19 lines
1.1 KiB
Text
19 lines
1.1 KiB
Text
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.
|