Next morning, when the loss was reported abroad, all the people cried
loudly, “The Queen is a man-eater. She must be judged,” and the King
was no longer able to restrain his councillors. Thereupon a trial was
held, and as she could not answer, and defend herself, she was
condemned to be burnt alive. The wood was got together, and when she
was fast bound to the stake, and the fire began to burn round about
her, the hard ice of pride melted, her heart was moved by repentance,
and she thought, “If I could but confess before my death that I opened
the door.” Then her voice came back to her, and she cried out loudly,
“Yes, Mary, I did it;” and straight-way rain fell from the sky and
extinguished the flames of fire, and a light broke forth above her, and
the Virgin Mary descended with the two little sons by her side, and the
new-born daughter in her arms. She spoke kindly to her, and said, “He
who repents his sin and acknowledges it, is forgiven.” Then she gave
her the three children, untied her tongue, and granted her happiness
for her whole life.
4 The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was
A certain father had two sons, the elder of whom was smart and
sensible, and could do everything, but the younger was stupid and could
neither learn nor understand anything, and when people saw him they
said, “There’s a fellow who will give his father some trouble!” When
anything had to be done, it was always the elder who was forced to do
it; but if his father bade him fetch anything when it was late, or in
the night-time, and the way led through the churchyard, or any other
dismal place, he answered “Oh, no, father, I’ll not go there, it makes
me shudder!” for he was afraid. Or when stories were told by the fire
at night which made the flesh creep, the listeners sometimes said “Oh,
it makes us shudder!” The younger sat in a corner and listened with the
rest of them, and could not imagine what they could mean. “They are
always saying ‘it makes me shudder, it makes me shudder!’ It does not
make me shudder,” thought he. “That, too, must be an art of which I
understand nothing.”
Now it came to pass that his father said to him one day “Hearken to me,
thou fellow in the corner there, thou art growing tall and strong, and
thou too must learn something by which thou canst earn thy living. Look
how thy brother works, but thou dost not even earn thy salt.” “Well,
father,” he replied, “I am quite willing to learn something—indeed, if
it could but be managed, I should like to learn how to shudder. I don’t
understand that at all yet.” The elder brother smiled when he heard
that, and thought to himself, “Good God, what a blockhead that brother
of mine is! He will never be good for anything as long as he lives. He
who wants to be a sickle must bend himself betimes.”
The father sighed, and answered him “thou shalt soon learn what it is
to shudder, but thou wilt not earn thy bread by that.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account