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