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