Jesus Christ -- Fiction; Jesus Christ -- Juvenile fiction; Short stories
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 railing.
Then she was frightened. She rushed over and seized hold of the child.
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 impatiently: “Let no more come to
pester me! I have already said it often enough. The great Prophet is not
here. Pilate has killed him.”
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 balustrade 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. It
looked as though a distinguished traveler might have landed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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