The chapter of the Koran entitled “Mary” tells how a palm tree near the birthplace of Jesus miraculously let fall its ripe dates in order to satisfy His mother’s hunger. Practically all early Moslem visitors to Palestine speak of seeing this tree and note the fact of its being the only one of the kind growing in the district. This made the miracle even more marvellous, as date-palms have to be artificially cross-fertilized before their fruit will come to maturity. * * * * * A twelfth century pilgrim tells us that “every year in the middle of the night, at the hour when Christ was born, all the trees about the city of Bethlehem bow their branches down to the ground toward the place where Christ was born, and when the sun rises, gradually raise them up again.” * * * * * About a mile outside of Bethlehem is still pointed out the “Field of Peas,” but the story of the origin of these small, round stones has undergone a number of variations. This is the way it was told to Henry Maundrell, who visited Palestine about the year 1700. [Illustration: ST. JEROME AND THE LION From the painting by Rubens ] “Near this Monument (Rachel’s Tomb) is a little piece of ground in which are picked up a little sort of small round Stones, exactly resembling Pease: Concerning which they have a tradition here, that they were once truly what they now seem to be; but the Blessed Virgin petrify’d them by a Miracle, in punishment to a surly Rustick, who deny’d her the Charity of a handful of them to relieve her hunger.” * * * * * According to a mediæval biography, St. Jerome was one day studying in his cell at Bethlehem, when there entered an enormous lion, limping from an injured paw. The tender-hearted saint bound up the wound, which speedily healed, whereupon the great beast was overwhelmed with gratitude and attached himself permanently to his deliverer. The lion followed Jerome about everywhere like a dog, and slept at the feet of the holy man while he was pursuing his Scriptural studies. Upon occasion, however, the complacent creature was not above minding the monastery donkey when it was put out to pasture, or even acting as a beast of burden; while at night the fearful roar of the saint’s protector brought terror to the hearts of any evil-doers who might be prowling near the monastery grounds. The story was accepted without question during the Middle Ages, and many a valiant Crusader was willing to make oath that he had seen the ghosts of the saint and his attendant lion strolling silently among the hilltops of Judea in the midnight shadows. * * * * * A whole group of legends tell of the miraculous deliverances of the Church of the Nativity from destruction by the Moslems.