Jesus'command, he began to weep. He tore his hair, as he had seen his eldersdo when they were in great trouble, and he threw himself at Jesus' feet.
Judas lay there and rolled in the dust before Jesus like a dog, andkissed his feet and begged that he would raise his foot and crush him,as he had done with the clay cuckoos. For Judas loved Jesus and admiredand worshiped him, and at the same time hated him.
Mary, who sat all the while and watched the children's play, came up andlifted Judas in her arms and seated him on her lap, and caressed him.
"You poor child!" she said to him, "you do not know that you haveattempted something which no mortal can accomplish. Don't engage inanything of this kind again, if you do not wish to become the unhappiestof mortals! What would happen to any one of us who undertook to competewith one who paints with sunbeams and blows the breath of life into deadclay?"
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In the Temple]
IN THE TEMPLE
Once there was a poor family--a man, his wife, and their little son--whowalked about in the big Temple at Jerusalem. The son was such a prettychild! He had hair which fell in long, even curls, and eyes that shonelike stars.
The son had not been in the Temple since he was big enough to comprehendwhat he saw; and now his parents showed him all its glories. There werelong rows of pillars and gilded altars; there were holy men who sat andinstructed their pupils; there was the high priest with his breastplateof precious stones. There were the curtains from Babylon, interwovenwith gold roses; there were the great copper gates, which were so heavythat it was hard work for thirty men to swing them back and forth ontheir hinges.
But the little boy, who was only twelve years old, did not care verymuch about seeing all this. His mother told him that that which sheshowed him was the most marvelous in all the world. She told him that itwould probably be a long time before he should see anything like itagain. In the poor town of Nazareth, where they lived, there was nothingto be seen but gray streets.
Her exhortations did not help matters much. The little boy looked asthough he would willingly have run away from the magnificent Temple, ifinstead he could have got out and played on the narrow street inNazareth.
But it was singular that the more indifferent the boy appeared, the morepleased and happy were the parents. They nodded to each other over hishead, and were thoroughly satisfied.
At last, the little one looked so tired and bored that the mother feltsorry for him. "Now we have walked too far with you," said she. "Come,you shall rest a while."
She sat down beside a pillar and told him to lie down on the ground andrest his head on her knee. He did so, and fell asleep instantly.
He had barely closed his eyes when the wife said to the husband: "I havenever feared anything so much as the moment when he should come here toJerusalem's Temple. I believed that when he saw this house of God, hewould wish to stay here forever."
"I, too, have been afraid of this journey," said the man. "At the timeof his birth, many signs and wonders appeared which betokened that hewould become a great ruler. But what could royal honors bring him exceptworries and dangers? I have always said that it would be best, both forhim and for us, if he never became anything but a carpenter inNazareth."
"Since his fifth year," said the mother reflectively, "no miracles havehappened around him. And he does not recall any of the wonders whichoccurred during his early childhood. Now he is exactly like a childamong other children. God's will be done above all else! But I havealmost begun to hope that our Lord in His mercy will choose another forthe great destinies, and let me keep my son with me."
"For my part," said the man, "I am certain that if he learns nothing ofthe signs and wonders which occurred during his first years, then allwill go well."
"I never speak with him about any of these marvels," said the wife. "ButI fear all the while that, without my having aught to do with it,something will happen which will make him understand who he is. I fearedmost of all to bring him to this Temple."
"You may be glad that the danger is over now," said the man. "We shallsoon have him back home in Nazareth."
"I have feared the wise men in the Temple," said the woman. "I havedreaded the soothsayers who sit here on their rugs. I believed that whenhe should come to their notice, they would stand up and bow before thechild, and greet him as Judea's King. It is singular that they do notnotice his beauty. Such a child has never before come under their eyes."She sat in silence a moment and regarded the child. "I can hardlyunderstand it," said she. "I believed that when he should see thesejudges, who sit in the house of the Holy One and settle the people'sdisputes, and these teachers who talk with their pupils, and thesepriests who serve the Lord, he would wake up and say: 'It is here, amongthese judges, these teachers, these priests, that I am born to live.'"
"What happiness would there be for him to sit shut in between thesepillar-aisles?" interposed the man. "It is better for him to roam on thehills and mountains round about Nazareth."
The mother sighed a little. "He is so happy at home with us!" said she."How contented he seems when he can follow the shepherds on their lonelywanderings, or when he can go out in the fields and see the husbandmenlabor. I can not believe that we are treating him wrongly, when we seekto keep him for ourselves."
"We only spare him the greatest suffering," said the man.
They continued talking together in this strain until the child awokefrom his slumber.
"Well," said the mother, "have you had a good rest? Stand up now, for itis drawing on toward evening, and we must return to the camp."
They were in the most remote part of the building and so began the walktowards the entrance.
They had to go through an old arch which had been there ever since thetime when the first Temple was erected on this spot; and near the arch,propped against a wall, stood an old copper trumpet, enormous in lengthand weight, almost like a pillar to raise to the mouth and play upon. Itstood there dented and battered, full of dust and spiders' webs, insideand outside, and covered with an almost invisible tracing of ancientletters. Probably a thousand years had gone by since any one had triedto coax a tone out of it.
But when the little boy saw the huge trumpet, he stopped--astonished!"What is that?" he asked.
"That is the great trumpet called the Voice of the Prince of thisWorld," replied the mother. "With this, Moses called together theChildren of Israel, when they were scattered over the wilderness. Sincehis time no one has been able to coax a single tone from it. But he whocan do this, shall gather all the peoples of earth under his dominion."
She smiled at this, which she believed to be an old myth; but the littleboy remained standing beside the big trumpet until she called him. Thistrumpet was the first thing he had seen in the Temple that he liked.
They had not gone far before they came to a big, wide Temple-court.Here, in the mountain-foundation itself, was a chasm, deep andwide--just as it had been from time immemorial. This chasm King Solomonhad not wished to fill in when he built the Temple. No bridge had beenlaid over it; no inclosure had he built around the steep abyss. Butinstead, he had stretched across it a sword of steel, several feet long,sharpened, and with the blade up. And after ages and ages and manychanges, the sword still lay across the chasm. Now it had almost rustedaway. It was no longer securely fastened at the ends, but trembled androcked as soon as any one walked with heavy steps in the Temple Court.
When the mother took the boy in a roundabout way past the chasm, heasked: "What bridge is this?"
"It was placed there by King Solomon," answered the mother, "and we callit Paradise Bridge. If you can cross the chasm on this trembling bridge,whose surface is thinner than a sunbeam, then you can be sure of gettingto Paradise."
She smiled and moved away; but the boy stood still and looked at thenarrow, trembling steel blade until she called him.
When he obeyed her, she sighed because she had not shown hi
m these tworemarkable things sooner, so that he might have had sufficient time toview them.
Now they walked on without being detained, till they came to the greatentrance portico with its columns, five-deep. Here, in a corner, weretwo black marble pillars erected on the same foundation, and so close toeach other that hardly a straw could be squeezed in between them. Theywere tall and majestic, with richly ornamented capitals around which rana row of peculiarly formed beasts' heads. And there was not an inch onthese beautiful pillars that did not bear marks and scratches. They wereworn and damaged like nothing else in the Temple. Even the floor aroundthem was worn smooth, and was somewhat hollowed out from the wear ofmany feet.
Once more the boy stopped his mother and asked: "What pillars
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