 
 
 Old Faustina was in distant Palestine, on her 
 way to Jerusalem. She had not desired that 
 the mission to seek the Prophet and bring him 
 to the Emperor should be intrusted to any one 
 but herself. She said to herself: " That which 
 we demand of this stranger, is something which 
 we can not coax from him either by force 
 or bribes. But perhaps he will grant it us if 
 some one falls at his feet and tells him in 
 what dire need the Emperor is. Who can make 
 an honest plea for Tiberius, but the one who
 
 SAINT VERONICA'S KERCHIEF 15 l 
 
 suffers from his misfortune as much as he 
 does?" 
 
 The hope of possibly saving Tiberius had 
 renewed the old woman's youth. She with- 
 stood without difficulty the long sea trip to 
 Joppa, and on the journey to Jerusalem she 
 made no use of a litter, but rode a horse. She 
 appeared to stand the difficult ride as easily 
 as the Roman nobles, the soldiers, and the slaves 
 who made up her retinue. 
 
 The journey from Joppa to Jerusalem filled 
 the old woman's heart with joy and bright 
 hopes. It was springtime, and Sharon's plain, 
 over which they had ridden during the first 
 day's travel, had been a brilliant carpet of 
 flowers. Even during the second day's journey, 
 when they came to the hills of Judea, they were 
 not abandoned by the flowers. All the multi- 
 formed hills between which the road wound 
 were planted with fruit trees, which stood in full 
 bloom. And when the travelers wearied of 
 looking at the white and red blossoms of the 
 apricots and persimmons, they could rest their 
 eyes by observing the young vine-leaves, which 
 pushed their way through the dark brown 
 branches, and their growth was so rapid that 
 one could almost follow it with the eye. 
 
 It was not only flowers and spring green that 
 made the journey pleasant, but the pleasure was
 
 152 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 enhanced by watching the throngs of people 
 who were on their way to Jerusalem this morn- 
 ing. From all the roads and by-paths, from 
 lonely heights, and from the most remote cor- 
 ners of the plain came travelers. When they 
 had reached the road to Jerusalem, those who 
 traveled alone formed themselves into com- 
 panies and marched forward with glad shouts. 
 Round an elderly man, who rode on a jogging 
 camel, walked his sons and daughters, his sons- 
 in-law and daughters-in-law, and all his grand- 
 children. It was such a large family that it 
 made up an entire little village. An old grand- 
 mother who was too feeble to walk her sons 
 had taken in their arms, and with pride she 
 let herself be borne among the crowds, who 
 respectfully stepped aside. 
 
 In truth, it was a morning to inspire joy even 
 in the most disconsolate. To be sure the sky 
 was not clear, but was o'ercast with a thin 
 grayish-white mist, but none of the wayfarers 
 thought of grumbling because the sun's piercing 
 brilliancy was dampened. Under this veiled sky 
 the perfume of the budding leaves and blossoms 
 did not penetrate the air as usual, but lingered 
 over roads and fields. And this beautiful day, 
 with its faint mist and hushed winds, which 
 reminded one of Night's rest and calm, seemed 
 to communicate to the hastening crowds some-
 
 SAINT VERONICA'S KERCHIEF 153 
 
 what of itself, so that they went forward happy 
 yet with solemnity singing in subdued voices 
 ancient hymns, or playing upon peculiar old- 
 fashioned instruments, from which came tones 
 like the buzzing of gnats, or grasshoppers' 
 piping. 
 
 When old Faustina rode forward among all 
 the people, she became infected with their joy 
 and excitement. She prodded her horse to 
 quicker speed, as she said to a young Roman 
 who rode beside her: " I dreamt last night that 
 I saw Tiberius, and he implored me not to 
 postpone the journey, but to ride to Jerusalem 
 to-day. It appears as if the gods had wished to 
 send me a warning not to neglect to go there 
 this beautiful morning." 
 
 Just as she said this, s<he came to the top 
 of a long mountain ridge, and there she was 
 obliged to halt. Before her lay a large, deep 
 valley-basin, surrounded by pretty hills, and 
 from the dark, shadowy depths of the vale rose 
 the massive mountain which held on its head 
 the city of Jerusalem. 
 
 But the narrow mountain city, with its walls 
 and towers, which lay like a jeweled coronet 
 upon the cliff's smooth height, was this day mag- 
 nified a thousand-fold. All the hills which 
 encircled the valley were bedecked with gay 
 tents, and with a swarm of human beings.
 
 154 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 It was evident to Faustina that all the in- 
 habitants were on their way to Jerusalem to 
 celebrate some great holiday. Those from a 
 distance had already come, and had managed 
 to put their tents in order. On the other hand, 
 those who lived near the city were still on 
 their way. Along all the shining rock-heights 
 one saw them come streaming in like an un- 
 broken sea of white robes, of songs, of holiday 
 cheer. 
 
 For some time the old woman surveyed these 
 seething throngs of people and the long rows 
 of tent-poles. Thereupon she said to the young 
 Roman who rode beside her: 
 
 " Verily, Sulpicius, the whole nation must 
 have come to Jerusalem." 
 
 " It really appears like it," replied the 
 Roman, who had been chosen by Tiberius to 
 accompany Faustina because he had, during a 
 number of years, lived in Judea. ' They cele- 
 brate now the great Spring Festival, and at this 
 time all the people, both old and young, come 
 to Jerusalem." 
 
 Faustina reflected a moment. " I am glad 
 that we came to this city on the day that the 
 people celebrate their festival," said she. " It 
 can not signify anything else than that the gods 
 protect our journey. Do you think it likely 
 that he whom we seek, the Prophet of Nazareth,
 
 SAINT VERONICA'S KERCHIEF 155 
 
 has also come to Jerusalem to participate in the 
 festivities? " 
 
 " You are surely right, Faustina," said the 
 Roman. " He must be here in Jerusalem. This 
 is indeed a decree of the gods. Strong and vig- 
 orous though you be, you may consider your- 
 self fortunate if you escape making the long 
 and troublesome journey up to Galilee." 
 
 At once he rode over to a couple of way- 
 farers and asked them if they thought the 
 Prophet of Nazareth was in Jerusalem. 
 
 " We have seen him here every day at this 
 season," answered one. " Surely he must be 
 here even this year, for he is a holy and right- 
 eous man." 
 
 A woman stretched forth her hand and 
 pointed towards a hill, which lay east of the 
 city. " Do you see the foot of that moun- 
 tain, which is covered with olive trees? " she 
 said. " It is there that the Galileans usually 
 raise their tents, and there you will get the 
 most reliable information about him whom you 
 seek." 
 
 They journeyed farther, and traveled on a 
 winding path all the way down to the bottom 
 of the valley, and then they began to ride 
 up toward Zion's hill, to reach the city on 
 its heights. The woman who had spoken went 
 along the same way.
 
 156 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 The steep ascending road was encompassed 
 here by low walls, and upon these countless 
 beggars and cripples sat or lolled. " Look," 
 said the woman who had spoken, pointing to 
 one of the beggars who sat on the wall, " there 
 is a Galilean ! I recollect that I have seen him 
 among the Prophet's disciples. He can tell you 
 where you will find him you seek." 
 
 Faustina and Sulpicius rode up to the man 
 who had been pointed out to her. He was a 
 poor old man with a heavy iron-gray beard. 
 His face was bronzed by heat and sunshine. He 
 asked no alms; on the contrary, he was so 
 engrossed in anxious thought that he did not 
 even glance at the passers-by. 
 
 Nor did he hear that Sulpicius addressed him, 
 and the latter had to repeat his question several 
 times. 
 
 " My friend, I've been told that you are a 
 Galilean. I beg you, therefore, to tell me where 
 I shall find the Prophet from Nazareth! " 
 
 The Galilean gave a sudden start and looked 
 around him, confused. But when he finally com- 
 prehended what was wanted of him, he was 
 seized with rage mixed with terror. " What are 
 you talking about?" he burst out. "Why do 
 you ask me about that man? I know nothing 
 of him. I'm not a Galilean." 
 
 The Hebrew woman now joined in the con-
 
 SAINT VERONICA'S KERCHIEF 157 
 
 versation. " Still I have seen you in his com- 
 pany," she protested. " Do not fear, but tell 
 this noble Roman lady, who is the Emperor's 
 friend, where she is most likely to find him." 
 
 But the terrified disciple grew more and more 
 irascible. " Have all the people gone mad to- 
 day? " said he. "Are they possessed by an 
 evil spirit, since they come again and again 
 and ask me about that man? Why will no one 
 believe me when I say that I do not know the 
 Prophet? I do not come from his country. I 
 have never seen him." 
 
 His irritability attracted attention, and a 
 couple of beggars who sat on the wall beside 
 him also began to dispute his word. 
 
 " Certainly you were among his disciples," 
 said one. ;i We all know that you came with 
 him from Galilee." 
 
 Then the man raised his arms toward heaven 
 and cried: " I could not endure it in Jerusalem 
 to-day on that man's account, and now they will 
 not even leave me in peace out here among 
 the beggars! Why don't you believe me when 
 I say to you that I have never seen him? " 
 
 Faustina turned away with a shrug. " Let 
 us go farther! " said she. " The man is mad. 
 From him we will learn nothing." 
 
 They went farther up the mountain. Faus- 
 tina was not more than two steps from the
 
 158 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 city gate, when the Hebrew woman who had 
 wished to help her find the Prophet called to 
 her to be careful. She pulled in her reins and 
 saw that a man lay in the road, just in front 
 of the horse's feet, where the crush was 
 greatest. It was a miracle that he had not 
 already been trampled to death by animals or 
 people. 
 
 The man lay upon his back and stared up- 
 ward with lusterless eyes. He did not move, 
 although the camels placed their heavy feet 
 close beside him. He was poorly clad, and 
 besides he was covered with dust and dirt. In 
 fact, he had thrown so much gravel over him- 
 self that it looked as if he tried to hide himself, 
 to be more easily over-ridden and trampled 
 down. 
 
 " What does this mean? Why does this man 
 lie here on the road? " asked Faustina. 
 
 Instantly the man began shouting to the 
 passers-by : 
 
 " In mercy, brothers and sisters, drive your 
 horses and camels over me ! Do not turn aside 
 for me ! Trample me to dust ! I have betrayed 
 innocent blood. Trample me to dust! " 
 
 Sulpicius caught Faustina's horse by the 
 bridle and turned it to one side. " It is a sin- 
 ner who wants to do penance," said he. " Do 
 not let this delay your journey. These people
 
 SAINT VERONICA'S KERCHIEF 159 
 
 are peculiar and one must let them follow their 
 own bent." 
 
 The man in the road continued to shout : " Set 
 your heels on my heart! Let the camels crush 
 my breast and the asses dig their hoofs into 
 my eyes! " 
 
 But Faustina seemed loath to ride past the 
 miserable man without trying to make him rise. 
 She remained all the while beside him. 
 
 The Hebrew woman who had wished to serve 
 her once before, pushed her way forward again. 
 ' This man also belonged to the Prophet's dis- 
 ciples," said she. " Do you wish me to ask him 
 about his Master? " 
 
 Faustina nodded affirmatively, and the woman 
 bent down over the man. 
 
 ' What have you Galileans done this day 
 with your Master? " she asked. " I meet you 
 scattered on highways and byways, but him I 
 see nowhere." 
 
 But when she questioned in this manner, the 
 man who lay in the dust rose to his knees. 
 ' What evil spirit hath possessed you to ask me 
 about him? " he said, in a voice that was filled 
 with despair. " You see, surely, that I have lain 
 down in the road to be trampled to death. Is 
 not that enough for you? Shall you come also 
 and ask me what I have done with him? " 
 
 When she repeated the question, the man
 
 160 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 staggered to his feet and put both hands to 
 his ears. 
 
 '' Woe unto you, that you can not let me die 
 in peace!" he cried. He forced his way 
 through the crowds that thronged in front of 
 the gate, and rushed away shrieking with terror, 
 while his torn robe fluttered around him like 
 dark wings. 
 
 " It appears to me as though we had come 
 to a nation of madmen," said Faustina, when she 
 saw the man flee. She had become depressed by 
 seeing these disciples of the Prophet. Could 
 the man who numbered such fools among his 
 followers do anything for the Emperor? 
 
 Even the Hebrew woman looked distressed, 
 and she said very earnestly to Faustina : " Mis- 
 tress, delay not in your search for him whom 
 you would find ! I fear some evil has befallen 
 him, since his disciples are beside themselves 
 and can not bear to hear him spoken of." 
 
 Faustina and her retinue finally rode through 
 the gate archway and came in on the narrow 
 and dark streets, which were alive with people. 
 It seemed well-nigh impossible to get through 
 the city. The riders time and again had to stand 
 still. Slaves and soldiers tried in vain to clear 
 the way. The people continued to rush on in 
 a compact, irresistible stream. 
 
 " Verily," said the old woman, " the streets
 
 SAINT VERONICA'S KERCHIEF 161 
 
 of Rome are peaceful pleasure gardens com- 
 pared with these ! " 
 
 Sulpicius soon saw that almost insurmounta- 
 ble difficulties awaited them. 
 
 " On these overcrowded streets it is easier to 
 walk than to ride," said he. " If you are not 
 too fatigued, I should advise you to walk to 
 the Governor's palace. It is a good distance 
 away, but if we ride we certainly will not get 
 there until after midnight." 
 
 Faustina accepted the suggestion at once. She 
 dismounted, and left her horse with one of the 
 slaves. Thereupon the Roman travelers began 
 to walk through the city. 
 
 This was much better. They pushed their 
 way quickly toward the heart of the city, and 
 Sulpicius showed Faustina a rather wide street, 
 which they were nearing. 
 
 " Look, Faustina," he said, " if we take this 
 street, we will soon be there. It leads directly 
 down to our quarters." 
 
 But just as they were about to turn into 
 the street, the worst obstacle met them. 
 
 It happened that the very moment when 
 Faustina reached the street which extended from 
 the Governor's palace to Righteousness' Gate 
 and Golgotha, they brought through it a pris- 
 oner, who was to be taken out and crucified. 
 Before him ran a crowd of wild youths who
 
 162 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 wanted to witness the execution. They raced 
 up the street, waved their arms in rapture to- 
 wards the hill, and emitted unintelligible howls 
 in their delight at being allowed to view some- 
 thing which they did not see every day. 
 
 Behind them came companies of men in silken 
 robes, who appeared to belong to the city's 
 elite and foremost. Then came women, many 
 of whom had tear-stained faces. A gathering 
 of poor and maimed staggered forward, utter- 
 ing shrieks that pierced the ears. 
 
 " O God ! " they cried, " save him ! Send 
 Thine angel and save him! Send a deliverer 
 in his direst need! " 
 
 Finally there came a few Roman soldiers on 
 great horses. They kept guard so that none 
 of the people could dash up to the prisoner 
 and try to rescue him. 
 
 Directly behind them followed the execu- 
 tioners, whose task it was to lead forward the 
 man that was to be crucified. They had laid 
 a heavy wooden cross over his shoulder, but 
 he was too weak for this burden. It weighed 
 him down so that his body was almost bent 
 to the ground. He held his head down so far 
 that no one could see his face. 
 
 Faustina stood at the opening of the little by- 
 street and saw the doomed man's heavy tread. 
 She noticed, with surprise, that he wore a pur-
 
 SAINT VERONICA'S KERCHIEF 163 
 
 pie mantle, and that a crown of thorns was 
 pressed down upon his head. 
 
 " Who is this man? " she asked. 
 
 One of the bystanders answered her: "It 
 is one who wished to make himself Emperor." 
 
 " And must he suffer death for a thing which 
 is scarcely worth striving after?" said the old 
 woman sadly. 
 
 The doomed man staggered under the cross. 
 He dragged himself forward more and more 
 slowly. The executioners had tied a rope 
 around his waist, and they began to pull on 
 it to hasten the speed. But as they pulled the 
 rope the man fell, and lay there with the cross 
 over him. 
 
 There was a terrible uproar. The Roman 
 soldiers had all they could do to hold the crowds 
 back. They drew their swords on a couple of 
 women who tried to rush forward to help the 
 fallen man. The executioners attempted to 
 force him up with cuffs and lashes, but he could 
 not move because of the cross. Finally two of 
 them took hold of the cross to remove it. 
 
 Then he raised his head, and old Faustina 
 could see his face. The cheeks were streaked 
 by lashes from a whip, and from his brow, which 
 was wounded by the thorn-crown, trickled some 
 drops of blood. His hair hung in knotted 
 tangles, clotted with sweat and blood. His jaw
 
 164 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 was firm set, but his lips trembled, as if they 
 struggled to suppress a cry. His eyes, tear- 
 filled and almost blinded from torture and 
 fatigue, stared straight ahead. 
 
 But back of this half-dead person's face, the 
 oldwoman saw as in a vision a pale and beau- 
 tiful One with glorious, majestic eyes and gentle 
 features, and she was seized with sudden grief 
 touched by the unknown man's misfortune 
 and degradation. 
 
 " Oh, what have they done with you, you 
 poor soul ! " she burst out, and moved a step 
 nearer him, while her eyes filled with tears. 
 She forgot her own sorrow and anxiety for this 
 tortured man's distress. She thought her heart 
 would burst from pity. She, like the other 
 women, wanted to rush forward and tear him 
 away from the executioners ! 
 
 The fallen man saw how she came toward 
 him, and he crept closer to her. It was as 
 though he had expected to find protection with 
 her against all those who persecuted and tor- 
 tured him. He embraced her knees. He 
 pressed himself against her, like a child who 
 clings close to his mother for safety. 
 
 The old woman bent over him, and as the 
 tears streamed down her cheeks, she felt the 
 most blissful joy because he had come and 
 sought protection with her. She placed one arm
 
 SAINT VERONICA'S KERCHIEF 165 
 
 around his neck, and as a mother first of all 
 wipes away the tears from her child's eyes, she 
 laid her kerchief of sheer fine linen over his face, 
 to wipe away the tears and the blood. 
 
 But now the executioners were ready with the 
 cross. They came now and snatched away the 
 prisoner. Impatient over the delay, they 
 dragged him off in wild haste. The condemned 
 man uttered a groan when he was led away 
 from the refuge he had found, but he made no 
 resistance. 
 
 Faustina embraced him to hold him back, 
 and when her feeble old hands were powerless 
 and she saw him borne away, she felt as if 
 some one had torn from her her own child, 
 and she cried: "No, no! Do not take him 
 from me ! He must not die ! He shall not 
 die!" 
 
 She felt the most intense grief and indigna- 
 tion because he was being led away. She wanted 
 to rush after him. She wanted to fight with 
 the executioners and tear him from them. 
 
 But with the first step she took, she was 
 seized with weakness and dizziness. Sulpicius 
 made haste to place his arm around her, to 
 prevent her from falling. 
 
 On one side of the street he saw a little shop, 
 and carried her in. There was neither bench 
 nor chair inside, but the shopkeeper was a
 
 166 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 kindly man. He helped her over to a rug, and 
 arranged a bed for her on the stone floor. 
 
 She was not unconscious, but such a great 
 dizziness had seized her that she could not sit 
 up, but was forced to lie down. 
 
 " She has made a long journey to-day, and 
 the noise and crush in the city have been too 
 much for her," said Sulpicius to the merchant. 
 " She is very old, and no one is so strong as 
 not to be conquered by age." 
 
 " This is a trying day, even for one who is 
 not old," said the merchant. " The air is almost 
 too heavy to breathe. It would not surprise me 
 if a severe storm were in store for us." 
 
 Sulpicius bent over the old woman. She had 
 fallen asleep, and she slept with calm, regular 
 respirations after all the excitement and fatigue. 
 
 He walked over to the shop door, stood there, 
 and looked at the crowds while he awaited her 
 waking. 
 
 VII 
 
 The Roman governor at Jerusalem had a 
 young wife, and she had had a dream during 
 the night preceding the day when Faustina en- 
 tered the city. 
 
 She dreamed that she stood on the roof of 
 her house and looked down upon the beautiful 
 court, which, according to the Oriental custom,
 
 SAINT VERONICA'S KERCHIEF 167 
 
 was paved with marble, and planted with rare 
 growths. 
 
 But in the court she saw assembled all the 
 sick and blind and halt there were in the world. 
 She saw before her the pest-ridden, with bodies 
 swollen with boils; lepers with disfigured faces; 
 the paralytics, who could not move, but lay 
 helpless upon the ground, and all the wretched 
 creatures who writhed in torment and pain. 
 
 They all crowded up towards the entrance, 
 to get into the house; and a number of those 
 who walked foremost pounded on the palace 
 door. 
 
 At last she saw that a slave opened the door 
 and came out on the threshold, and she heard 
 him ask what they wanted. 
 
 Then they answered him, saying: "We seek 
 the great Prophet whom God hath sent to the 
 world. Where is the Prophet of Nazareth, 
 he who is master of all suffering? Where is he 
 who can deliver us from all our torment? " 
 
 Then the slave answered them in an arrogant 
 and indifferent tone as palace servants do when 
 they turn away the poor stranger: 
 
 " It will profit you nothing to seek the great 
 Prophet. Pilate has killed him." 
 
 Then there arose among all the sick a grief 
 and a moaning and a gnashing of teeth which 
 she could not bear to hear. Her heart was
 
 1 68 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 wrung with compassion, and tears streamed 
 from her eyes. But when she had begun to 
 weep, she awakened. 
 
 Again she fell asleep; and again she dreamed 
 that she stood on the roof of her house and 
 looked down upon the big court, which was as 
 broad as a square. 
 
 And behold ! the court was filled with all the 
 insane and soul-sick and those possessed of evil 
 spirits. And she saw those who were naked 
 and those who were covered with their long 
 hair, and those who had braided themselves 
 crowns of straw and mantles of grass and be- 
 lieved they were kings, and those who crawled 
 on the ground and thought themselves beasts, 
 and those who came dragging heavy stones, 
 which they believed to be gold, and those who 
 thought that the evil spirits spoke through their 
 mouths. 
 
 She saw all these crowd up toward the palace 
 gate. And the ones who stood nearest to it 
 knocked and pounded to get in. 
 
 At last the door opened, and a slave stepped 
 out on the threshold and asked: "What do 
 you want? " 
 
 Then all began to cry aloud, saying: " Where 
 is the great Prophet of Nazareth, he who was 
 sent of God, and who shall restore to us our 
 souls and our wits? "
 
 SAINT VERONICA'S KERCHIEF 169 
 
 She heard the slave answer them in the most 
 indifferent tone : " It is useless for you to seek 
 the great Prophet, Pilate has killed him." 
 
 When this was said, they uttered a shriek as 
 wild as a beast's howl, and in their despair they 
 began to lacerate themselves until the blood ran 
 down on the stones. And when she that dreamed 
 saw their distress, she wrung her hands and 
 moaned. And her own moans awakened 
 her. 
 
 But again she fell asleep, and again, in her 
 dream, she was on the roof of her house. 
 Round about her sat her slaves, who played 
 for her upon cymbals and zithers, and the al- 
 mond trees shook their white blossoms over 
 her, and clambering rose-vines exhaled their 
 perfume. 
 
 As she sat there, a voice spoke to her: " Go 
 over to the balustrade which incloses the roof, 
 and see who they are that stand and wait in 
 your court ! " 
 
 But in the dream she declined, and said: " I 
 do not care to see any more of those who throng 
 my court to-night." 
 
 Just then she heard a clanking of chains and 
 a pounding of heavy hammers, and the pound- 
 ing of wood against wood. Her slaves ceased 
 their singing and playing and hurried over to 
 the railing and looked down. Nor could she
 
 170 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 herself remain seated, but walked thither and 
 looked down on the court. 
 
 Then she saw that the court was filled with 
 all the poor prisoners in the world. She saw 
 those who must lie in dark prison dungeons, 
 fettered with heavy chains; she saw those who 
 labored in the dark mines come dragging their 
 heavy planks, and those who were rowers on 
 war galleys come with their heavy iron-bound 
 oars. And those who were condemned to be 
 crucified came dragging their crosses, and those 
 who were to be beheaded came with their broad- 
 axes. She saw those who were sent into slavery 
 to foreign lands and whose eyes burned with 
 homesickness. She saw those who must serve 
 as beasts of burden, and whose backs were bleed- 
 ing from lashes. 
 
 All these unfortunates cried as with one voice : 
 " Open, open ! " 
 
 Then the slave who guarded the entrance 
 stepped to the door and asked: "What is it 
 that you wish? " 
 
 And these answered like the others: "We 
 seek the great Prophet of Nazareth, who has 
 come to the world to give the prisoners their 
 freedom and the slaves their lost happiness." 
 
 The slave answered them in a tired and in- 
 different tone : " You can not find him here. 
 Pilate has killed him."
 
 SAINT VERONICA'S KERCHIEF 171 
 
 When this was said, she who dreamed 
 thought that among all the unhappy there arose 
 such an outburst of scorn and blasphemy that 
 heaven and earth trembled. She was ice-cold 
 with fright, and her body shook so that she 
 awaked. 
 
 When she was thoroughly awake, she sat 
 up in bed and thought to herself: " I would not 
 dream more. Now I want to remain awake 
 all night, that I may escape seeing more of this 
 horror." 
 
 But almost the very moment she thought this, 
 sleep had overtaken her anew, and she had 
 laid her head on the pillow and fallen asleep. 
 
 Again she dreamed that she sat on the roof 
 of her house, and her little son ran back and 
 forth up there, and played with a ball. 
 
 Then she heard a voice that said to her: 
 " Go over to the balustrade, which incloses 
 the roof, and see who they are that stand and 
 wait in your court ! " But she who dreamed 
 said to herself: " I have seen enough misery this 
 night. I can not endure any more. I would 
 remain where I am." 
 
 At that moment her son threw his ball so 
 that it dropped outside the balustrade, and the 
 child ran forward and clambered up on the rail- 
 ing. Then she was frightened. She rushed 
 over and seized hold of the child.
 
 I7 2 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 But with that she happened to cast her eyes 
 downward, and once more she saw that the 
 court was full of people. 
 
 In the court were all the peoples of earth who 
 had been wounded in battle. They came with 
 severed bodies, with cut-off limbs, and with big 
 open wounds from which the blood oozed, so 
 that the whole court was drenched with it. 
 
 And beside these, came all the people in the 
 world who had lost their loved ones on the 
 battlefield. They were the fatherless who 
 mourned their protectors, and the young maidens 
 who cried for their lovers, and the aged who 
 sighed for their sons. 
 
 The foremost among them pushed against 
 the door, and the watchman came out as before, 
 and opened it. 
 
 He asked all these, who had been wounded in 
 battles and skirmishes: "What seek ye in this 
 house? " 
 
 And they answered: "We seek the great 
 Prophet of Nazareth, who shall prohibit wars 
 and rumors of wars and bring peace to the 
 earth. We seek him who shall convert spears 
 into scythes and swords into pruning hooks." 
 
 Then answered the slave somewhat impa- 
 tiently : " Let no more come to pester me ! I 
 have already said it often enough. The great 
 Prophet is not here. Pilate has killed him."
 
 SAINT VERONICA'S KERCHIEF 173 
 
 Thereupon he closed the gate. But she who 
 dreamed thought of all the lamentation which 
 would come now. " I do not wish to hear it," 
 said she, and rushed away from the balustrade. 
 That instant she awoke. Then she discovered 
 that in her terror she had jumped out of her 
 bed and down on the cold stone floor. 
 
 Again she thought she did not want to sleep 
 more that night, and again sleep overpowered 
 her, and she closed her eyes and began to dream. 
 
 She sat once more on the roof of her house, 
 and beside her stood her husband. She told 
 him of her dreams, and he ridiculed her. 
 
 Again she heard a voice, which said to her: 
 " Go see the people who wait in your court! " 
 
 But she thought: " I would not see them. I 
 have seen enough misery to-night." 
 
 Just then she heard three loud raps on the 
 gate, and her husband walked over to the balus- 
 trade to see who it was that asked admittance 
 to his house. 
 
 But no sooner had he leaned over the railing, 
 than he beckoned to his wife to come over to 
 him. 
 
 "Know you not this man?" said he, and 
 pointed down. 
 
 When she looked down on the court, she 
 found that it was filled with horses and riders, 
 slaves were busy unloading asses and camels.
 
 174 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 It looked as though a distinguished traveler 
 might have landed. 
 
 At the entrance gate stood the traveler. He 
 was a large elderly man with broad shoulders 
 and a heavy and gloomy appearance. 
 
 The dreamer recognized the stranger in- 
 stantly, and whispered to her husband: " It is 
 Caesar Tiberius, who is here in Jerusalem. It 
 can not be any one else." 
 
 " I also seem to recognize him," said her hus- 
 band; at the- same time he placed his finger on 
 his mouth, as a signal that they should be quiet 
 and listen to what was said down in the court. 
 
 They saw that the doorkeeper came out and 
 asked the stranger: " Whom seek you? " 
 
 And the traveler answered: " I seek the great 
 Prophet of Nazareth, who is endowed with 
 God's power to perform miracles. It is Em- 
 peror Tiberius who calls him, that he may lib- 
 erate him from a terrible disease, which no 
 other physician can cure." 
 
 When he had spoken, the slave bowed very 
 humbly and said: " My lord, be not wroth! but 
 your wish can not be fulfilled." 
 
 Then the Emperor turned toward his slaves, 
 who waited below in the court, and gave them 
 a command. 
 
 Then the slaves hastened forward some 
 with handfuls of ornaments, others carried gob-
 
 SAINT VERONICA'S KERCHIEF 175 
 
 lets studded with pearls, other again dragged 
 sacks filled with gold coin. 
 
 The Emperor turned to the slave who 
 guarded the gate, and said: "All this shall 
 be his, if he helps Tiberius. With this he can 
 give riches to all the world's poor." 
 
 But the doorkeeper bowed still lower and 
 said: " Master, be not wroth with thy servant, 
 but thy request can not be fulfilled." 
 
 Then the Emperor beckoned again to his 
 slaves, and a pair of them hurried forward with 
 a richly embroidered robe, upon which glittered 
 a breastpiece of jewels. 
 
 And the Emperor said to the slave : " See ! 
 This which I offer him is the power over Judea. 
 He shall rule his people like the highest judge, 
 if he will only come and heal Tiberius! " 
 
 The slave bowed still nearer the earth, and 
 said: "Master, it is not within my power to 
 help you." 
 
 Then the Emperor beckoned once again, and 
 his slaves rushed up with a golden coronet and 
 a purple mantle. 
 
 " See," he said, " this is the Emperor's will: 
 He promises to appoint the Prophet his suc- 
 cessor, and give him dominion over the world. 
 He shall have power to rule the world accord- 
 ing to his God's will, if he will only stretch forth 
 his hand and heal Tiberius! "
 
 176 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 Then the slave fell at the Emperor's feet and 
 said in an imploring tone: "Master, it does 
 not lie in my power to attend to thy command. 
 He whom thou seekest is no longer here. Pilate 
 hath killed him." 
 
 VIII 
 
 When the young woman awoke, it was al- 
 ready full, clear day, and her female slaves stood 
 and waited that they might help her dress. 
 
 She was very silent while she dressed, but 
 finally she asked the slave who arranged her 
 hair, if her husband was up. She learned that 
 he had been called out to pass judgment on a 
 criminal. " I should have liked to talk with 
 him," said the young woman. 
 
 " Mistress," said the slave, " it will be diffi- 
 cult to do so during the trial. We will let you 
 know as soon as it is over." 
 
 She sat silent now until her toilet was com- 
 pleted. Then she asked: " Has any among you 
 heard of the Prophet of Nazareth? " 
 
 " The Prophet of Nazareth is a Jewish mira- 
 cle performer," answered one of the slaves 
 instantly. 
 
 " It is strange, Mistress, that you should ask 
 after him to-day," said another slave. " Jt is 
 just he whom the Jews have brought here
 
 SAINT VERONICA'S KERCHIEF 177 
 
 to the palace, to let him be tried by the 
 Governor." 
 
 She bade them go at once and ascertain for 
 what cause he was arraigned, and one of the 
 slaves withdrew. When she returned she said: 
 ' They accuse him of wanting to make himself 
 King over this land, and they entreat the Gov- 
 ernor to let him be crucified." 
 
 When the Governor's wife heard this, she 
 grew terrified and said: " I must speak with my 
 husband, otherwise a terrible calamity will hap- 
 pen here this day." 
 
 When the slaves said once again that this 
 was impossible, she began to weep and shudder. 
 And one among them was touched, so she said: 
 " If you will send a written message to the 
 Governor, I will try and take it to him." 
 
 Immediately she took a stylus and wrote a 
 few words on a wax tablet, and this was given to 
 Pilate. 
 
 But him she did not meet alone the whole 
 day; for when he had dismissed the Jews, and 
 the condemned man was taken to the place of 
 execution, the hour for repast was come, and to 
 this Pilate had invited a few of the Romans 
 who visited Jerusalem at this season. They 
 were the commander of the troops and a 
 young instructor in oratory, and several others 
 besides.
 
 178 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 This repast was not very gay, for the Gov- 
 ernor's wife sat all the while silent and dejected, 
 and took no part in the conversation. 
 
 When the guests asked if she was ill or dis- 
 traught, the Governor laughingly related about 
 the message she had sent him in the morning. 
 He chaffed her because she had believed that 
 a Roman governor would let himself be guided 
 in his judgments by a woman's dreams. 
 
 She answered gently and sadly: " In truth, 
 it was no dream, but a warning sent by the 
 gods. You should at least have let the man 
 live through this one day." 
 
 They saw that she was seriously distressed. 
 She would not be comforted, no matter how 
 much the guests exerted themselves, by keeping 
 up the conversation to make her forget these 
 empty fancies. 
 
 But after a while one of them raised his head 
 and exclaimed: " What is this? Have we sat so 
 long at table that the day is already gone? " 
 
 All looked up now, and they observed that 
 a dim twilight settled down over nature. Above 
 all, it was remarkable to see how the whole 
 variegated play of color which it spread over 
 all creatures and objects, faded away slowly, 
 so that all looked a uniform gray. 
 
 Like everything else, even their own faces 
 lost their color. " We actually look like the
 
 SAINT VERONICA'S KERCHIEF 179 
 
 dead," said the young orator with a shudder. 
 " Our cheeks are gray and our lips black." 
 
 As this darkness grew more intense, the 
 woman's fear increased. " Oh, my friend! " she 
 burst out at last. " Can't you perceive even 
 now that the Immortals would warn you ? They 
 are incensed because you condemned a holy and 
 innocent man. I am thinking that although he 
 may already be on the cross, he is surely not 
 dead yet. Let him be taken down from the 
 cross ! I would with mine own hands nurse his 
 wounds. Only grant that he be called back 
 to life ! " 
 
 But Pilate answered laughingly: "You are 
 surely right in that this is a sign from the gods. 
 But they do not let the sun lose its luster because 
 a Jewish heretic has been condemned to the 
 cross. On the contrary, we may expect that 
 important matters shall appear, which concern 
 the whole kingdom. Who can tell how long 
 old Tiberius " 
 
 He did not finish the sentence, for the dark- 
 ness had become so profound he could not see 
 even the wine goblet standing in front of him. 
 He broke off, therefore, to order the slaves to 
 fetch some lamps instantly. 
 
 When it had become so light that he could 
 see the faces of his guests, it was impossible for 
 him not to notice the depression which had
 
 l8o CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 come over them. " Mark you ! " he said half- 
 angrily to his wife. " Now it is apparent to me 
 that you have succeeded with your dreams in 
 driving away the joys of the table. But if it 
 must needs be that you can not think of anything 
 else to-day, then let us hear what you have 
 dreamed. Tell it us and we will try to inter- 
 pret its meaning! " 
 
 For this the young wife was ready at once. 
 And while she related vision after vision, the 
 guests grew more and more serious. They 
 ceased emptying their goblets, and they sat with 
 brows knit. The only one who continued to 
 laugh and to call the whole thing madness, was 
 the Governor himself. 
 
 When the narrative was ended, the young 
 rhetorician said: " Truly, this is something more 
 than a dream, for I have seen this day not 
 the Emperor, but his old friend Faustina, 
 march into the city. Only it surprises me that 
 she has not already appeared in the Governor's 
 palace." 
 
 " There is actually a rumor abroad to the 
 effect that the Emperor has been stricken with 
 a terrible illness," observed the leader of the 
 troops. " It also seems very possible to me that 
 your wife's dream may be a god-sent warning." 
 ' There's nothing incredible in this, that 
 Tiberius has sent messengers after the Prophet
 
 SAINT VERONICA'S KERCHIEF 181 
 
 to summon him to his sick-bed," agreed the 
 young rhetorician. 
 
 The Commander turned with profound seri- 
 ousness toward Pilate. " If the Emperor has 
 actually taken it into his head to let this miracle- 
 worker be summoned, it were better for you 
 and for all of us that he found him alive." 
 
 Pilate answered irritably: " Is it the darkness 
 that has turned you into children? One would 
 think that you had all been transformed into 
 dream-interpreters and prophets." 
 
 But the courtier continued his argument: " It 
 may not be impossible, perhaps, to save the 
 man's life, if you sent a swift messenger." 
 
 " You want to make a laughing-stock of me," 
 answered the Governor. " Tell me, what would 
 become of law and order in this land, if they 
 learned that the Governor pardoned a criminal 
 because his wife has dreamed a bad dream? " 
 
 " It is the truth, however, and not a dream, 
 that I have seen Faustina in Jerusalem," said 
 the young orator. 
 
 " I shall take the responsibility of defending 
 my actions before the Emperor," said Pilate. 
 " He will understand that this visionary, who 
 let himself be misused by my soldiers without 
 resistance, would not have had the power to 
 help him." 
 
 As he was speaking, the house was shaken
 
 1 82 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 by a noise like a powerful rolling thunder, and 
 an earthquake shook the ground. The Gov- 
 ernor's palace stood intact, but during some 
 minutes just after the earthquake, a terrific crash 
 of crumbling houses and falling pillars was 
 heard. 
 
 As. soon as a human voice could make itself 
 heard, the Governor called a slave. 
 
 " Run out to the place of execution and com- 
 mand in my name that the Prophet of Nazareth 
 shall be taken down from the cross ! " 
 
 The slave hurried away. The guests filed 
 from the dining-hall out on the peristyle, to be 
 under the open sky in case the earthquake should 
 be repeated. No one dared to utter a word, 
 while they awaited the slave's return. 
 
 He came back very shortly. He stopped be- 
 fore the Governor. 
 
 "You found him alive?" said he. 
 
 " Master, he was dead, and on the very sec- 
 ond that he gave up the ghost, the earthquake 
 occurred." 
 
 The words were hardly spoken when two loud 
 knocks sounded against the outer gate. When 
 these knocks were heard, they all staggered back 
 and leaped up, as though it had been a new 
 earthquake. 
 
 Immediately afterwards a slave came up. 
 
 " It is the noble Faustina and the Emperor's
 
 SAINT VERONICA'S KERCHIEF 183 
 
 kinsman Sulpicius. They are come to beg you 
 help them find the Prophet from Nazareth." 
 
 A low murmur passed through the peristyle, 
 and soft footfalls were heard. When the Gov- 
 ernor looked around, he noticed that his friends 
 had withdrawn from him, as from one upon 
 whom misfortune has fallen. 
 
 IX 
 
 Old Faustina had returned to Capri and had 
 sought out the Emperor. She told him her 
 story, and while she spoke she hardly dared look 
 at him. During her absence the illness had 
 made frightful ravages, and she thought to 
 herself: " If there had been any pity among 
 the Celestials, they would have let me die be- 
 fore being forced to tell this poor, tortured man 
 that all hope is gone." 
 
 To her astonishment, Tiberius listened to her 
 with the utmost indifference. When she related 
 how the great miracle performer had been cruci- 
 fied the same day that she had arrived in Jeru- 
 salem, and how near she had been to saving 
 him, she began to weep under the weight of 
 her failure. But Tiberius only remarked : " You 
 actually grieve over this? Ah, Faustina! A 
 whole lifetime in Rome has not weaned you 
 then of faith in sorcerers and miracle workers,
 
 184 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 which you imbibed during your childhood in 
 the Sabine mountains! " 
 
 Then the old woman perceived that Tiberius 
 had never expected any help from the Prophet 
 of Nazareth. 
 
 " Why did you let me make the journey to 
 that distant land, if you believed all the while 
 that it was useless? " 
 
 " You are the only friend I have," said the 
 Emperor. ; ' Why should I deny your prayer, 
 so long as I still have the power to grant it." 
 
 But the old woman did not like it that the 
 Emperor had taken her for a fool. 
 
 "Ah! this is your usual cunning," she burst 
 out. ' This is just what I can tolerate least 
 in you." 
 
 " You should not have come back to me," said 
 Tiberius. " You should have remained in the 
 mountains." 
 
 It looked for a moment as if these two, who 
 had clashed so often, would again fall into a 
 war of words, but the old woman's anger sub- 
 sided immediately. The times were past when 
 she could quarrel in earnest with the Emperor. 
 She lowered her voice again; but she could not 
 altogether relinquish every effort to obtain 
 justice. 
 
 " But this man was really a prophet," she 
 said. " I have seen him. When his eyes met
 
 SAINT VERONICA'S KERCHIEF 185 
 
 mine, I thought he was a god. I was mad to 
 allow him to go to his death." 
 
 " I am glad you let him die," said Tiberius. 
 " He was a traitor and a dangerous agitator." 
 
 Faustina was about to burst into another 
 passion then checked herself. 
 
 " I have spoken with many of his friends in 
 Jerusalem about him," said she. " He had 
 not committed the crimes for which he was 
 arraigned." 
 
 " Even if he had not committed just these 
 crimes, he was surely no better than any one 
 else," said the Emperor wearily. " Where will 
 you find the person who during his lifetime has 
 not a thousand times deserved death? " 
 
 But these remarks of the Emperor decided 
 Faustina to undertake something which she had 
 until now hesitated about. " I will show you 
 a proof of his power," said she. " I said to 
 you just now that I laid my kerchief over 
 his face. It is the same kerchief w r hich I 
 hold in my hand. Will -you look at it a 
 moment? " 
 
 She spread the kerchief out before the Em- 
 peror, and he saw delineated thereon the shad- 
 owy likeness of a human face. 
 
 The old woman's voice shook with emotion 
 as she continued: " This man saw that I loved 
 him. I know not by what power he was en-
 
 1 86 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 abled to leave me his portrait. But mine eyes 
 fill up with tears when I see it." 
 
 The Emperor leaned forward and regarded 
 the picture, which appeared to be made up of 
 blood and tears and the dark shadows of grief. 
 Gradually the whole face stood out before him, 
 exactly as it had been imprinted upon the ker- 
 chief. He saw the blood-drops on the forehead, 
 the piercing thorn-crown, the hair, which was 
 matted with blood, and the mouth whose lips 
 seemed to quiver with agony. 
 
 He bent down closer and closer to the pic- 
 ture. The face stood out clearer and clearer. 
 From out the shadow-like outlines, all at once, 
 he saw the eyes sparkle as with hidden life. 
 And while they spoke to him of the most terri- 
 ble suffering, they also revealed a purity and 
 sublimity which he had never seen before. 
 
 He lay upon his couch and drank in the pic- 
 ture with his eyes. " Is this a mortal? " he said 
 softly and slowly. " Is this a mortal? " 
 
 Again he lay still and regarded the picture. 
 The tears began to stream down his cheeks. " I 
 mourn over thy death, thou Unknown ! " he 
 whispered. 
 
 " Faustina ! " he cried out at last. " Why 
 did you let this man die ? He would have healed 
 me." 
 
 And again he was lost in the picture.
 
 SAINT VERONICA'S KERCHIEF 187 
 
 " O Man! " he said, after a moment, " if I 
 can not gain my health from thee, I can still 
 avenge thy murder. My hand shall rest heavily 
 upon those who have robbed me of thee ! " 
 
 Again he lay still a long time; then he let 
 himself glide down to the floor and he knelt 
 before the picture : 
 
 " Thou art Man ! " said he. " Thou art that 
 which I never dreamed I should see." And he 
 pointed to his disfigured face and destroyed 
 hands. " I and all others are wild beasts and 
 monsters, but thou art Man." 
 
 He bowed his head so low before the picture 
 that it touched the floor. " Have pity on me, 
 thou Unknown!" he sobbed, and his tears 
 watered the stones. 
 
 " If thou hadst lived, thy glance alone would 
 have healed me," he said. 
 
 The poor old woman was terror-stricken over 
 what she had done. It would have been wiser 
 not to show the Emperor the picture, thought 
 she. From the start she had been afraid that 
 if he should see it his grief would be too over- 
 whelming. 
 
 And in her despair over the Emperor's grief, 
 she snatched the picture away, as if to remove 
 it from his sight. 
 
 Then the Emperor looked up. And, lo! his 
 features were transformed, and he was as he
 
 1 88 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 had been before the illness. It was as if the 
 illness had had its root and sustenance in the 
 contempt and hatred of mankind which had 
 lived in his heart; and it had been forced to 
 flee the very moment he had felt love and 
 compassion. 
 
 The following day Tiberius despatched three 
 messengers. 
 
 The first messenger traveled to Rome with 
 the command that the Senate should institute 
 investigations as to how the governor of Pales- 
 tine administered his official duties and punish 
 him, should it appear that he oppressed the 
 people and condemned the innocent to death. 
 
 The second messenger went to the vineyard- 
 laborer and his wife, to thank them and reward 
 them for the counsel they had given the Em- 
 peror, and also to tell them how everything 
 had turned out. When they had heard all, they 
 wept silently, and the man said: " I know that 
 all my life I shall ponder what would have hap- 
 pened if these two had met." But the woman 
 answered: " It could not happen in any other 
 way. It was too great a thought that these 
 two should meet. God knew that the world 
 could not support it." 
 
 The third messenger traveled to Palestine and 
 brought back with him to Capri some of Jesus' 
 disciples, and these began to teach there the
 
 SAINT VERONICA'S KERCHIEF 189 
 
 doctrine that had been preached by the Crucified 
 One. 
 
 When the disciples landed at Capri, old Faus- 
 tina lay upon her death-bed. Still they had time 
 before her death to make of her a follower 
 of the great Prophet, and to baptize her. And 
 in the baptism she was called VERONICA, because 
 to her it had been granted to give to mankind 
 the true likeness of their Saviour.
 
 IT
 
 ROBIN REDBREAST 
 
 IT happened at the time when our Lord 
 created the world, when He not only made 
 heaven and earth, but all the animals and the 
 plants as well, at the same time giving them 
 their names. 
 
 There have been many histories concerning 
 that time, and if we knew them all, we should 
 have light upon everything in this world which 
 we can not now comprehend. 
 
 At that time it happened one day when our 
 Lord sat in His Paradise and painted the Httle 
 birds, that the colors in our Lord's paint pot 
 gave out, and the goldfinch would have been 
 without color if our Lord had not wiped all 
 His paint brushes on its feathers. 
 
 It was then that the donkey got his long 
 ears, because he could not remember the name 
 that had been given him. 
 
 No sooner had he taken a few steps over 
 the meadows of Paradise than he forgot, and 
 three times he came back to ask his name. At 
 last our Lord grew somewhat impatient, took 
 him by his two ears, and said: 
 193
 
 194 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 "Thy name is ass, ass, ass!" And while 
 He thus spake our Lord pulled both of his 
 ears that the ass might hear better, and remem- 
 ber what was said to him. It was on the same 
 day, also, that the bee was punished. 
 
 Now, when the bee was created, she began 
 immediately to gather honey, and the animals 
 and human beings who caught the delicious odor 
 of the honey came and wanted to taste of it. 
 But the bee wanted to keep it all for herself and 
 with her poisonous sting pursued every living 
 creature that approached her hive. Our Lord 
 saw this and at once called the bee to Him and 
 punished her. 
 
 " I gave thee the gift of gathering honey, 
 which is the sweetest thing in all creation," said 
 our Lord, " but I did not give thee the right 
 to be cruel to thy neighbor. Remember well 
 that every time thou stingest any creature who 
 desires to taste of thy honey, thou shalt surely 
 die!" 
 
 Ah, yes! It was at that time, too, that the 
 cricket became blind and the ant missed her 
 wings, so many strange things happened on that 
 day! 
 
 Our Lord sat there, big and gentle, and 
 planned and created all day long, and towards 
 evening He conceived the idea of making a 
 little gray bird. " Remember your name is
 
 ROBIN REDBREAST 195 
 
 Robin Redbreast," said our Lord to the bird, 
 as soon as it was finished. Then He held it 
 in the palm of His open hand and let it fly. 
 
 After the bird had been testing his wings 
 a while, and had seen something of the beau- 
 tiful world in which he was destined to live, 
 he became curious to see what he himself was 
 like. He noticed that he was entirely gray, 
 and that his breast was just as gray as all the 
 rest of him. Robin Redbreast twisted and 
 turned in all directions as he viewed himself 
 in the mirror of a clear lake, but he couldn't 
 find a single red feather. Then he flew back 
 to our Lord. 
 
 Our Lord sat there on His throne, big and 
 gentle. Out of His hands came butterflies that 
 fluttered about His head; doves cooed on His 
 shoulders; and out of the earth beneath Him 
 grew the rose, the lily, and the daisy. 
 
 The little bird's heart beat heavily with 
 fright, but with easy curves he flew nearer and 
 nearer our Lord, till at last he rested on our 
 Lord's hand. Then our Lord asked what the 
 little bird wanted. " I only wish to ask you 
 about one thing," said the little bird. " What is 
 it you wish to know? " said our Lord. " Why 
 should I be called Red Breast, when I am all 
 gray, from the bill to the very end of my 
 tail? Why am I called Red Breast when I do
 
 196 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 not possess one single red feather? " The bird 
 looked beseechingly on our Lord with his tiny 
 black eyes then turned his head. About him 
 he saw pheasants all red under a sprinkle of 
 gold dust, parrots with marvelous red neck- 
 bands, cocks with red combs, to say nothing 
 about the butterflies, the goldfinches, and the 
 roses! And naturally he thought how little 
 he needed just one tiny drop of color on his 
 breast and he, too, would be a beautiful bird, 
 and his name would fit him. " Why should I 
 be called Red Breast when I am so entirely 
 gray?" asked the bird once again, and waited 
 for our Lord to say: " Ah, my friend, I see that 
 I have forgotten to paint your breast feathers 
 red, but wait a moment and it shall be done." 
 
 But our Lord only smiled a little and said: 
 " I have called you Robin Redbreast, and Robin 
 Redbreast shall your name be, but you must 
 look to it that you yourself earn your red breast 
 feathers." Then our Lord lifted His hand 
 and let the bird fly once more out into the 
 world. 
 
 The bird flew down into Paradise, meditating 
 deeply. 
 
 What could a little bird like him do to earn 
 for himself red feathers? The only thing he 
 could think of was to make his nest in a brier 
 bush. He built it in among the thorns in the
 
 ROBIN REDBREAST IQ7 
 
 close thicket. It looked as if he waited for 
 a rose leaf to cling to his throat and give him 
 color. 
 
 Countless years had come and gone since that 
 day, which was the happiest in all the world! 
 Human beings had already advanced so far 
 that they had learned to cultivate the earth 
 and sail the seas. They had procured clothes 
 and ornaments for themselves, and had long 
 since learned to build big temples and great 
 cities such as Thebes, Rome, and Jerusalem. 
 
 Then there dawned a new day, one that will 
 long be remembered in the world's history. On 
 the morning of this day Robin Redbreast sat 
 upon a little naked hillock outside of Jerusalem's 
 walls, and sang to his young ones, who rested 
 in a tiny nest in a brier bush. 
 
 Robin Redbreast told the little ones all about 
 that wonderful day of creation, and how the 
 Lord had given names to everything, just as 
 each Redbreast had told it ever since the first 
 Redbreast had heard God's word, and gone out 
 of God's hand. " And mark you," he ended 
 sorrowfully, " so many years have gone, so 
 many roses have bloomed, so many little birds 
 have come out of their eggs since Creation Day, 
 but Robin Redbreast is still a little gray bird.
 
 198 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 He has not yet succeeded in gaining his red 
 feathers." 
 
 The little young ones opened wide their tiny 
 bills, and asked if their forbears had never 
 tried to do any great thing to earn the priceless 
 red color. 
 
 " We have all done what we could," said 
 the little bird, " but we have all gone amiss. 
 Even the first Robin Redbreast met one day 
 another bird exactly like himself, and he began 
 immediately to love it with such a mighty love 
 that he could feel his breast burn. 4 Ah ! ' he 
 thought then, ' now I understand ! It was our 
 Lord's meaning that I should love with so 
 much ardor that my breast should grow red in 
 color from the very warmth of the love that 
 lives in my heart.' But he missed it, as all those 
 who came after him have missed it, and as 
 even you shall miss it." 
 
 The little young ones twittered, utterly bewil- 
 dered, and already began to mourn because the 
 red color would not come to beautify their little, 
 downy gray breasts. 
 
 ' We had also hoped that song would help 
 us," said the grown-up bird, speaking in long- 
 drawn-out tones " the first Robin Redbreast 
 sang until his heart swelled within him, he was 
 so carried away, and he dared to hope anew. 
 ' Ah ! ' he thought, ' it is the glow of the song
 
 ROBIN REDBREAST 199 
 
 which lives in my soul that will color my breast 
 feathers red.' But he missed it, as all the others 
 have missed it and as even you shall miss it." 
 Again was heard a sad " peep " from the young 
 ones' half-naked throats. 
 
 '' We had also counted on our courage and 
 our valor," said the bird. " The first Robin 
 Redbreast fought bravely with other birds, until 
 his breast flamed with the pride of conquest. 
 ' Ah ! ' he thought, ' my breast feathers shall 
 become red from the love of battle which burns 
 in my heart.' He, too, missed it, as all those 
 who came after him have missed it, and as even 
 you shall miss it." The: little young ones peeped 
 courageously that they still wished to try and 
 win the much-sought-for prize, but the bird 
 answered them sorrowfully that it would be im- 
 possible. What could they do when so many 
 splendid ancestors had missed the mark? What 
 could they do more than love, sing, and fight? 
 What could the little bird stopped short, for 
 out of one of the gates of Jerusalem came a 
 crowd of people marching, and the whole pro- 
 cession rushed toward the hillock, where the 
 bird had its nest. There were riders on proud 
 horses, soldiers with long spears, executioners 
 with nails and hammers. There were judges 
 and priests in the procession, weeping women, 
 and above all a mob of mad, loose people
 
 200 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 running about a filthy, howling mob of 
 loiterers. 
 
 The little gray bird sat trembling on the 
 edge of his nest. He feared each instant that 
 the little brier bush would be trampled down 
 and his young ones killed! 
 
 " Be careful ! " he cried to the little defense- 
 less young ones, " creep together and remain 
 quiet. Here comes a horse that will ride right 
 over us ! Here comes a warrior with iron-shod 
 sandals ! Here comes the whole wild, storming 
 mob ! " Immediately the bird ceased his cry 
 of warning and grew calm and quiet. He al- 
 most forgot the danger hovering over him. 
 Finally he hopped down into the nest and spread 
 his wings over the young ones. 
 
 " Oh! this is too terrible," said he. " I don't 
 wish you to witness this awful sight! There 
 are three miscreants who are going to be cruci- 
 fied ! " And he spread his wings so that the 
 little ones could see nothing. 
 
 They caught only the sound of hammers, the 
 cries of anguish, and the wild shrieks of the 
 mob. 
 
 Robin Redbreast followed the whole spectacle 
 with his eyes, which grew big with terror. He 
 could not take his glance from the three 
 unfortunates. 
 
 " How terrible human beings are ! " said the
 
 ROBIN REDBREAST 201 
 
 bird after a little while. " It isn't enough that 
 they nail these poor creatures to a cross, but 
 they must needs place a crown of piercing thorns 
 upon the head of one of them. I see that the 
 thorns have wounded his brow so that the blood 
 flows," he continued. " And this man is so 
 beautiful, and looks about him with such mild 
 glances that every one ought to love him. I 
 feel as if an arrow were shooting through my 
 heart, when I see him suffer ! " 
 
 The little bird began to feel a stronger and 
 stronger pity for the thorn-crowned sufferer. 
 " Oh ! if I were only my brother the eagle," 
 thought he, " I would draw the nails from his 
 hands, and with my strong claws I would drive 
 away all those who torture him ! " He saw 
 how the blood trickled down from the brow of 
 the Crucified One, and he could no longer re- 
 main quiet in his nest. " Even if I am little 
 and weak, I can still do something for this 
 poor tortured one," thought the bird. Then he 
 left his nest and flew out into the air, striking 
 wide circles around the Crucified One. He flew 
 around him several times without daring to 
 approach, for he was a shy little bird, who had 
 never dared to go near a human being. But 
 little by little he gained courage, flew close to 
 him, and drew with his little bill a thorn that 
 had become imbedded in the brow of the Cruci-
 
 202 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 fied One. And as he did this there fell on his 
 breast a drop of blood from the face of the 
 Crucified One; it spread quickly and floated 
 out and colored all the little fine breast feathers. 
 
 Then the Crucified One opened his lips and 
 whispered to the bird: "Because of thy com- 
 passion, thou hast won all that thy kind have 
 been striving after, ever since the world was 
 created." 
 
 As soon as the bird had returned to his nest 
 his young ones cried to him : " Thy breast is 
 red! Thy breast feathers are redder than the 
 roses! " 
 
 " It is only a drop of blood from the poor 
 man's forehead," said the bird; " it will vanish 
 as soon as I bathe in a pool or a clear well." 
 
 But no matter how much the little bird 
 bathed, the red color did not vanish and when 
 his little young ones grew up, the blood-red 
 color shone also on their breast feathers, just 
 as it shines on every Robin Redbreast's throat 
 and breast until this very day.
 
 OUR LORD AND SAINT PETER 
 
 IT happened at the time when our Lord and 
 Saint Peter were newly arrived in Paradise, 
 after having wandered on earth and suffered 
 hardships during many sorrowful years. 
 
 One can imagine that the change was a joy 
 to Saint Peter! One can picture to oneself that 
 it was quite another matter to sit upon Para- 
 dise Mountain and look out over the world, in- 
 stead of wandering from door to door, like a 
 beggar. It was another matter to walk about 
 in the beautiful gardens of Paradise, instead of 
 roaming around on earth, not knowing if one 
 would be given house-room on a stormy night, 
 or if one would be forced to tramp the highway 
 in the chill and darkness. 
 
 One can imagine what a joy it must have 
 been to get to the right place at last after such 
 a journey. Saint Peter, to be sure, had not 
 always been certain that all would end well. 
 He couldn't very well help feeling doubtful and 
 troubled at times, for it had been almost impos- 
 sible for poor Saint Peter to understand why 
 there was "any earthly need for them to have 
 205
 
 206 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 such a hard time of it, if our Lord was lord of 
 all the world. 
 
 Now, no yearning could come to torment 
 him any more. That he was glad of this one 
 can well believe. 
 
 Now, he could actually laugh at all the mis- 
 ery which he and our Lord had been forced to 
 endure, and at the little that they had been 
 obliged to content themselves with. 
 
 Once, when things had turned out so badly 
 for them that Saint Peter thought he couldn't 
 stand it any longer, our Lord had taken him 
 to a high mountain, and had begun the ascent 
 without telling him what they were there for. 
 
 They had wandered past the cities at the 
 foot of the mountain, and the castles higher 
 up. They had gone past the farms and cabins, 
 and had left behind them the last wood-chop- 
 per's cave. 
 
 They had come at last to the part where the 
 mountain stood naked, without verdure and 
 trees, and where a hermit had built him a hut, 
 wherein he might shelter needy travelers. 
 
 Afterward, they had walked over the snow- 
 fields, where the mountain-rats sleep, and come 
 to the piled-up ice masses, which stood on edge 
 and a-tilt, and where scarcely a chamois could 
 pass. 
 
 Up there our Lord had found a little red-
 
 OUR LORD AND SAINT PETER 20; 
 
 breasted bird, that lay frozen to death on the 
 ice, and He had picked up the bullfinch and 
 tucked it in His bosom. And Saint Peter re- 
 membered he had wondered if this was to be 
 their dinner. 
 
 They had wandered a long while on the slip- 
 pery ice-blocks, and it had seemed to Saint 
 Peter that he had never been so near perdition; 
 for a deadly cold wind and a deadly dark mist 
 enveloped them, and as far as he could dis- 
 cover, there wasn't a living thing to be found. 
 And, still, they were only half-way up the 
 mountain. 
 
 Then he begged our Lord to let him turn 
 back. 
 
 " Not yet," said our Lord, " for I want to 
 show you something which will give you cour- 
 age to meet all sorrows." 
 
 For this they had gone on through mist and 
 cold until they had reached an interminably 
 high wall, which prevented them from going 
 farther. 
 
 " This wall extends all around the moun- 
 tain," said our Lord, " and you can't step over 
 it at any point. Nor can any living creature see 
 anything of that which lies behind it, for it is 
 here that Paradise begins; and all the way up 
 to the mountain's summit live the blessed 
 dead."
 
 208 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 But Saint Peter couldn't help looking doubt- 
 ful. " In there is neither darkness nor cold," 
 said our Lord, " but there it is always summer, 
 with the bright light of suns and stars." 
 
 But Saint Peter was not able to persuade him- 
 self to believe this. 
 
 Then our Lord took the little bird which He 
 had just found on the ice, and, bending back- 
 wards, threw it over the wall, so that it fell 
 down into Paradise. 
 
 And immediately thereafter Saint Peter 
 heard a loud, joyous trill, and recognized a bull- 
 finch's song, and was greatly astonished. 
 
 He turned toward our Lord and said : " Let 
 us return to the earth and suffer all that must 
 be suffered, for now I see that you speak the 
 truth, and that there is a place where Life over- 
 comes death." 
 
 And they descended from the mountain and 
 began their wanderings again. 
 
 And it was years before Saint Peter saw any 
 more than this one glimpse of Paradise; but 
 he had always longed for the land beyond the 
 wall. And now at last he was there, and did 
 not have to strive and yearn any more. Now 
 he could drink bliss in full measure all day long 
 from never-dying streams. 
 
 But Saint Peter had not been in Paradise a 
 fortnight before it happened that an angel
 
 OUR LORD AND SAINT PETER 209 
 
 came to our Lord where He sat upon His 
 throne, bowed seven times before Him, and 
 told Him that a great sorrow must have come 
 upon Saint Peter. He would neither eat nor 
 drink, and his eyelids were red, as though he 
 had not slept for several nights. 
 
 As soon as our Lord heard this, He rose and 
 went to seek Saint Peter. 
 
 He found him far away, on one of the out- 
 skirts of Paradise, where he lay upon the 
 ground, as if he were too exhausted to stand, 
 and he had rent his garments and strewn his 
 hair with ashes. 
 
 When our Lord saw him so distressed, He 
 sat down on the ground beside him, and talked 
 to him, just as He would have done had they 
 still been wandering around in this world of 
 trouble. 
 
 " What is it that makes you so sad, Saint 
 Peter? " said our Lord. 
 
 But grief had overpowered Saint Peter, so 
 that he could not answer. 
 
 " What is it that makes you so sad? " asked 
 our Lord once again. 
 
 When our Lord repeated the question, Saint 
 Peter took the gold crown from his head and 
 threw it at our Lord's feet, as much as to say 
 he wanted no further share in His honor and 
 glory.
 
 210 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 But our Lord understood, of course, that 
 Saint Peter was so disconsolate that he knew not 
 what he did. He showed no anger at him. 
 
 " You must tell me what troubles you," said 
 He, just as gently as before, and with an even 
 greater love in His voice. 
 
 But now Saint Peter jumped up; and then 
 our Lord knew that he was not only discon- 
 solate, but downright angry. He came toward 
 our Lord with clenched fists and snapping eyes. 
 
 " Now I want a dismissal from your serv- 
 ice ! " said Saint Peter. " I can not remain 
 another day in Paradise." 
 
 Our Lord tried to calm him, just as He had 
 been obliged to do many times before, when 
 Saint Peter had flared up. 
 
 " Oh, certainly you can go," said He, " but 
 you must first tell me what it is that displeases 
 you." 
 
 " I can tell you that I awaited a better re- 
 ward than this when we two endured all sorts 
 of misery down on earth," said Saint Peter. 
 
 Our Lord saw that Saint Peter's soul was 
 filled with bitterness, and He felt no anger at 
 him. 
 
 " I tell you that you are free to go whither 
 you will," said He, " if you will only let me 
 know what is troubling you." 
 
 Then, at last, Saint Peter told our Lord why
 
 OUR LORD AND SAINT PETER 21 1 
 
 he was so unhappy. " I had an old mother." 
 said he, " and she died a few days ago." 
 
 " Now I know what distresses you," said our 
 Lord. " You suffer because your mother has 
 not come into Paradise." 
 
 " That is true," said Saint Peter, and at the 
 same time his grief became so overwhelming 
 that he began to sob and moan. 
 
 " I think I deserved at least that she should 
 be permitted to come here," said he. 
 But when our Lord learned what it was that 
 Saint Peter was grieving over, He, in turn, be- 
 came distressed. Saint Peter's mother had not 
 been such that she could enter the Heavenly 
 Kingdom. She had never thought of anything 
 except to hoard money, and to the poor who 
 had knocked at her door she had never given 
 so much as a copper or a crust of bread. But 
 our Lord understood that it was impossible for 
 Saint Peter to grasp the fact that his mother 
 had been so greedy that she was not entitled 
 to bliss. 
 
 " Saint Peter," said He, " how can you be 
 so sure that your mother would feel at home 
 here with us? " 
 
 " You say such things only that you may not 
 have to listen to my prayers," said Saint Peter. 
 " Who wouldn't be happy in Paradise? " 
 
 " One who does not feel joy over the happi-
 
 212 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 ness of others can not rest content here," said 
 our Lord. 
 
 " Then there are others than my mother who 
 do not belong here," said Saint Peter, and our 
 Lord observed that he was thinking of Him. 
 
 And He felt deeply grieved because Saint 
 Peter had been stricken with such a heavy sor- 
 row that he no longer knew what he said. He 
 stood a moment and expected that Saint Peter 
 would repent, and understand that his mother 
 was not fit for Paradise. But the Saint would 
 not give in. 
 
 Then our Lord called an angel and com- 
 manded that he should fly down into hell and 
 bring Saint Peter's mother to Paradise. 
 
 " Let me see how he carries her," said Saint 
 Peter. 
 
 Our Lord took Saint Peter by the hand and 
 led him out to a steep precipice which leaned 
 slantingly to one side. And He showed him 
 that he only had to lean over the precipice very, 
 very little to be able to look down into hell. 
 
 When Saint Peter glanced down, he could 
 not at first see anything more than if he had 
 looked into a deep well. It was as though an 
 endless chasm opened under him. 
 
 The first thing which he could faintly distin- 
 guish was the angel, who had already started 
 on his way to the nether regions. Saint Peter
 
 OUR LORD AND SAINT PETER 213 
 
 saw how the angel dived down into the great 
 darkness, without the least fear, and spread his 
 wings just a little, so as not to descend too 
 rapidly. 
 
 But when Saint Peter's eyes had become a 
 little more used to the darkness he began to 
 see more and more. In the first place, he saw 
 that Paradise lay on a ring-mountain, which 
 encircled a wide chasm, and it was at the bot- 
 tom of this chasm that the souls of the sinful 
 had their abode. He saw how the angel sank 
 and sank a long while without reaching the 
 depths. He became absolutely terrified because 
 it was such a long distance down there. 
 
 " May he only come up again with my 
 mother! " said he. 
 
 Our Lord only looked at Saint Peter with 
 great sorrowful eyes. " There is no weight too 
 heavy for my angel to carry," said He. 
 
 It was so far down to the nether regions that 
 no ray of sunlight could penetrate thither: there 
 darkness reigned. But it was as if the angel in 
 his flight must have brought with him a little 
 clearness and light, so that it was possible for 
 Saint Peter to see how it looked down there. 
 
 It was an endless, black rock-desert. Sharp, 
 pointed rocks covered the entire foundation. 
 There was not a green blade, not a tree, not a 
 sign of life.
 
 214 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 But all over, on the sharp rocks, were con- 
 demned souls. They hung over the edges, 
 whither they had clambered that they might 
 swing themselves up from the ravine; and when 
 they saw that they could get nowhere, they re- 
 mained up there, petrified with anguish. 
 
 Saint Peter saw some of them sit or lie with 
 arms extended in ceaseless longing, and with 
 eyes fixedly turned upwards. Others had cov- 
 ered their faces with their hands, as if they 
 would shut out the hopeless horror around 
 them. They were all rigid; there was not one 
 among them who had the powfer to move. 
 Some lay in the water-pools, perfectly still, 
 without trying to rise from them. 
 
 But the most dreadful thing of all was 
 there was such a great throng of the lost. It 
 was as though the bottom of the ravine were 
 made up of nothing but bodies and heads. 
 
 And Saint Peter was struck with a new fear. 
 " You shall see that he will not find her," said 
 he to our Lord. 
 
 Once more our Lord looked at him with the 
 same grieved expression. He knew of course 
 that Saint Peter did not need to be uneasy about 
 the angel. 
 
 But to Saint Peter it looked all the while as 
 if the angel could not find his mother in that 
 great company of lost souls. He spread his
 
 OUR LORD AND SAINT PETER 215 
 
 wings and flew back and forth over the nether 
 regions, while he sought her. 
 
 Suddenly one of the poor lost creatures 
 caught a glimpse of the angel, and he sprang 
 up and stretched his arms towards him and 
 cried : " Take me with you ! Take me with 
 you!" 
 
 Then, all at once, the whole throng was 
 alive. All the millions upon millions who lan- 
 guished in hell, roused themselves that instant, 
 and raised their arms and cried to the angel 
 that he should take them with him to the 
 blessed Paradise. 
 
 Their shrieks were heard all the way up to 
 our Lord and Saint Peter, whose hearts 
 throbbed with anguish as they heard. 
 
 The angel swayed high above the con- 
 demned; but as he traveled back and forth, to 
 find the one whom he sought, they all rushed 
 after him, so that it looked as though they had 
 been swept on by a whirlwind. 
 
 At last the angel caught sight of the one he 
 was to take with him. He folded his wings 
 over his back and shot down like a streak of 
 lightning, and the astonished Saint Peter gave 
 a cry of joy when he saw the angel place an 
 arm around his mother and lift her up. 
 
 " Blessed be thou that bringest my mother to 
 me! " said he.
 
 2l6 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 Our Lord laid His hand gently on Saint 
 Peter's shoulder, as if He would warn him not 
 to abandon himself to joy too soon. 
 
 But Saint Peter was ready to weep for joy, 
 because his mother was saved. He could not 
 understand that anything further would have 
 the power to part them. And his joy increased 
 when he saw that, quick as the angel had been 
 when he had lifted her up, still several of the 
 lost souls had succeeded in attaching themselves 
 to her who was to be saved, in order that they, 
 too, might be borne to Paradise with her. 
 
 There must have been a dozen who clung to 
 the old woman, and Saint Peter thought it was 
 a great honor for his mother to help so many 
 poor unfortunate beings out of perdition. 
 
 Nor did the angel do aught to hinder them. 
 He seemed not at all troubled with his burden, 
 but rose and rose, and moved his wings with no 
 more effort than if he were carrying a little 
 dead birdling to heaven. 
 
 But then Saint Peter saw that his mother be- 
 gan to free herself from the lost souls that had 
 clung to her. She gripped their hands and 
 loosened their hold, so that one after another 
 tumbled down into hell. 
 
 Saint Peter could hear how they begged and 
 implored her; but the old woman did not desire 
 that any one but herself should be saved. She
 
 OUR LORD AND SAINT PETER 217 
 
 freed herself from more and more of them, and 
 let them fall down into misery. And as they 
 fell, all space was filled with their lamentations 
 and curses. 
 
 Then Saint Peter begged and implored his 
 mother to show some compassion, but she 
 would not listen, and kept right on as before. 
 
 And Saint Peter saw how the angel flew 
 slower and slower, the lighter his burden be- 
 came. Such fear took hold of Saint Peter that 
 his legs shook, and he was forced to drop on his 
 knees. 
 
 Finally, there was only one condemned soul 
 who still clung to St. Peter's mother. This was 
 a young woman who hung on her neck and 
 begged and cried in her ear that she would let 
 her go along with her to the blessed Paradise. 
 
 The angel with his burden had already come 
 so far that Saint Peter stretched out his arms to 
 receive his mother. He thought that the angel 
 had to make only two or three wing-strokes 
 more to reach the mountain. 
 
 Then, all of a sudden, the angel held his 
 wings perfectly still, and his countenance be- 
 came dark as night. 
 
 For now the old woman had stretched her 
 hands back of her and gripped the arms of the 
 young woman who hung about her neck, and 
 she clutched and tore until she succeeded in sep-
 
 2l8 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 arating the clasped hands, so that she was free 
 from this last one also. 
 
 When the condemned one fell the angel sank 
 several fathoms lower, and it appeared as 
 though he had not the strength to lift his wings 
 again. 
 
 He looked down upon the old woman with 
 a deep, sorrowful glance; his hold around her 
 waist loosened, and he let her fall, as if she 
 were too heavy a burden for him, now that she 
 was alone. 
 
 Thereupon he swung himself with a single 
 stroke up into Paradise. 
 
 But Saint Peter lay for a long while in the 
 same place, and sobbed, and our Lord stood 
 silent beside him. 
 
 " Saint Peter," said our Lord at last, " I 
 never thought that you would weep like this 
 after you had reached Paradise." 
 
 Then God's old servant raised his head and 
 answered: "What kind of a Paradise is this, 
 where I can hear the moans of my dearest 
 ones, and see the sufferings of my fellow 
 men ! " 
 
 The face of our Lord became o'ercast by the 
 deepest sorrow. " What did I desire more than 
 to prepare a Paradise for all, of nothing but 
 light and happiness? " He said. " Do you not 
 understand that it was because of this I went
 
 OUR LORD AND SAINT PETER 219 
 
 down among men and taught them to love their 
 neighbors as themselves? For as long as they 
 do this not, there will be no refuge in heaven 
 or on earth where pain and sorrow cannot reach 
 them."
 
 THE SACRED FLAME 
 
 A GREAT many years ago, when the city 
 of Florence had only just been made a 
 republic, a man lived there named Raniero di 
 Raniero. He was the son of an armorer, and 
 had learned his father's trade, but he did not 
 care much to pursue it. 
 
 This Raniero was the strongest of men. It 
 was said of him that he bore a heavy iron 
 armor as lightly as others wear a silk shirt. 
 He was still a young man, but already he had 
 given many proofs of his strength. Once he 
 was in a house where grain was stored in the 
 loft. Too much grain had been heaped there; 
 and while Raniero was in the house one of the 
 loft beams broke down, and the whole roof was 
 about to fall in. He raised his arms and held 
 the roof up until the people managed to fetch 
 beams and poles to prop it. 
 
 It was also said of Raniero that he was the 
 bravest man that had ever lived in Florence, 
 and that he could never get enough of fighting. 
 As soon as he heard any noise in the street, he
 
 224 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 rushed out from the workshop, in hopes that a 
 fight had arisen in which he might participate. 
 If he could only distinguish himself, he fought 
 just as readily with humble peasants as with 
 armored horsemen. He rushed into a fight 
 like a lunatic, without counting his opponents. 
 
 Florence was not very powerful in his time. 
 The people were mostly wool spinners and 
 cloth weavers, and these asked nothing better 
 than to be allowed to perform their tasks in 
 peace. Sturdy men were plentiful, but they 
 were not quarrelsome, and they were proud of 
 the fact that in their city better order prevailed 
 than elsewhere. Raniero often grumbled be- 
 cause he was not born in a country where there 
 was a king who gathered around him valiant 
 men, and declared that in such an event he 
 would have attained great honor and renown. 
 
 Raniero was loud-mouthed and boastful; 
 cruel to animals, harsh toward his wife, and not 
 good for any one to live with. He would have 
 been handsome if he had not had several deep 
 scars across his face which disfigured him. He 
 was quick to jump at conclusions, and quick to 
 act, though his way was often violent. 
 
 Raniero was married to Francesca, who was 
 the daughter of Jacopo degli Uberti, a wise 
 and influential man. Jacopo had not been very 
 anxious to give his daughter to such a bully as
 
 THE SACRED FLAME 225 
 
 Raniero, but had opposed the marriage until 
 the very last. Francesca forced him to relent, 
 by declaring that she would never marry any 
 one else. When Jacopo finally gave his con- 
 sent, he said to Raniero: "I have observed 
 that men like you can more easily win a 
 woman's love than keep it; therefore I shall 
 exact this promise from you: If my daughter 
 finds life with you so hard that she wishes to 
 come back to me, you will not prevent her." 
 Francesca said it was needless to exact such a 
 promise, since she was so fond of Raniero that 
 nothing could separate her from him. But 
 Raniero gave his promise promptly. " Of one 
 thing you can be assured, Jacopo," said he " I 
 will not try to hold any woman who wishes to 
 flee from me." 
 
 Then Francesca went to live with Raniero, 
 and all was well between them for a time. 
 When they had been married a few weeks, 
 Raniero took it into his head that he would 
 practice marksmanship. For several days he 
 aimed at a painting which hung upon a wall. 
 He soon became skilled, and hit the mark every 
 time. At last he thought he would like to try 
 and shoot at a more difficult mark. He looked 
 around for something suitable, but discovered 
 nothing except a quail that sat in a cage above 
 the courtyard gate. The bird belonged to
 
 226 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 Francesca, and she was very fond of it; but, 
 despite this, Raniero sent a page to open the 
 cage, and shot the quail as it swung itself into 
 the air. 
 
 This seemed to him a very good shot, and he 
 boasted of it to any one who would listen to 
 him. 
 
 When Francesca learned that Raniero had 
 shot her bird, she grew pale and looked hard at 
 him. She marveled that he had wished to do a 
 thing which must bring grief to her; but she 
 forgave him promptly and loved him as 
 before. 
 
 Then all went well again for a time. 
 
 Raniero's father-in-law, Jacopo, was a flax 
 weaver. He had a large establishment, where 
 much work was done. Raniero thought he had 
 discovered that hemp was mixed with the flax 
 in Jacopo's workshop, and he did not keep 
 silent about it, but talked of it here and there in 
 the city. At last Jacopo also heard this chatter, 
 and tried at once to put a stop to it. He let 
 several other flax weavers examine his yarn and 
 cloth, and they found all of it to be of the very 
 finest flax. Only in one pack, which was de- 
 signed to be sold outside of Florence, was there 
 any mixture. Then Jacopo said that the decep- 
 tion had been practised without his knowledge 
 or consent, by some one among his journeymen.
 
 THE SACRED FLAME 227 
 
 He apprehended at once that he would find it 
 difficult to convince people of this. He had 
 always been famed for honesty, and he felt very 
 keenly that his honor had been smirched. 
 
 Raniero, on the other hand, plumed him- 
 self upon having succeeded in exposing a fraud, 
 and he bragged about it even in Francesca's 
 hearing. 
 
 She felt deeply grieved; at the same time she 
 was as astonished as when he shot the bird. As 
 she thought of this, she seemed suddenly to see 
 her love before her; and it was like a great 
 piece of shimmery gold cloth. She could see 
 how big it was, and how it shimmered. But 
 from one corner a piece had been cut away, so 
 that it was not as big and as beautiful as it had 
 been in the beginning. 
 
 Still, it was as yet damaged so very little that 
 she thought: " It will probably last as long as 
 I live. It is so great that it can never come to 
 an end." 
 
 Again, there was a period during which she 
 and Raniero were just as happy as they had 
 been at first. 
 
 Francesca had a brother named Taddeo. He 
 had been in Venice on a business trip, and, 
 while there, had purchased garments of silk and 
 velvet. When he came home he paraded 
 around in them. Now, in Florence it was not
 
 228 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 the custom to go about expensively clad, so 
 there were many who made fun of him. 
 
 One night Taddeo and Raniero were out in 
 the wine shops. Taddeo was dressed in a green 
 cloak with sable linings, and a violet jacket. 
 Raniero tempted him to drink so much wine 
 that he fell asleep, and then he took his cloak 
 off him and hung it upon a scarecrow that was 
 set up in a cabbage patch. 
 
 When Francesca heard of this she was vexed 
 again with Raniero. That moment she saw 
 before her the big piece of gold cloth which 
 was her love and she seemed to see how it 
 diminished, as Raniero cut away piece after 
 piece. 
 
 After this, things were patched up between 
 them for a time, but Francesca was no longer 
 so happy as in former days, because she always 
 feared that Raniero would commit some mis- 
 demeanor that would hurt her love. 
 
 This was not long in coming, either, for 
 Raniero could never be tranquil. He wished 
 that people should always speak of him and 
 praise his courage and daring. 
 
 At that time the cathedral in Florence was 
 much smaller than the present one, and there 
 hung at the top of one of its towers a big, heavy 
 shield, which had been placed there by one of 
 Francesca's ancestors. It was the heaviest
 
 THE SACRED FLAME 
 
 shield any man in Florence had been able to lift, 
 and all the Uberti family were proud because 
 it was one of their own who had climbed up in 
 the tower and hung it there. 
 
 But Raniero climbed up to the shield one day, 
 hung it on his back, and came down with it. 
 
 When Francesca heard of this for the first 
 time she spoke to Raniero of what troubled 
 her, and begged him not to humiliate her family 
 in this way. Raniero, who had expected that 
 she would commend him for his feat, became 
 very angry. He retorted that he had long ob- 
 served that she did not rejoice in his success, 
 but thought only of her own kin. " It's some- 
 thing else I am thinking of," said Francesca, 
 " and that is my love. I know not what will 
 become of it if you keep on in this way." 
 
 After this they frequently exchanged harsh 
 words, for Raniero happened nearly always to 
 do the very thing that was most distasteful to 
 Francesca. 
 
 There was a workman in Raniero's shop who 
 was little and lame. This man had loved Fran- 
 cesca before she was married, and continued to 
 love her even after her marriage. Raniero, who 
 knew this, undertook to joke with him before 
 all who sat at a table. It went so far that 
 finally the man could no longer bear to be held 
 up to ridicule in Francesca's hearing, so he
 
 23 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 rushed upon Raniero and wanted to fight with 
 him. But Raniero only smiled derisively and 
 kicked him aside. Then the poor fellow 
 thought he did not care to live any longer, and 
 went off and hanged himself. 
 
 When this happened, Francesca and Raniero 
 had been married about a year. Francesca 
 thought continually that she saw her love be- 
 fore her as a shimmery piece of cloth, but on 
 all sides large pieces were cut away, so that it 
 was scarcely half as big as it had been in the 
 beginning. 
 
 She became very much alarmed when she saw 
 this, and thought: " If I stay with Raniero an- 
 other year, he will destroy my love. I shall 
 become just as poor as I have hitherto been 
 rich." 
 
 Then she concluded to leave Raniero's house 
 and go to live with her father, that the day 
 might not come when she should hate Raniero 
 as much as she now loved him. 
 
 Jacopo degli Uberti was sitting at the loom 
 with all his workmen busy around him when he 
 saw her coming. He said that now the thing 
 had come to pass which he had long expected, 
 and bade her be welcome. Instantly he ordered 
 all the people to leave off their work and arm 
 themselves and close the house. 
 
 Then Jacopo went over to Raniero. He met
 
 THE SACRED FLAME 231 
 
 him in the workshop. " My daughter has this 
 day returned to me and begged that she may 
 live again under my roof," he said to his son- 
 in-law. " And now I expect that you will not 
 compel her to return to you, after the promise 
 you have given me." 
 
 Raniero did not seem to take this very se- 
 riously, but answered calmly: u Even if I had 
 not given you my word, I would not demand 
 the return of a woman who does not wish to be 
 mine." 
 
 He knew how much Francesca loved him, 
 and said to himself: " She will be back with 
 me before evening." 
 
 Yet she did not appear either that day or the 
 next. 
 
 The third day Raniero went out and pur- 
 sued a couple of robbers who had long dis- 
 turbed the Florentine merchants. He succeeded 
 in catching them, and took them captives to 
 Florence. 
 
 He remained quiet a couple of days, until 
 he was positive that this feat was known 
 throughout the city. But it did not turn out as 
 he had expected that it would bring Francesca 
 back to him. 
 
 Raniero had the greatest desire to appeal to 
 the courts, to force her return to him, but he 
 felt himself unable to do this because of his
 
 232 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 promise. It seemed impossible for him to live 
 in the same city with a wife who had aban- 
 doned him, so he moved away from Florence. 
 
 He first became a soldier, and very soon he 
 made himself commander of a volunteer com- 
 pany. He was always in a fight, and served 
 many masters. 
 
 He won much renown as a warrior, as he had 
 always said he would. He was made a knight 
 by the Emperor, and was accounted a great 
 man. 
 
 Before he left Florence, he had made a vow 
 at a sacred image of the Madonna in the Cathe- 
 dral to present to the Blessed Virgin the best 
 and rarest that he won in every battle. Before 
 this image one always saw costly gifts, which 
 were presented by Raniero. 
 
 Raniero was aware that all his deeds were 
 known in his native city. He marveled much 
 that Francesca degli Uberti did not come back 
 to him, when she knew all about his success. 
 
 At that time sermons were preached to start 
 the Crusades for the recovery of the Holy Sep- 
 ulchre from the Saracens, and Raniero took the 
 cross and departed for the Orient. He not only 
 hoped to win castles and lands to rule over, but 
 also to succeed in performing such brilliant 
 feats that his wife would again be fond of him, 
 and return to him.
 
 THE SACRED FLAME 233 
 
 II 
 
 The night succeeding the day on which Jeru- 
 salem had been captured, there was great re- 
 joicing in the Crusaders' camp, outside the city. 
 In almost every tent they celebrated with drink- 
 ing bouts, and noise and roystering were heard 
 in every direction. 
 
 Raniero di Raniero sat and drank with some 
 comrades; and in his tent it was even more hila- 
 rious than elsewhere. The servants barely had 
 time to fill the goblets before they were empty 
 again. 
 
 Raniero had the best of reasons for celebrat- 
 ing, because during the day he had won greater 
 glory than ever before. In the morning, when 
 the city was besieged, he had been the first to 
 scale the walls after Godfrey of Boulogne; and 
 in the evening he had been honored for his 
 bravery in the presence of the whole corps. 
 
 When the plunder and murder were ended, 
 and the Crusaders in penitents' cloaks and with 
 lighted candles marched into the Church of the 
 Holy Sepulchre, it had been announced to Ra- 
 niero by Godfrey that he should be the first who 
 might light his candle from the sacred candles 
 which burn before Christ's tomb. It appeared 
 to Raniero that Godfrey wished in this manner 
 to show that he considered him the bravest man
 
 234 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 in the whole corps; and he was very happy over 
 the way in which he had been rewarded for his 
 achievements. 
 
 As the night wore on, Raniero and his guests 
 were in the best of spirits; a fool and a couple 
 of musicians who had wandered all over the 
 camp and amused the people with their pranks, 
 came into Raniero's tent, and the fool asked 
 permission to narrate a comic story. 
 
 Raniero knew that this particular fool was 
 in great demand for his drollery, and he prom- 
 ised to listen to his narrative. 
 
 " It happened once," said the fool, " that our 
 Lord and Saint Peter sat a whole day upon the 
 highest tower in Paradise Stronghold, and 
 looked down upon the earth. They had so 
 much to look at, that they scarcely found time 
 to exchange a word. Our Lord kept perfectly 
 still the whole time, but Saint Peter sometimes 
 clapped his hands for joy, and again turned his 
 head away in disgust. Sometimes he applauded 
 and smiled, and anon he wept and commiser- 
 ated. Finally, as it drew toward the close 
 of day, and twilight sank down over Par- 
 adise, our Lord turned to Saint Peter and 
 said that now he must surely be satisfied 
 and content. ' What is it that I should be con- 
 tent with ? ' Saint Peter asked, in an impetuous 
 tone. ' Why/ said our Lord slowly, ' I thought
 
 THE SACRED FLAME 235 
 
 that you would be pleased with what you have 
 seen to-day.' But Saint Peter did not care to 
 be conciliated. ' It is true,' said he, ' that for 
 many years I have bemoaned the fact that Jeru- 
 salem should be in the power of unbelievers, 
 but after all that has happened to-day, I think it 
 might just as well have remained as it was.' ' 
 
 Raniero understood now that the fool spoke 
 of what had taken place during the day. Both 
 he and the other knights began to listen with 
 greater interest than in the beginning. 
 
 " When Saint Peter had said this," continued 
 the fool, as he cast a furtive glance at the 
 knights, " he leaned over the pinnacle of the 
 tower and pointed toward the earth. He 
 showed our Lord a city which lay upon a great 
 solitary rock that shot up from a mountain val- 
 ley. ' Do you see those mounds of corpses ? ' 
 he said. ' And do you see the naked and 
 wretched prisoners who moan in the night chill? 
 And do you see all the smoking ruins of the con- 
 flagration?' It appeared as if our Lord did 
 not wish to answer him, but Saint Peter went on 
 with his lamentations. He said that he had cer- 
 tainly been vexed with that city many times, but 
 he had not wished it so ill as that it should 
 come to look like this. Then, at last, our Lord 
 answered, and tried an objection: 'Still, you 
 can not deny that the Christian knights have
 
 236 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 risked their lives with the utmost fearlessness,' 
 said He." 
 
 Then the fool was interrupted by bravos, but 
 he made haste to continue. 
 
 " Oh, don't interrupt me ! " he said. " Now 
 I don't remember where I left off ah! to be 
 sure, I was just going to say that Saint Peter 
 wiped away a tear or two which sprang to his 
 eyes and prevented him from seeing. ' I never 
 would have thought they could be such beasts,' 
 said he. ' They have murdered and plundered 
 the whole day. Why you went to all the trou- 
 ble of letting yourself be crucified in order to 
 gain such devotees, I can't in the least compre- 
 hend.' " 
 
 The knights took up the fun good-naturedly. 
 They began to laugh loud and merrily. 
 " What, fool ! Is Saint Peter so wroth with 
 us? " shrieked one of them. 
 
 " Be silent now, and let us hear if our Lord 
 spoke in our defense ! " interposed another. 
 
 " No, our Lord was silent. He knew of old 
 that when Saint Peter had once got a-going, it 
 wasn't worth while to argue with him. He 
 went on in his way, and said that our Lord 
 needn't trouble to tell him that finally they re- 
 membered to which city they had come, and 
 went to church barefooted and in penitents' 
 garb. That spirit had, of course, not lasted
 
 THE SACRED FLAME 237 
 
 long enough to be worth mentioning. And 
 thereupon he leaned once more over the tower 
 and pointed downward toward Jerusalem. He 
 pointed out the Christians' camp outside the 
 city. ' Do you see how your knights celebrate 
 their victories? ' he asked. And our Lord saw 
 that there was revelry everywhere in the camp. 
 Knights and soldiers sat and looked upon 
 Syrian dancers. Filled goblets went the rounds 
 while they threw dice for the spoils of war 
 and " 
 
 " They listened to fools who told vile 
 stories," interpolated Raniero. " Was not this 
 also a great sin? " 
 
 The fool laughed and shook his head at Ra- 
 niero, as much as to say, " Wait ! I will pay you 
 back." 
 
 " No, don't interrupt me ! " he begged once 
 again. " A poor fool forgets so easily what he 
 would say. Ah ! it was this : Saint Peter asked 
 our Lord if He thought these people were much 
 of a credit to Him. To this, of course, our 
 Lord had to reply that He didn't think they 
 were. 
 
 " ' They were robbers and murderers before 
 they left home, and robbers and murderers they 
 are even to-day. This undertaking you could 
 just as well have left undone. No good will 
 come of it,' said Saint Peter."
 
 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 " Come, come, fool ! " said Raniero in a 
 threatening tone. But the fool seemed to con- 
 sider it an honor to test how far he could go 
 without some one jumping up and throwing him 
 out, and he continued fearlessly. 
 
 " Our Lord only bowed His head, like one 
 who acknowledges that he is being justly re- 
 buked. But almost at the same instant He 
 leaned forward eagerly and peered down with 
 closer scrutiny than before. Saint Peter also 
 glanced down. ' What are you looking for? ' 
 he wondered." 
 
 The fool delivered this speech with much 
 animated facial play. All the knights saw our 
 Lord and Saint Peter before their eyes, and 
 they wondered what it was our Lord had 
 caught sight of. 
 
 " Our Lord answered that it was nothing in 
 particular," said the fool. " Saint Peter gazed 
 in the direction of our Lord's glance, but he 
 could discover nothing except that our Lord sat 
 and looked down into a big tent, outside of 
 which a couple of Saracen heads were set up on 
 long lances, and where a lot of fine rugs, golden 
 vessels, and costly weapons, captured in the 
 Holy City, were piled up. In that tent they 
 carried on as they did everywhere else in the 
 camp. A company of knights sat and emptied 
 their goblets. The only difference might be
 
 THE SACRED FLAME 239 
 
 that here there were more drinking and roy- 
 stering than elsewhere. Saint Peter could not 
 comprehend why our Lord was so pleased when 
 He looked down there, that His eyes fairly 
 sparkled with delight. So many hard and cruel 
 faces he had rarely before seen gathered around 
 a drinking table. And he who was host at the 
 board and sat at the head of the table was 
 the most dreadful of all. He was a man of 
 thirty-five, frightfully big and coarse, with a 
 blowsy countenance covered with scars and 
 scratches, calloused hands, and a loud, bellow- 
 ing voice." 
 
 Here the fool paused a moment, as if he 
 feared to go on, but both Raniero and the 
 others liked to hear him talk of themselves, and 
 only laughed at his audacity. " You're a dar- 
 ing fellow," said Raniero, " so let us see what 
 you are driving at ! " 
 
 " Finally, our Lord said a few words," con- 
 tinued the fool, " which made Saint Peter un- 
 derstand what He rejoiced over. He asked 
 Saint Peter if He saw wrongly, or if it could 
 actually be true that one of the knights had a 
 burning candle beside him." 
 
 Raniero gave a start at these words. Now, 
 at last, he was angry with the fool, and reached 
 out his hand for a heavy wine pitcher to throw 
 at his face, but he controlled himself that he
 
 240 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 might hear whether the fellow wished to speak 
 to his credit or discredit. 
 
 " Saint Peter saw now," narrated the fool, 
 " that, although the tent was lighted mostly by 
 torches, one of the knights really had a burning 
 wax candle beside him. It was a long, thick 
 candle, one of the sort made to burn twenty- 
 four hours. The knight, who had no candle- 
 stick to set it in, had gathered together some 
 stones and piled them around it, to make it 
 stand." 
 
 The company burst into shrieks of laughter 
 at this. All pointed at a candle which stood on 
 the table beside Raniero, and was exactly like 
 the one the fool had described. The blood 
 mounted to Raniero's head; for this was the 
 candle which he had a few hours before been 
 permitted to light at the Holy Sepulchre. He 
 had been unable to make up his mind to let it 
 die out. 
 
 " When Saint Peter saw that candle," said 
 the fool, " it dawned upon him what it was that 
 our Lord was so happy over, but at the same 
 time he could not help feeling just a little sorry 
 for Him. ' Oh,' he said, ' it was the same 
 knight that leaped upon the wall this morning 
 immediately after the gentleman of Boulogne, 
 and who this evening was permitted to light his 
 candle at the Holy Sepulchre ahead of all the
 
 THE SACRED FLAME 241 
 
 others. ' True ! ' said our Lord. ' And, as you 
 see, his candle is still burning.' ' 
 
 The fool talked very fast now, casting an 
 occasional sly glance at Raniero. " Saint Peter 
 could not help pitying our Lord. ' Can't you 
 understand why he keeps that candle burning? ' 
 said he. ' You must believe that he thinks of 
 your sufferings and death whenever he looks at 
 it. But he thinks only of the glory which he 
 won when he was acknowledged to be the 
 bravest man in the troop after Godfrey.' ' 
 
 At this all Raniero's guests laughed. Ra- 
 niero was very angry, but he, too, forced him- 
 self to laugh. He knew they would have found 
 it still more amusing if he hadn't been able to 
 take a little fun. 
 
 " But our Lord contradicted Saint Peter," 
 said the fool. " ' Don't you see how careful he 
 is with the light?' asked He. 'He puts his 
 hand before the flame as soon as any one raises 
 the tent-flap, for fear the draught will blow it 
 out. And he is constantly occupied in chasing 
 away the moths which fly around it and threaten 
 to extinguish it. ' 
 
 The laughter grew merrier and merrier, for 
 what the fool said was the truth. Raniero 
 found it more and more difficult to control him- 
 self. He felt he could not endure that any one 
 should jest about the sacred candle.
 
 242 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 " Still, Saint Peter was dubious," continued 
 the fool. " He asked our Lord if He knew that 
 knight. ' He's not one who goes often to Mass 
 or wears out the prie-dieu,' said he. But our 
 Lord could not be swerved from His opinion. 
 
 " ' Saint Peter, Saint Peter,' He said earnestly. 
 ' Remember that henceforth this knight shall 
 become more pious than Godfrey. Whence do 
 piety and gentleness spring, if not from my sep- 
 ulchre? You shall see Raniero di Raniero help 
 widows and distressed prisoners. You shall see 
 him care for the sick and despairing as he now 
 cares for the sacred candle flame.' ' 
 
 At this they laughed inordinately. It struck 
 them all as very ludicrous, for they knew Ra- 
 niero's disposition and mode of living. But he 
 himself found both the jokes and laughter in- 
 tolerable. He sprang to his feet and wanted to 
 reprove the fool. As he did this, he bumped so 
 hard against the table which was only a door 
 set up on loose boxes that it wabbled, and the 
 candle fell down. It was evident now how 
 careful Raniero was to keep the candle burning. 
 He controlled his anger and gave himself time 
 to pick it up and brighten the flame, before he 
 rushed upon the fool. But when he had 
 trimmed the light the fool had already darted 
 out of the tent, and Raniero knew it would be 
 useless to pursue him in the darkness. " I shall
 
 THE SACRED FLAME 243 
 
 probably run across him another time," he 
 thought, and sat down. 
 
 Meanwhile the guests had laughed mock- 
 ingly, and one of them turned to Raniero and 
 wanted to continue the jesting. He said: 
 " There is one thing, however, which is certain, 
 Raniero, and that is this time you can't send 
 to the Madonna in Florence the most precious 
 thing you have won in the battle." 
 
 Raniero asked why he thought that he should 
 not follow his old habit this time. 
 
 " For no other reason," said the knight, 
 " than that the most precious thing you have 
 won is that sacred candle flame, which you were 
 permitted to light at the church of the Holy 
 Sepulchre in presence of the whole corps. 
 Surely you can't send that to Florence ! " 
 
 Again the other knights laughed, but Ra- 
 niero was now in the mood to undertake the 
 wildest projects, just to put an end to their 
 laughter. He came to a conclusion quickly, 
 called to an old squire, and said to him : " Make 
 ready, Giovanni, for a long journey. To-mor- 
 row you shall travel to Florence with this sacred 
 candle flame." 
 
 But the squire said a blunt no to this com- 
 mand. " This is something which I don't care 
 to- undertake," he said. " How should it be 
 possible to travel to Florence with a candle
 
 244 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 flame? It would be extinguished before I had 
 left the camp." 
 
 Raniero asked one after another of his men. 
 He received the same reply from all. They 
 scarcely seemed to take his command seriously. 
 
 It was a foregone conclusion that the for- 
 eign knights who were his guests should laugh 
 even louder and more merrily, as it became ap- 
 parent that none of Raniero's men wished to 
 carry out his order. 
 
 Raniero grew more and more excited. 
 Finally he lost his patience and shouted: " This 
 candle flame shall nevertheless be borne to Flor- 
 ence; and since no one else will ride there with 
 it, I will do so myself! " 
 
 " Consider before you promise anything of 
 the kind!" said a knight. "You ride away 
 from a principality." 
 
 " I swear to you that I will carry this sacred 
 flame to Florence!" exclaimed Raniero. "I 
 shall do what no one else has cared to under- 
 take." 
 
 The old squire defended himself. " Mas- 
 ter, it's another matter for you. You can take 
 with you a large retinue but me you would send 
 alone." 
 
 But Raniero was clean out of himself, and 
 did not consider his words. " I, too, shall 
 travel alone," said he.
 
 THE SACRED FLAME 245 
 
 But with this declaration Raniero had car- 
 ried his point. Every one in the tent had 
 ceased laughing. Terrified, they sat and stared 
 at him. 
 
 "Why don't you laugh any more?" asked 
 Raniero. " This undertaking surely can't be 
 anything but a child's game for a brave man." 
 
 Ill 
 
 The next morning at dawn Raniero mounted 
 his horse. He was in full armor, but over 
 it he had thrown a coarse pilgrim cloak, 
 so that the iron dress should not become 
 overheated by exposure to the sun's rays. 
 He was armed with a sword and battle- 
 club, and rode a good horse. He held in his 
 hand a burning candle, and to the saddle he had 
 tied a couple of bundles of long wax candles, 
 so the flame should not die out for lack of 
 nourishment. 
 
 Raniero rode slowly through the long, en- 
 cumbered tent street, and thus far all went well. 
 It was still so early that the mists which had 
 arisen from the deep dales surrounding Jerusa- 
 lem were not dispersed, and Raniero rode for- 
 ward as in a white night. The whole troop 
 slept, and Raniero passed the guards easily. 
 None of them called out his name, for the mist
 
 246 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 prevented their seeing him, and the roads were 
 covered with a dust-like soil a foot high, which 
 made the horse's tramp inaudible. 
 
 Raniero was soon outside the camp and 
 started on the road which led to Joppa. Here 
 it was smoother, but he rode very slowly now, 
 because of the candle, which burned feebly in 
 the thick mist. Big insects kept dashing against 
 the flame. Raniero had all he could do guard- 
 ing it, but he was in the best of spirits and 
 thought all the while that the mission which he 
 had undertaken was so easy that a child could 
 manage it. 
 
 Meanwhile, the horse grew weary of the 
 slow pace, and began to trot. The flame began 
 to flicker in the wind. It didn't help that Ra- 
 niero tried to shield it with his hand and with 
 the cloak. He saw that it was about to be ex- 
 tinguished. 
 
 But he had no desire to abandon the project 
 so soon. He stopped the horse, sat still a mo- 
 ment, and pondered. Then he dismounted and 
 tried sitting backwards, so that his body 
 shielded the flame from the wind. In this way 
 he succeeded in keeping it burning; but he real- 
 ized now that the journey would be more diffi- 
 cult than he had thought at the beginning. 
 
 When he had passed the mountains which 
 surround Jerusalem, the fog lifted. He rode
 
 THE SACRED FLAME 247 
 
 forward now in the greatest solitude. There 
 were no people, houses, green trees, nor plants 
 only bare rocks. 
 
 Here Raniero was attacked by robbers. 
 They were idle folk, who followed the camp 
 without permission, and lived by theft and 
 plunder. They had lain in hiding behind a hill, 
 and Raniero who rode backwards had not 
 seen them until they had surrounded him and 
 brandished their swords at him. 
 
 There were about twelve men. They looked 
 wretched, and rode poor horses. Raniero saw 
 at once that it would not be difficult for him to 
 break through this company and ride on. And 
 after his proud boast of the night before, he 
 was unwilling to abandon his undertaking 
 easily. 
 
 He saw no other means of escape than to 
 compromise with the robbers. He told them 
 that, since he was armed and rode a good horse, 
 it might be difficult to overpower him if he de- 
 fended himself. And as he was bound by a 
 vow, he did not wish to offer resistance, but they 
 could take whatever they wanted, without a 
 struggle, if only they promised not to put out 
 his light. 
 
 The robbers had expected a hard struggle, 
 and were very happy over Raniero's proposal, 
 and began immediately to plunder him. They
 
 248 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 took from him armor and steed, weapons and 
 money. The only thing they let him keep was 
 the coarse cloak and the two bundles of wax 
 candles. They sacredly kept their promise, 
 also, not to put out the candle flame. 
 
 One of them mounted Raniero's horse. 
 When he noticed what a fine animal he was, he 
 felt a little sorry for the rider. He called out 
 to him : " Come, come, we must not be too cruel 
 toward a Christian. You shall have my old 
 horse to ride." 
 
 It was a miserable old screw of a horse. It 
 moved as stiffly, and with as much difficulty, as 
 if it were made of wood. 
 
 When the robbers had gone at last, and 
 Raniero had mounted the wretched horse, he 
 said to himself: " I must have become be- 
 witched by this candle flame. For its sake I 
 must now travel along the roads like a crazy 
 beggar." 
 
 He knew it would be wise for him to turn 
 back, because the undertaking was really im- 
 practicable. But such an intense yearning to 
 accomplish it had come over him that he could 
 not resist the desire to go on. Therefore, he 
 went farther. He saw all around him the same 
 bare, yellowish hills. 
 
 After a while he came across a goatherd, who 
 tended four goats. When Raniero saw the ani-
 
 THE SACRED FLAME 249 
 
 mals grazing on the barren ground, he won- 
 dered if they ate earth. 
 
 This goatherd had owned a larger flock, 
 which had been stolen from him by the Cru- 
 saders. When he noticed a solitary Christian 
 come riding toward him, he tried to do him all 
 the harm he could. He rushed up to him and 
 struck at his light with his staff. Raniero was 
 so taken up by the flame that he could not de- 
 fend himself even against a goatherd. He only 
 drew the candle close to him to protect it. The 
 goatherd struck at it several times more, then 
 he paused, astonished, and ceased striking. He 
 noticed that Raniero's cloak had caught fire, 
 but Raniero did nothing to smother the blaze, 
 so long as the sacred flame was in danger. The 
 goatherd looked as though he felt ashamed. 
 For a long time he followed Raniero, and in 
 one place, where the road was very narrow, 
 with a deep chasm on each side of it, he came 
 up and led the horse for him. 
 
 Raniero smiled and thought the goatherd 
 surely regarded him as a holy man who had 
 undertaken a voluntary penance. 
 
 Toward evening Raniero began to meet peo- 
 ple. Rumors of the fall of Jerusalem had al- 
 ready spread to the coast, and a throng of peo- 
 ple had immediately prepared to go up there. 
 There were pilgrims who for years had awaited
 
 250 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 an opportunity to get into Jerusalem, also some 
 newly-arrived troops; but they were mostly 
 merchants who were hastening with provisions. 
 
 When these throngs met Raniero, who came 
 riding backwards with a burning candle in his 
 hand, they cried: "A madman, a madman!" 
 
 The majority were Italians; and Raniero 
 heard how they shouted in his own tongue, 
 " Pazzo, pazzo ! " which means " a madman, 
 a madman." 
 
 Raniero, who had been able to keep himself 
 well in check all day, became intensely irritated 
 by these ever-recurring shouts. Instantly he 
 dismounted and began to chastise the offenders 
 with his hard fists. When they saw how heavy 
 the blows were, they took to their heels, and 
 Raniero soon stood alone on the road. 
 
 Now Raniero was himself again. " In truth 
 they were right to call me a madman," he said, 
 as he looked around for the light. He did not 
 know what he had done with it. At last he saw 
 that it had rolled down into a hollow. The 
 flame was extinguished, but he saw fire gleam 
 from a dry grass-tuft close beside it, and under- 
 stood that luck was with him, for the flame had 
 ignited the grass before it had gone out. 
 
 " This might have been an inglorious end of 
 a deal of trouble," he thought, as he lit the can- 
 dle and stepped into the saddle. He was rather
 
 THE SACREL) FLAME 251 
 
 mortified. It did not seem to him very prob- 
 able that his journey would be a success. 
 
 In the evening Raniero reached Ramie, and 
 rode up to a place where caravans usually had 
 night harbor. It was a large covered yard. 
 All around it were little stalls where travelers 
 could put up their horses. There were no 
 rooms, but folk could sleep beside the animals. 
 
 The place was overcrowded with people, yet 
 the host found room for Raniero and his horse. 
 He also gave fodder to the horse and food to 
 the rider. 
 
 When Raniero perceived that he was well 
 treated, he thought: " I almost believe the rob- 
 bers did me a service when they took from me 
 my armor and my horse. I shall certainly 
 get out of the country more easily with my light 
 burden, if they mistake me for a lunatic." 
 
 When he had led the horse into the stall, he 
 sat down on a sheaf of straw and held the can- 
 dle in his hands. It was his intention not to 
 fall asleep, but to remain awake all night. 
 
 But he had hardly seated himself when he 
 fell asleep. He was fearfully exhausted, and 
 in his sleep he stretched out full length and did 
 not wake till morning. 
 
 When he awoke he saw neither flame nor can- 
 dle. He searched in the straw for the candle, 
 but did not find it anywhere.
 
 252 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 " Some one has taken it from me and extin- 
 guished it," he said. He tried to persuade him- 
 self that he was glad that all was over, and that 
 he need not pursue an impossible undertaking. 
 
 But as he pondered, he felt a sense of empti- 
 ness and loss. He thought that never before 
 had he so longed to succeed in anything on 
 which he had set his mind. 
 
 He led the horse out and groomed and sad- 
 dled it. 
 
 When he was ready to set out, the host who 
 owned the caravansary came up to him with a 
 burning candle. He said in Prankish: " When 
 you fell asleep last night, I had to take your 
 light from you, but here you have it again." 
 
 Raniero betrayed nothing, but said very 
 calmly: " It was wise of you to extinguish it." 
 
 " I have not extinguished it," said the man. 
 " I noticed that it was burning when you ar- 
 rived, and I thought it was of importance to 
 you that it should continue to burn. If you see 
 how much it has decreased, you will understand 
 that it has been burning all night." 
 
 Raniero beamed with happiness. He com- 
 mended the host heartily, and rode away in the 
 best of spirits.
 
 THE SACRED FLAME 253 
 
 IV 
 
 When Raniero broke away from the camp 
 at Jerusalem, he intended to travel from Joppa 
 to Italy by sea, but changed his mind after he 
 had been robbed of his money, and concluded 
 to make the journey by land. 
 
 It was a long journey. From Joppa he went 
 northward along the Syrian coast. Then he 
 rode westward along the peninsula of Asia 
 Minor, then northward again, all the way to 
 Constantinople. From there he still had a mo- 
 notonously long distance to travel to reach 
 Florence. During the whole journey Raniero 
 had lived upon the contributions of the pious. 
 They that shared their bread with him mostly 
 were pilgrims who at this time traveled en 
 masse to Jerusalem. 
 
 Regardless of the fact that he nearly always 
 rode alone, his days were neither long nor mo- 
 notonous. He must always guard the candle 
 flame, and on its account he never could feel at 
 ease. It needed only a puff of breeze a rain- 
 drop and there would have been an end to it. 
 
 As Raniero rode over lonely roads, and 
 thought only about keeping the flame alive, it 
 occurred to him that once before he had been 
 concerned with something similar. Once be-
 
 254 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 fore he had seen a person watch over some- 
 thing which was just as sensitive as a candle 
 flame. 
 
 This recollection was so vague to him at first 
 that he wondered if it was something he had 
 dreamed. 
 
 But as he rode on alone through the country, 
 it kept recurring to him that he had participated 
 in something similar once before. 
 
 " It is as if all my life long I had heard tell 
 of nothing else," said he. 
 
 One evening he rode into a city. It was after 
 sundown, and the housewives stood in their 
 doorways and watched for their husbands. 
 Then he noticed one who was tall and slender, 
 and had earnest eyes. She reminded him of 
 Francesca degli Uberti. 
 
 Instantly it became clear to him what he had 
 been pondering over. He thought how Fran- 
 cesca's love had in truth been like a candle flame 
 which she had always wished to keep burning, 
 and which she had constantly feared that Ra- 
 niero would quench. He was astonished at this 
 thought, but grew more and more certain that 
 the matter stood thus. For the first time he be- 
 gan to apprehend why Francesca had left him, 
 and that it was not with feats of arms he should 
 win her back.
 
 THE SACRED FLAME 255 
 
 The journey which Raniero made was of 
 long duration. This was in part due to the fact 
 that he could not venture out when the weather 
 was bad. Then he sat in some caravansary, 
 and guarded the candle flame. These were 
 very trying days. 
 
 One day, when he rode over Mount Leba- 
 non, he saw that a storm was brewing. He was 
 riding high up among awful precipices, and a 
 frightful distance from any human abode. 
 Finally he saw on the summit of a rock the 
 tomb of a Saracen saint. It was a little square 
 stone structure with a vaulted roof. He thought 
 it best to seek shelter there. 
 
 He had barely entered when a snowstorm 
 came up, which raged for two days and nights. 
 At the same time it grew so cold that he came 
 near freezing to death. 
 
 Raniero knew that there were heaps of 
 branches and twigs out on the mountain, and it 
 would not have been difficult for him to gather 
 fuel for a fire. But he considered the candle 
 flame which he carried very sacred, and did not 
 wish to light anything from it, except the can- 
 dles before the Blessed Virgin's Altar. 
 
 The storm increased, and at last he heard 
 thunder and saw gleams of lightning. 
 
 Then came a flash which struck the mountain, 
 just in front of the tomb, and set fire to a tree.
 
 256 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 And in this way he was enabled to light his 
 fire without having to borrow of the sacred 
 flame. 
 
 
 
 As Raniero was riding on through a desolate 
 portion of the Cilician mountain district, his 
 candles were all used up. The candles which 
 he had brought with him from Jerusalem had 
 long since been consumed; but still he had been 
 able to manage because he had found Christian 
 communities all along the way, of whom he had 
 begged fresh candles. 
 
 But now his resources were exhausted, and 
 he thought that this would be the end of his 
 journey. 
 
 When the candle was so nearly burned out 
 that the flame scorched his hand, he jumped 
 from his horse and gathered branches and dry 
 leaves and lit these with the last of the flame. 
 But up on the mountain there was very little 
 that would ignite, and the fire would soon burn 
 out. 
 
 While he sat and grieved because the sacred 
 flame must die, he heard singing down the road, 
 and a procession of pilgrims came marching up 
 the steep path, bearing candles in their hands. 
 They were on their way to a grotto where a 
 holy man had lived, and Raniero followed 
 them. Among them was a woman who was
 
 THE SACRED FLAME 257 
 
 very old and had difficulty in walking, and Ra- 
 niero carried her up the mountain. 
 
 When she thanked him afterwards, he made 
 a sign to her that she should give him her can- 
 dle. She did so, and several others also pre- 
 sented him with the candles which they carried. 
 He extinguished the candles, hurried down the 
 steep path, and lit one of them with the last 
 spark from the fire lighted by the sacred flame. 
 
 One day at the noon hour it was very warm, 
 and Raniero had lain down to sleep in a thicket. 
 He slept soundly, and the candle stood beside 
 him between a couple of stones. When he had 
 been asleep a while, it began to rain, and this 
 continued for some time, without his waking. 
 When at last he was startled out of his sleep, 
 the ground around him was wet, and he hardly 
 dared glance toward the light, for fear it might 
 be quenched. 
 
 But the light burned calmly and steadily in 
 the rain, and Raniero saw that this was because 
 two little birds flew and fluttered just above the 
 flame. They caressed it with their bills, and 
 held their wings outspread, and in this way they 
 protected the sacred flame from the rain. 
 
 He took off his hood immediately, and hung 
 it over the candle. Thereupon he reached out 
 his hand for the two little birds, for he had
 
 258 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 been seized with a desire to pet them. Neither 
 of them flew away because of him, and he could 
 catch them. 
 
 He was very much astonished that the birds 
 were not afraid of him. " It is because they 
 know I have no thought except to protect that 
 which is the most sensitive of all, that they do 
 not fear me," thought he. 
 
 Raniero rode in the vicinity of Nicaea, in 
 Bithynia. Here he met some western gentle- 
 men who were conducting a party of recruits to 
 the Holy Land. In this company was Robert 
 Taillefer, who was a wandering knight and a 
 troubadour. 
 
 Raniero, in his torn cloak, came riding along 
 with the candle in his hand, and the warriors 
 began as usual to shout, " A madman, a mad- 
 man ! " But Robert silenced them, and ad- 
 dressed the rider. 
 
 " Have you journeyed far in this manner? " 
 he asked. 
 
 " I have ridden like this all the way from 
 Jerusalem," answered Raniero. 
 
 " Has your light been extinguished many 
 times during the journey?" 
 
 " Still burns the flame that lighted the can- 
 dle with which I rode away from Jerusalem," 
 responded Raniero.
 
 THE SACRED FLAME 259 
 
 Then Robert Taillefer said to him : " I am 
 also one of those who carry a light, and I would 
 that it burned always. But perchance you, 
 who have brought your light burning all the 
 way from Jerusalem, can tell me what I shall 
 do that it may not become extinguished? " 
 
 Then Raniero answered: " Master, it is a 
 difficult task, although it appears to be of slight 
 importance. This little flame demands of you 
 that you shall entirely cease to think of anything 
 else. It will not allow you to have any sweet- 
 heart in case you should desire anything of 
 the sort neither would you dare on account of 
 this flame to sit down at a revel. You can not 
 have aught else in your thoughts than just this 
 flame, and must possess no other happiness. 
 But my chief reason for advising you against 
 making the journey which I have weathered is 
 that you can not for an instant feel secure. It 
 matters not through how many perils you may 
 have guarded the flame, you can not for an in- 
 stant think yourself secure, but must ever ex- 
 pect that the very next moment it may fail 
 you." 
 
 But Robert Taillefer raised his head proudly 
 and answered: " What you have done for your 
 sacred flame I may do for mine." 
 
 Raniero arrived in Italy. One day he rode
 
 260 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 through lonely roads up among the mountains. 
 A woman came running after him and begged 
 him to give her a light from his candle. " The 
 fire in my hut is out," said she. " My children 
 are hungry. Give me a light that I may heat 
 my oven and bake bread for them ! " 
 
 She reached for the burning candle, but Ra- 
 niero held it back because he did not wish that 
 anything should be lighted by that flame but the 
 candles before the image of the Blessed Virgin. 
 
 Then the woman said to him : " Pilgrim, 
 give me a light, for the life of my children is 
 the flame which I am in duty bound to keep 
 burning! " And because of these words he per- 
 mitted her to light the wick of her lamp from 
 his flame. 
 
 Several hours later he rode into a town. It 
 lay far up on the mountain, where it was very 
 cold. A peasant stood in the road and saw the 
 poor wretch who came riding in his torn cloak. 
 Instantly he stripped off the short mantle which 
 he wore, and flung it to him. But the mantle 
 fell directly over the candle and extinguished 
 the flame. 
 
 Then Raniero remembered the woman who 
 had borrowed a light of him. He turned back 
 to her and had his candle lighted anew with 
 sacred fire. 
 
 When he was ready to ride farther, he said
 
 THE SACRED FLAME 261 
 
 to her: " You say that the sacred flame which 
 you must guard is the life of your children. Can 
 you tell me what name this candle's flame bears, 
 which I have carried over long roads? " 
 
 "Where was your candle lighted?" asked 
 the woman. 
 
 " It was lighted at Christ's sepulchre," said 
 Raniero. 
 
 " Then it can only be called Gentleness and 
 Love of Humanity," said she. 
 
 Raniero laughed at the answer. He thought 
 himself a singular apostle of virtues such as 
 these. 
 
 Raniero rode forward between beautiful blue 
 hills. He saw he was near Florence. He was 
 thinking that he must soon part with his light. 
 He thought of his tent in Jerusalem, which he 
 had left filled with trophies, and the brave sol- 
 diers who were still in Palestine, and who would 
 be glad to have him take up the business of war 
 once more, and bear them on to new conquests 
 and honors. 
 
 Then he perceived that he experienced no 
 pleasure in thinking of this, but that his 
 thoughts were drawn in another direction. 
 
 Then he realized for the first time that he 
 was no longer the same man that had gone from 
 Jerusalem. The ride with the sacred flame had
 
 262 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 compelled him to rejoice with all who were 
 peaceable and wise and compassionate, and to 
 abhor the savage and warlike. 
 
 He was happy every time he thought of peo- 
 ple who labored peacefully in their homes, and 
 it occurred to him that he would willingly move 
 into his old workshop in Florence and do beau- 
 tiful and artistic work. 
 
 " Verily this flame has recreated me," he 
 thought. " I believe it has made a new man 
 of me." 
 
 It was Eastertide when Raniero rode into 
 Florence. 
 
 He had scarcely come in through the city 
 gate riding backwards, with his hood drawn 
 down over his face and the burning candle in 
 his hand when a beggar arose and shouted 
 the customary " Pazzo, pazzo! " 
 
 At this cry a street gamin darted out of a 
 doorway, and a loafer, who had had nothing 
 else to do for a long time than to lie and gaze 
 at the clouds, jumped to his feet. Both began 
 shouting the same thing: "Pazzo, pazzo!" 
 
 Now that there were three who shrieked, 
 they made a good deal of noise and so woke up 
 all the street urchins. They came rushing out 
 from nooks and corners. As soon as they saw
 
 THE SACRED FLAME 263 
 
 Raniero, in his torn coat, on the wretched horse, 
 they shouted: " Pazzo, pazzo! " 
 
 But this was only what Raniero was accus- 
 tomed to. He rode quietly up the street, seem- 
 ing not to notice the shouters. 
 
 Then they were not content with merely 
 shouting, but one of them jumped up and tried 
 to blow out the light. Raniero raised the can- 
 dle on high, trying at the same time to prod his 
 horse, to escape the boys. 
 
 They kept even pace with him, and did 
 everything they could to put out the light. 
 
 The more he exerted himself to protect the 
 flame the more excited they became. They 
 leaped upon one another's backs, puffed their 
 cheeks out, and blew. They flung their caps at 
 the candle. It was only because they were so 
 numerous and crowded on one another that 
 they did not succeed in quenching the flame. 
 
 This was the largest procession on the street. 
 People stood at the windows and laughed. No 
 one felt any sympathy with a madman, who 
 wanted to defend his candle flame. It was 
 church hour, and many worshipers were on 
 their way to Mass. They, too, stopped and 
 laughed at the sport. 
 
 But now Raniero stood upright in the saddle, 
 so that he could shield the candle. He looked 
 wild. The hood tad fallen back and they saw
 
 264 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 his face, which was wasted and pale, like a mar- 
 tyr's. The candle he held uplifted as high as 
 he could. 
 
 The entire street was one great swarm of 
 people. Even the older ones began to take part 
 in the play. The women waved their head- 
 shawls and the men swung their caps. Every 
 one worked to extinguish the light. 
 
 Raniero rode under the vine-covered balcony 
 of a house. Upon this stood a woman. She 
 leaned over the lattice-work, snatched the can- 
 dle, and ran in with it. The woman was Fran- 
 cesca degli Uberti. 
 
 The whole populace burst into shrieks of 
 laughter and shouts, but Raniero swayed in his 
 saddle and fell to the street. 
 
 As soon as he lay there stricken and uncon- 
 scious, the street was emptied of people. 
 
 No one wished to take charge of the fallen 
 man. His horse was the only creature that 
 stopped beside him. 
 
 As soon as the crowds had got away from the 
 street, Francesca degli Uberti came out from 
 her house, with the burning candle in her hand. 
 She was still pretty; her features were gentle, 
 and her eyes were deep and earnest. 
 
 She went up to Raniero and bent over him. 
 He lay senseless, but the instant the candle light 
 fell upon his face, he moved and roused him-
 
 THE SACRED FLAME 265 
 
 self. It was apparent that the candle flame had 
 complete power over him. When Francesca 
 saw that he had regained his senses, she said: 
 " Here is your candle. I snatched it from you, 
 as I saw how anxious you were to keep it 
 burning. I knew of no other way to help 
 you." 
 
 Raniero had had a bad fall, and was hurt. 
 But now nothing could hold him back. He 
 began to raise himself slowly. He wanted to 
 walk, but wavered, and was about to fall. Then 
 he tried to mount his horse. Francesca helped 
 him. " Where do you wish to go? " she asked 
 when he sat in the saddle again. " I want to 
 go to the cathedral," he answered. " Then I 
 shall accompany you," she said, " for I'm going 
 to Mass." And she led the horse for him. 
 
 Francesca had recognized Raniero the very 
 moment she saw him, but he did not see who 
 she was, for he did not take time to notice her. 
 He kept his gaze fixed upon the candle flame 
 alone. 
 
 They were absolutely silent all the way. Ra- 
 niero thought only of the flame, and of guard- 
 ing it well these last moments. Francesca could 
 not speak, for she felt she did not wish to be 
 certain of that which she feared. She could not 
 believe but that Raniero had come home insane. 
 Although she was almost certain of this, she
 
 266 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 would rather not speak with him, in order to 
 avoid any positive assurance. 
 
 After a while Raniero heard some one weep 
 near him. He looked around and saw that it 
 was Francesca degli Uberti, who walked beside 
 him; and she wept. But Raniero saw her only 
 for an instant, and said nothing to her. He 
 wanted to think only of the sacred flame. 
 
 Raniero let her conduct him to the sacristy. 
 There he dismounted. He thanked Francesca 
 for her help, but looked all the while not upon 
 her, but on the light. He walked alone up to 
 the priests in the sacristy. 
 
 Francesca went into the church. It was Eas- 
 ter Eve, and all the candles stood unlighted 
 upon the altars, as a symbol of mourning. 
 Francesca thought that every flame of hope 
 which had ever burned within her was now 
 extinguished. 
 
 In the church there was profound solemnity. 
 There were many priests at the altar. The 
 canons sat in a body in the chancel, with the 
 bishop among them. 
 
 By and by Francesca noticed there was com- 
 motion among the priests. Nearly all who were 
 not needed to serve at Mass arose and went 
 out into the sacristy. Finally the bishop went, 
 too. 
 
 When Mass was over, a priest stepped up to
 
 THE SACRED FLAME 267 
 
 ne chancel railing and began to speak to the 
 'people. He related that Raniero di Raniero 
 had arrived in Florence with sacred fire from 
 Jerusalem. He narrated what the rider had 
 endured and suffered on the way. And he 
 praised him exceeding much. 
 
 The people sat spellbound and listened to 
 this. Francesca had never before experienced 
 such a blissful moment. " O God! " she sighed, 
 " this is greater happiness than I can bear." 
 Her tears fell as she listened. 
 
 The priest talked long and well. Finally he 
 said in a strong, thrilling voice : " It may per- 
 chance appear like a trivial thing now, that a 
 candle flame has been brought to Florence. 
 But I say to you: Pray God that He will send 
 Florence many bearers of Eternal Light; then 
 she will become a great power, and be extolled 
 as a city among cities ! " 
 
 When the priest had finished speaking, the 
 entrance doors of the church were thrown open, 
 and a procession of canons and monks and 
 priests marched up the center aisle toward the 
 altar. The bishop came last, and by his side 
 walked Raniero, in the same cloak that he had 
 worn during the entire journey. 
 
 But when Raniero had crossed the threshold 
 of the cathedral, an old man arose and walked 
 toward him. It was Oddo, the father of the
 
 268 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 journeyman who had once worked for Ranierr 
 and had hanged himself because of him. 
 
 When this man had come up to the bishop 
 and Raniero, he bowed to them. Thereupon 
 he said in such a loud voice that all in the 
 church heard him : " It is a great thing for 
 Florence that Raniero has come with sacred fire 
 from Jerusalem. Such a thing has never before 
 been heard of or conceived. For that reason 
 perhaps there may be many who will say that it 
 is not possible. Therefore, I beg that all the 
 people may know what proofs and witnesses 
 Raniero has brought with him, to assure us that 
 this is actually fire which was lighted in Jeru- 
 salem." 
 
 When Raniero heard this he said: "God 
 help me! how can I produce witnesses? I have 
 made the journey alone. Deserts and mountain 
 wastes must come and testify for me." 
 
 " Raniero is an honest knight," said the 
 bishop, " and we believe him on his word." 
 
 ; ' Raniero must know himself that doubts 
 will arise as to this," said Oddo. " Surely, he 
 can not have ridden entirely alone. His little 
 pages could certainly testify for him." 
 
 Then Francesca degli Uberti rushed up to 
 Raniero. "Why need we witnesses?" said 
 she. " All the women in Florence would swear 
 on oath that Raniero speaks the truth! "
 
 THE SACRED FLAME 269 
 
 Then Raniero smiled, and his countenance 
 brightened for a moment. Thereupon he 
 turned his thoughts and his gaze once more 
 upon the candle flame. 
 
 There was great commotion in the church. 
 Some said that Raniero should not be allowed 
 to light the candles on the altar until his claim 
 was substantiated. With this many of his old 
 enemies sided. 
 
 Then Jacopo degli Uberti rose and spoke in 
 Raniero's behalf. " I believe every one here 
 knows that no very great friendship has existed 
 between my son-in-law and me," he said; " but 
 now both my sons and I will answer for him. 
 We believe he has performed this task, and we 
 know that one who has been disposed to carry 
 out such an undertaking is a wise, discreet, and 
 noble-minded man, whom we are glad to re- 
 ceive among us." 
 
 But Oddo and many others were not disposed 
 to let him taste of the bliss he was yearning for. 
 They got together in a close group and it was 
 easy to see that they did not care to withdraw 
 their demand. 
 
 Raniero apprehended that if this should de- 
 velop into a fight, they would immediately try 
 to get at the candle. As he kept his eyes stead- 
 ily fixed upon his opponents, he raised the can- 
 dle as high as he could.
 
 270 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 He looked exhausted in the extreme, and dis- 
 traught. One could see that, although he 
 wished to hold out to the very last, he expected 
 defeat. What mattered it to him now if he 
 were permitted to light the candles? Oddo's 
 word had been a death-blow. When doubt was 
 once awakened, it would spread and increase. 
 He fancied that Oddo had already extinguished 
 the sacred flame forever. 
 
 A little bird came fluttering through the 
 great open doors into the church. It flew 
 straight into Raniero's light. He hadn't time 
 to snatch it aside, and the bird dashed against 
 it and put out the flame. 
 
 Raniero's arm dropped, and tears sprang to 
 his eyes. The first moment he felt this as a sort 
 of relief. It was better thus than if human be- 
 ings had killed it. 
 
 The little bird continued its flight into 
 the church, fluttering confusedly hither and 
 thither, as birds do when they come into a 
 room. 
 
 Simultaneously a loud cry resounded 
 throughout the church: "The bird is on fire! 
 The sacred candle flame has set its wings on 
 fire!" 
 
 The little bird chirped anxiously. For a few 
 moments it fluttered about, like a flickering 
 flame, under the high chancel arches. Then it
 
 THE SACRED FLAME 271 
 
 sank suddenly and dropped dead upon the Ma- 
 donna's Altar. 
 
 But the moment the bird fell upon the Altar, 
 Raniero was standing there. He had forced 
 his way through the church, no one had been 
 able to stop him. From the sparks which de- 
 stroyed the bird's wings he lit the candles be- 
 fore the Madonna's Altar. 
 
 Then the bishop raised his staff and pro- 
 claimed: "God willed it! God hath testified 
 for him ! " 
 
 And all the people in the church, both his 
 friends and opponents, abandoned their doubts 
 and conjectures. They cried as with one voice, 
 transported by God's miracle: " God willed it! 
 God hath testified for him ! " 
 
 Of Raniero there is now only a legend, which 
 says he enjoyed great good fortune for the re- 
 mainder of his days, and was wise, and prudent, 
 and compassionate. But the people of Florence 
 always called him Pazzo degli Ranieri, in re- 
 membrance of the fact that they had believed 
 him insane. And this became his honorary 
 title. He founded a dynasty, which was named 
 Pazzi, and is called so even to this day. 
 
 It might also be worth mentioning that it 
 became a custom in Florence, each year at Eas- 
 ter Eve, to celebrate a festival in memory of 
 Raniero's home-coming with the sacred flame,
 
 272 CHRIST LEGENDS 
 
 and that, on this occasion, they always let an 
 artificial bird fly with fire through the dome. 
 This festival would most likely have been cele- 
 brated even in our day had not some changes 
 taken place recently. 
 
 But if it is true, as many hold, that the bearers 
 of sacred fire who have lived in Florence, and 
 have made the city one of the most glorious on 
 earth, have taken Raniero as their model, and 
 have thereby been encouraged to sacrifice and 
 suffer and endure, this may here be left untold. 
 
 For what has been done by this light, which 
 in dark times has gone out from Jerusalem, can 
 neither be measured nor counted. 
 
 THE END
 
 By Mary W. Plummer 
 
 Director of the Pratt Institute Library School 
 
 Stories of Modern Travel 
 
 For boys and girls from 10 to 16 years 
 
 With maps and illustrations from photographs, na- 
 tional songs with music, and index. Large I2mo, each 
 $1.75 net; by mail, $1.90. Each in special library bind- 
 ings, 10 cents net additional. 
 
 ROY AND RAY IN CANADA 
 
 The volume embodies very much that is interesting 
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 spend a summer in Mexico. The book tells from the 
 children's standpoint what they see and do, and what 
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 STORIES FOR GIRLS 
 
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 THE ADOPTING OF ROSA MARIE 
 
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 Publishers New York
 
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 ILLUSTRATED BY VICTOR PERARD. Each, $1.50 
 
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 solutely devoid of straining for glamor, be found of 
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 "Wholesomely exciting . . . stands for real manliness." Chris- 
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 Dick Carew, a likable young fellow of sixteen, joins 
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 By HENRY GARDNER HUNTING 
 WITTER WHITEHEAD'S OWN STORY 
 
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 Illustrated by H. S. DeLAY. $1.25 
 
 i For boys from 9 to 16) 
 
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 THE CAVE OF THE BOTTOMLESS POOL 
 
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 MISS CONSTANCE D'ARCY MACKAY'S 
 
 THE HOUSE OF THE HEART 
 
 AND OTHER PLAYS FOR CHILDREN 
 
 i6mo. Probable price $1.25 net 
 
 Ten short plays in verse, some of them suited to out- 
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 THE SECRET OF OLD 
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 out, and of hidden treasure. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY VICTOR PERARD. 81.50 
 
 Among the exciting chapters may be mentioned Left 
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 In the American Nature Series 
 
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 INSECT STORIES 
 
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 THE FRESH-WATER AQUARIUM AND ITS 
 
 INHABITANTS 
 
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 STANDARD CYCLOPAEDIAS FOR YOUNG OR C T JD 
 
 CHAMPLIN'S 
 
 YOUNG FOLKS' CYCLOPEDIAS 
 
 By JOHN D. CHAMPLIN 
 
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