The Child and Childhood in Folk-Thought: Studies of the Activities and Influences of the Child Among Primitive Peoples, Their Analogues and Survivals in the Civilization of To-DayChamberlain, Alexander Francis
Science
The Child and Childhood in Folk-Thought: Studies of the Activities and Influences of the Child Among Primitive Peoples, Their Analogues and Survivals in the Civilization of To-Day
Chamberlain, Alexander Francis
Child rearing; Children -- Folklore; Folklore and children
"The eldest of the seven princesses first discovered the little ark and
carried it to the bank to open it. On her removing the lid, there beamed
a light upon her, which her eyes were not able to endure. She cast a
veil over Moses, but at that instant her own face, which hitherto had
been covered with scars and sores of all the most hideous colours
imaginable, shone like the moon in its brightness and purity, and her
sisters exclaimed in amazement, 'By what means hast thou been so
suddenly freed from leprosy?' 'By the miraculous power of this child,'
replied the eldest. The glance which beamed upon me when I beheld it
unveiled, has chased away the impurity of my body, as the rising sun
scatters the gloom of night.' The six sisters, one after the other, now
lifted the veil from Moses' face, and they, too, became fair as if they
had been formed of the finest silver. The eldest then took the ark upon
her head, and carried it to her mother, Asia, relating to her in how
miraculous a manner both she and her sisters had been healed."
We also learn that when Moses was six years old, being teased by Pharaoh
until he was angry, he kicked the throne over so that the king fell and
injured himself so that he bled at the mouth and nose. The intercession
of Asia and the seven princesses seemed vain, and the king was about to
thrust Moses through with his sword, when "there flew a white cock
toward the king, and cried: 'Pharaoh, if thou spill the blood of this
child, thy daughters shall be more leprous than before.' Pharaoh cast a
glance upon the princesses; and, as if from dread and fright, their
faces were already suffused with a ghastly yellow, he desisted again
from his bloody design" (547. 127).
_Child-Saints._
To other heroes, kings, saints, the power to heal which characterized
their years of discretion is often ascribed to them in childhood,
especially where and when it happens that the same individual is
prophet, priest, and king. In the unnumbered miracles of the Church
children have often figured. Lupellus, in his life of St. Frodibert
(seventh century A.D.), says: "When Frodibert was a mere child he cured
his mother's blindness, as, in the fulness of love and pity, he kissed
her darkened eyes, and signed them with the sign of the cross. Not only
was her sight restored, but it was keener than ever" (191. 45). Of St.
Patrick (373-464 A.D.) it is told: "On the day of his baptism he gave
sight to a man born blind; the blind man took hold of the babe's hand,
and with it made on the ground a sign of the cross." Another account
makes the miracle a triple one: "A blind man, taking hold of St.
Patrick's right hand, guided it into making on the ground a cross, when
instantly three miracles ensued: (1) A spring of water bubbled from the
dry ground; (2) the blind man, bathing his eyes with this water,
received his sight; and (3) the man, who before could neither write nor
read, was instantly inspired with both these gifts" (191. 237).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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