The Hazel-Branch

One afternoon the Christ-child had laid himself in his cradle-bed and
had fallen asleep. Then his mother came to him, looked at him full of
gladness, and said, "Hast thou laid thyself down to sleep, my child?
Sleep sweetly, and in the meantime I will go into the wood, and fetch
thee a handful of strawberries, for I know that thou wilt be pleased
with them when thou awakest." In the wood outside, she found a spot
with the most beautiful strawberries; but as she was stooping down to
gather one, an adder sprang up out of the grass. She was alarmed, left
the strawberries where they were, and hastened away. The adder darted
after her; but Our Lady, as you can readily understand, knew what it
was best to do. She hid herself behind a hazel-bush, and stood there
until the adder had crept away again. Then she gathered the
strawberries, and as she set out on her way home she said, "As the
hazel-bush has been my protection this time, it shall in future protect
others also." Therefore, from the most remote times, a green
hazel-branch has been the safest protection against adders, snakes, and
everything else which creeps on the earth.
