The Flower o' the World AsleepThe Flower o' the World Asleep
The Sultan nodded, so the attendant called the beggar youth and the Sultan asked him would he go to the Warrior Princess as the Youngest Prince.
"Allah alone knows where my Youngest Son is," the Sultan said, "but he is just about your age and if you were washed and anointed and dressed in fitting garments you would not be unlike him."
The beggar youth said he would go but he insisted on going just as he was. The Sultan begged him to go dressed as a prince or the Flower o' the World might not receive him.
"No," said the youth, "I shall go as a beggar or not at all. It is for the Flower o' the World to know me whether or not I am the Sultan's Youngest Son and the man who stole from her the Nightingale Gisar."
So he went as he was to the tent of the Flower o' the World and her warriors when they saw him coming said to the Princess:
"This Sultan mocks you and sends you a beggar when you demand his Third Son."
But the Flower o' the World ordered them all out and bade the beggar enter alone. She looked at him long and steadily and she saw through his rags thathe was indeed a noble youth with a body made strong and beautiful through exercise and toil and she thought to herself:
"It were not a hard fate to marry this youth!"
Then she questioned him:
"Are you the Sultan's Third Son?"
"I am."
"Then why are you dressed as a beggar?"
"Because I was set upon at the crossroads and beaten insensible and my clothes torn to rags. I was coming home with the Nightingale Gisar in my hands and I lay down at the roadside to rest while I awaited the coming of my brothers. When I awoke to consciousness the Nightingale and its golden cage were gone. I came home to my father's city as a beggar and there they told me that my brothers had come just before me bringing with them the Nightingale and boasting of the perils they had been through and the dangers they had faced. But the Nightingale, they told me, hanging in its golden cage beside the fountain, was silent. Yet when I went to the mosque it always sang."
The Warrior Princess looked deep into his eyes and knew that he was speaking truth. Her heart was touched with compassion at the wrong he had sufferedfrom his brothers, but she hid her feelings and questioned him further.
"Then it was you," she said, "who really took from me my glorious Nightingale Gisar?"
"Yes, Princess, it was. I crept past the lion and the wolf and the tiger just after midnight while they slept. I blew out the four candles at the head of your bed and lighted those at the foot. The golden cage of the Nightingale was hanging from a golden chain. Before I unfastened it I looked at you once, as you lay sleeping, and dared not look a second time."
"Why not?" the Princess asked.
"Because, O Flower o' the World, you were so beautiful that I feared, were I to look again, I should forget the Nightingale Gisar and cry out in ecstacy."
Then the compassion in the Princess's heart changed to love and she knew for a certainty that this was the man she was fated to wed.
She clapped her hands and when the guards came in she said to them:
"Call my warriors together that I may show them the Sultan's Youngest Son and the man who stole from me my glorious Nightingale Gisar and whom I am fated to wed."
So the warriors came in until they crowded the tentto its utmost. Then the Princess stood up and took the Sultan's Youngest Son by the hand and presented him to the warriors and told them of his great bravery and courage and of all the perils he had endured in order to get the Nightingale Gisar for his father's mosque.
"He came to me now as a beggar," she said, "but I knew him at once for truth was in his mouth and courage in his eye. Behold, O warriors, your future lord!"
Then the warriors waved their swords and cried:
"Long live the Flower o' the World! Long live the Sultan's Youngest Son!"
All the Princess's army when they heard the news raised such a mighty shout that the people in the Sultan's city heard and were filled with dread not knowing what it meant. But soon they knew and then they, too, went mad with joy that what had threatened to be a war was turning to a wedding!
The Flower o' the World and her chief warriors and with them the Youngest Prince rode slowly to the city. The Prince was now dressed as befitted his rank and the Sultan when he saw him recognized him at once.
"Allah be praised!" he cried, "my Youngest Son lives!"
Then they told him all—how it was this Prince andnot the older brothers who had found the Nightingale Gisar and how the older brothers had robbed him of his prize and beaten him insensible.
When the Sultan heard how wicked his older sons had been his grief for their death was assuaged.
"Allah be praised," he said, "that I have at least one son who is worthy!"
After the betrothal ceremony the Sultan and the Youngest Prince went to the mosque to pray. While they prayed the Nightingale sang so gloriously that it seemed to them they were no longer on earth but in Paradise.
When their prayers were finished and they were passing out, the Dervish raised his sing-song voice and said:
"Now indeed is the Sultan's Mosque the most beautiful Mosque in the World for the Nightingale Gisar sings beside the Fountain!"
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The Story of the Third Sister Who Was Brave and GoodThe Story of the Third Sister Who Was Brave and Good
There was once a horrible Vampire who took the form of a handsome young man and went to the house of an old woman who had three daughters and pretended he wanted to marry the oldest.
"I live far from here," the Vampire said. "I own my own farm and am well-to-do and in marrying me your daughter would get a desirable husband. Indeed, I am so well off that I don't have to ask any dowry."
Now the old woman was so poor that she couldn't have given a penny of dowry. That was the only reason why all three of her daughters hadn't long ago been married to youths of their own village. So when the stranger said he would require no dowry, the old woman whispered to her oldest daughter:
"He seems to be all right. Perhaps you had better take him."
The poor girl accepted her mother's advice and that afternoon started off with the Vampire who said he would lead her home and marry her.
They walked a great distance and as evening cameon they reached a wild ghostly spot which frightened the girl half to death.
"This way, my dear," the Vampire said, pushing her into an opening in the earth. "We take this underground passage and soon we'll be home."
The passage led to a sort of cave which really was the Vampire's home.
"What an awful place!" the poor girl cried in terror. "Let me out!"
"Let you out, indeed!" the Vampire sneered, taking his own horrible shape and laughing cruelly. "Here you are and here you stay and if you don't do everything I tell you, I'll soon finish you! Here now, drink this."
He offered the poor girl a pitcher and when she saw what was in it she nearly fainted with horror.
"No!" she cried. "I won't! I won't!"
"If you don't drink this," the Vampire said, darkly, "then I'll drink you!"
And with that he killed her with no more feeling than if she were a fly.
Then in a short time he went back to the old woman and said:
"Dear mother, my poor wife is ill and she begs that you send her your second daughter to nurse her. Sheasks for her sister night and day and I fear she will die unless she sees her."
When the poor old mother heard this, she begged the second daughter to go at once with the young man and nurse her sick sister.
Well, the same thing happened to the second sister and in no time at all the Vampire had killed her, too, to satisfy his awful thirst.
Then he returned again to the old mother and this time he pretended that both sisters were sick and were trying for the third sister to come and nurse them. So the poor old woman sent her Youngest Daughter away with the Vampire.
The Youngest Sister when she found out the truth about the horrid Vampire didn't sit down and weep helplessly as the others had done and wait for the Vampire to kill her, but she prayed God's help and then tried to find some way of escape.
There were doors in the cave which the Vampire told her were doors to closets she must not enter. When the Vampire was out she opened these doors and found that they all led into long underground passages.
"This is my one chance to get back to earth!" the girl thought and commending her undertaking to God she fled down one of the passages.
You may be sure the Vampire when he came back and found her gone fell into a great rage. He went running wildly up and down the various passages and lost so much time searching the wrong passages that the girl was able to make good her escape and reach the upper world in safety.
She came out in a wood with no sign of human habitation anywhere in sight.
"What shall I do now?" she thought. "If I stay here alone and unprotected some wild beast or evil creature may get me."
So she knelt down and prayed God to give her a chest that she could lock from the inside with one of her own golden hairs so securely that no one could force it open. God heard her prayer and presently behind some bushes she found just such a chest. When it grew dark and she was ready to go to bed, she crept into the chest, locked it with a hair, and slept peacefully knowing that nothing could harm her.
So she lived in the wood some time, eating berries and fruits, and sleeping safely in the chest.
Now it so happened that the King's son one morning went hunting in this very wood and caught a glimpse of the girl as she was gathering berries. He thought he had never seen such a beautiful creature and instantly he fell in love with her. But when he reached the clump of bushes where he had seen her, she was gone. He called his huntsmen together and told them to search everywhere. They hunted for hours and all they could find was a chest. They tried to open the chest to see what was in it but couldn't.
"Waste no more time over it," the Prince said at last. "Carry it home to the palace as it is and have it placed in my chamber."
The huntsmen did this and a few hours later when the girl peeped out of her chest she found herself alone in the Prince's chamber. His supper was standing on a table in readiness for his coming. The girl ate the supper and was safely back in her chest before he arrived. When he did come the Prince was amazed to see empty plates and called the servants to know who had eaten his supper. The servants were as much surprised as the Prince and declared that no one had entered the chamber.
The same thing happened the next day and the following day the Prince had one of his servants hide behind the curtains and watch to find out if possible how the food disappeared.
The story the servant had to tell of what he saw was so thrilling that the Prince could scarcely waitfor the next day when he himself hid behind the curtains and watched.
The serving people put the food on the table and retired and presently the lid of the chest opened and the Prince saw the beautiful maiden of the wood step out. When she sat down at the table the Prince slipped up behind her and caught her in his arms.
"You lovely creature!" he said, "I'm not going to let you escape me again!"
At first the girl was greatly frightened but the Prince reassured her, telling her that he loved her dearly and only wanted to make her his wife.
He led her at once to the King, his father, and the girl was so modest and lovely that the King soon agreed to the marriage.
The Chest Opened and the Prince Saw the Beautiful MaidenThe Chest Opened and the Prince Saw the Beautiful Maiden
Everybody in court was delighted—everybody, that is, but the Chamberlain who had had hopes of marrying his own daughter to the Prince. His daughter was an ugly ill-tempered girl and the Prince had never even looked at her. The Chamberlain was sure, however, that with a little more time he could arrange the match to his liking. So theappearance of this beautiful girl who came from Heaven knowswhere threw him into a fearful rage and he decided to do away with her at any cost. Now he had in his employ a great burly Blackamoor. He called this fellow to him and he told him that he must kidnap the girl at once and kill her. The Blackamoor who was accustomed to do such deeds for the Chamberlain nodded and said he would.
So when the palace was quiet that night he stole to the bedchamber where the girl was lying asleep, threw a great robe over her head to stifle her cries, and carried her off. She fainted away from fright and the Blackamoor thinking her dead tossed her into a field of nettles in the outskirts of the town.
Now, as you can imagine, in the morning there was a great uproar in the palace when it was discovered that the Prince's beautiful bride-to-be had disappeared. The Prince was utterly grief-stricken and refused to eat. The King and all the ladies of the court tried their best to comfort him but he turned away from them declaring he would die if his bride were not restored to him.
The rascally Chamberlain put his handkerchief to his eyes and pretended to weep he was so affected by the sight of the Prince's grief.
"My dear boy," he said, "I would that I could find this maiden for you! It breaks my heart to see you sad and unhappy! But I'm sorry to tell you that I hear she was a Vila and not a human maiden at all.You know how mysteriously she came, and now she's gone just as mysteriously. So put the thought of her out of your mind and I'm sure you'll soon find a human maiden who is worthy of your love. Come here, my daughter, and tell the Prince how sorry you are that he is in grief."
But the sight of the Chamberlain's ugly daughter only made the Prince long the more for the beautiful girl who was gone.
She meantime had found refuge in the hut of an old woman who had heard her groan in the early dawn when she lay among the nettles and had taken compassion on her.
"You may stay with me until you're well," the old woman said.
The girl was young and healthy and in a day or two had recovered the ill treatment she had suffered at the hands of the Blackamoor.
"Won't you let me live with you awhile, granny?" she said to the old woman. "I'll cook and scrub and work and you won't have to regret the little I eat."
"Can you cook? Because if you can perhaps you know a dish that would tempt the appetite of our poor young Prince," the old woman said. "You know the poor boy has had a terrible disappointment in love andhe refuses to eat. The heralds were out this morning proclaiming that the King would richly reward any one who could prepare a dish that would tempt the Prince's appetite."
"Granny!" the girl said, "I know a wonderful way to prepare beans! Let me cook a dish of beans and do you carry them to the palace."
So the girl cooked the beans and placed them prettily in a dish and on one side of the dish she put a tiny little ringlet of her own golden hair.
"If he sees the hair," she thought to herself, "he'll know the beans are from me."
And that's exactly what happened. To please his father the Prince had consented to look at every dish as it came. He had already looked at hundreds of them before the old woman arrived and turned away from them all. Then the old woman came. As she passed before the Prince, she lifted the cover of the dish, held it towards him, and curtsied. The Prince was just about to turn away when he saw the tiny ringlet of hair.
"Oh!" he said. "Wait a minute! Those beans look good!"
To the King's delight he took the dish out of the old woman's hand, examined it carefully, and when noone was looking slipped the ringlet into his pocket. Then he ate the beans—every last one of them!
The King gave the old woman some golden ducats and begged her to prepare another dish for the Prince on the morrow.
So the next day the girl again sent a tiny ringlet of her hair on the side of the plate and again the Prince after scorning all the other food offered him took the old woman's dish and ate it clean.
On the third day the Prince engaged the old woman in conversation.
"Where do you live, granny?"
"In a little tumble-down house beside the nettles," she told him.
"Do you live alone?"
"Just now," the old woman said, "I have a dear girl living with me. I found her one morning lying in the nettles where some ruffians had left her for dead. She's a good girl and she scrubs and bakes and cooks for me and lets me rest my poor old bones."
Now the Prince knew what he wanted to know.
"Granny," he said, "to-morrow'sSunday. Now I want you to stay home in the afternoon because I'm coming to see you."
In great excitement the old woman hurried homeand told the girl that the Prince was coming to see them on Sunday afternoon.
"He mustn't see me!" the girl said. "I'll hide in the bread trough under a cloth and if he goes looking for me you tell him that I've gone out."
"Foolish child!" the old woman said. "Why should you hide from a handsome young man like the Prince?"
But the girl insisted and at last when Sunday afternoon came the old woman was forced to let her lie down in the bread trough and cover her with a cloth.
The Prince arrived and when he found the old woman there alone he was mightily disappointed.
"Where's that girl who lives with you?" he asked.
"She's gone out," the old woman said.
"Then I think I'll wait till she comes back."
This made the old woman feel nervous.
"But, my Prince, I don't know when she's coming back."
Just then the Prince thought he saw something move in the bread trough.
"What's that lumpy thing in the bread trough, granny?"
"That? Oh, that's just dough that's rising, my Prince. I'm baking to-day."
"Then make me a loaf, granny. I'll wait for ituntil it rises and until you bake it. Then I'll eat it hot out of the oven."
What was the old woman to say to that? She fussed and fidgeted and thought again what a foolish young girl that was to be hiding in the bread trough when there was a handsome young Prince in the room.
"I don't know why that dough doesn't rise," she remarked at last.
"Perhaps there's something the matter with it," the Prince said.
Before the old woman could stop him, he jumped up, tossed the cloth aside, and there was his lovely bride!
"Why are you hiding from me?" he asked as he lifted her up and kissed her tenderly.
"Because I knew if you really loved me you would find me," she said.
"Now that I have found you," the Prince declared, "I shall never let you leave me again."
Then the girl told the Prince about the wicked Chamberlain and the Blackamoor and it was all she and the old woman could do to keep the Prince from drawing his sword and rushing out instantly to kill both of them.
The old woman begged the Prince to take the girl secretly to the King and have the King hear her story,and then let him pass judgment on the Chamberlain according to the laws of the land. At last the Prince agreed to this.
So they covered the girl's head with a veil and took her to the King. When the King heard her story he called the court together at once and told them the outrage that had been committed against his son's promised bride. He commanded that the murderous Blackamoor be executed the next day and he decreed that the Chamberlain and his wicked daughter be stripped of their lands and riches and sent into exile.
Let us hope that exile taught them the evil of their ways and made them repent.
As for the girl, she married the Prince and they lived together in great happiness. And she deserved to be happy, too, for she was a brave girl and a good girl and God loves people who are brave and good and blesses them.
The Story of a Poor Man Who Dreamed of an AngelThe Story of a Poor Man Who Dreamed of an Angel
There was once a poor man who had so many children that he was at his wit's end how to feed them all and clothe them.
"Unless something turns up soon," he thought to himself, "we shall all starve to death. Poor youngsters—I'm almost tempted to kill them with my own hands to save them from suffering the pangs of hunger!"
That night before he went to sleep he prayed God to give him help. God heard his prayer and sent an angel to him in a dream.
The angel said to him:
"To-morrow morning when you wake, put your hand under your pillow and you will find a mirror, a red handkerchief, and an embroidered scarf. Without saying a word to any one hide these things in your shirt and go out to the woods that lie beyond the third hill from the village. There you will find a brook. Follow it until you come to a beautiful maiden who is bathing in its waters. You will know her from the great masses of golden hair that fall down over her shoulders. Shewill speak to you but do you be careful not to answer. If you say a word to her she will be able to bewitch you. She will hold out a comb to you and ask you to comb her hair. Take the comb and do as she asks. Then part her back hair carefully and you will see one hair that is coarser than the others and as red as blood. Wrap this firmly around one of your fingers and jerk it out. Then flee as fast as you can. She will pursue you and each time as she is about to overtake you drop first the embroidered scarf, then the red handkerchief, and last the mirror. If you reach the hill nearest your own village you are safe for she can pursue you no farther. Take good care of the single hair for it great value and you can sell it for many golden ducats."
In the morning when the poor man awoke and put his hand under his pillow he found the mirror and the handkerchief and the scarf just as the angel had said he would. So he hid them carefully in his shirt and without telling any one where he was going he went to the woods beyond the third hill from the village. Here he found the brook and followed it until he came to a pool where he saw a lovely maiden bathing.
"Good day to you!" she said politely.
The poor man remembering the angel's warning made no answer.
The Mirror, the Handkerchief, and the Embroidered ScarfThe Mirror, the Handkerchief, and the Embroidered Scarf
The maiden held out a golden comb.
"Please comb my hair for me, won't you?"
The man nodded and took the comb. Then he parted the long tresses behindandsearched here and there and everywhere until he found the one hair that was blood-red in color and coarser than the others. He twisted this firmly around his finger, jerked it quickly out, and fled.
"Oh!" cried the maiden. "What are you doing? Give me back my one red hair!"
She jumped to her feet and ran swiftly after him. As she came close to him, he dropped behind him the embroidered scarf. She stooped and picked it up and examined it awhile. Then she saw the man was escaping, so she tossed the scarf aside and again ran after him. This time he dropped the red handkerchief. Its bright color caught the maiden's eye and she picked it up and lost a few more minutes admiring it while the man raced on. Then the maiden remembered him, threw away the handkerchief, and started off again in pursuit.
This time the man dropped the mirror and the maiden who of course was a Vila and had never seen a mirror before picked it up and looked at it and when she saw the lovely reflection of herself she was so amazed that she kept on looking and looking. She was stilllooking in it and still admiring her own beauty when the man reached the third hill beyond which the maiden couldn't follow him.
So the poor man got home with the hair safely wound about his finger.
"It must be of great value," he thought to himself. "I'll take it to the city and offer it for sale there."
So the next day he went to the city and went about offering his wonderful hair to the merchants.
"What's so wonderful about it?" they asked him.
"I don't know, but I do know it's of great value," he told them.
"Well," said one of them, "I'll give you one golden ducat for it."
He was a shrewd buyer and the others hearing his bid of one golden ducat decided that he must know that the hair was of much greater value. So they began to outbid him until the price offered the poor man reached one hundred golden ducats. But the poor man insisted that this was not enough.
"One hundred golden ducats not enough for one red hair!" cried the merchants.
They pretended to be disgusted that any one would refuse such a price for one red hair, but in reality they were all firmly convinced by this time that it was amagic hair and probably worth any amount of money in the world.
The whole city became excited over the wonderful hair for which all the merchants were bidding and for a time nothing else was talked about. The matter was reported to the Tsar and at once he said that he himself would buy the hair for one thousand golden ducats.
One thousand golden ducats! After that there was no danger of the poor man's many children dying of starvation.
And what do you suppose the Tsar did with the hair? He had it split open very carefully and inside he found a scroll of great importance to mankind for on it were written many wonderful secrets of nature.
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The Story of Three Brothers and an AngelThe Story of Three Brothers and an Angel
There were once three brothers whose only possession was a pear tree. They took turns guarding it. That is to say while two of them went to work the third stayed at home to see that no harm came to the pear tree.
Now it happened that an Angel from heaven was sent down to test the hearts of the three brothers. The Angel took the form of a beggar and approaching the pear tree on a day when the oldest brother was guarding it, he held out his hand and said:
"In heaven's name, brother, give me a ripe pear."
The oldest brother at once handed him a pear, saying:
"This one I can give you because it is mine, but none of the others because they belong to my brothers."
The Angel thanked him and departed.
The next day when the second brother was on guard he returned in the same guise and again begged the charity of a ripe pear.
"Take this one," the second brother said. "It ismine and I can give it away. I can't give away any of the others because they belong to my brothers."
The Angel thanked the second brother and departed.
The third day he had exactly the same experience with the youngest brother.
On the following day the Angel, in the guise of a monk, came to the brothers' house very early while they were still all at home.
"My sons," he said, "come with me and perhaps I can find you something better to do than guard a single pear tree."
The brothers agreed and they all started out together. After walking some time they came to the banks of a broad deep river.
"My son," the Angel said, addressing the oldest brother, "if I were to grant you one wish, what you ask?"
"I'd be happy," the oldest brother said, "if all this water was turned into wine and belonged to me."
The Angel Took the Form of a BeggarThe Angel Took the Form of a Beggar
The Angel lifted his staff and made the sign of the cross and lo!the water became wine from great wine-presses. At once numbers of casks appeared and men fillingthem and rolling them about. A huge industry sprang up with sheds and storehouses and wagons and men running hither and thither and addressing the oldest brother respectfully as "Master!"
"You have your wish," the Angel said. "See that you do not forget God's poor now that you are rich. Farewell."
So they left the oldest brother in the midst of his wine and went on farther until they came to a broad field where flocks of pigeons were feeding.
"If I were to grant you one wish," the Angel said to the second brother, "what would you ask?"
"I'd be happy, father, if all the pigeons in this field were turned to sheep and belonged to me."
The Angel lifted his staff, made the sign of the cross, and lo! the field was covered with sheep. Sheds appeared and houses and women, some of them milking the ewes and others skimming the milk and making cheeses. In one place men were busy preparing meat for the market and in another cleaning wool. And all of them as they came and went spoke respectfully to the second brother and called him, "Master!"
"You have your wish," the Angel said. "Stay here and enjoy prosperity and see that you do not forget God's poor!"
Then he and the youngest brother went on their way.
"Now, my son," the Angel said, "you, too, may make one wish."
"I want but one thing, father. I pray heaven to grant me a truly pious wife. That is my only wish."
"A truly pious wife!" the Angel cried. "My boy, you have asked the hardest thing of all! Why, there are only three truly pious women in all the world! Two of them are already married and the third is a princess who is being sought in marriage at this very moment by two kings! However, your brothers have received their wishes and you must have yours, too. Let us go at once to the father of this virtuous princess and present your suit."
So just as they were they trudged to the city where the princess lived and presented themselves at the palace looking shabby and travel-stained.
The king received them and when he heard their mission he looked at them in amazement.
"This makes three suitors for my daughter's hand! Two kings and now this young man all on the same day! How am I going to decide among them?"
"Let heaven decide!" the Angel said. "Cut three branches of grape-vine and let the princess mark each branch with the name of a different suitor. Then lether plant the three branches to-night in the garden and to-morrow do you give her in marriage to the man whose branch has blossomed during the night and by morning is covered with ripe clusters of grapes."
The king and the two other suitors agreed to this and the princess named and planted three branches of grape-vine. In the morning two of the branches were bare and dry, but the third, the one which was marked with the name of the youngest brother, was covered with green leaves and ripe clusters of grapes. The king accepted heaven's ruling and at once led his daughter to church where he had her married to the stranger and sent her off with his blessing.
The Angel led the young couple to a forest and left them there.
A year went by and the Angel was sent back to earth to see how the three brothers were faring. Assuming the form of an old beggar, he went to the oldest brother who was busy among his wine-presses and begged the charity of a cup of wine.
"Be off with you, you old vagabond!" the oldest brother shouted angrily. "If I gave a cup of wine to every beggar that comes along I'd soon be a beggar myself!"
The Angel lifted his staff, made the sign of the cross,and lo! the wine and all thewine-pressesdisappeared and in their place flowed a broad deep river.
"In your prosperity you have forgotten God's poor," the Angel said. "Go back to your pear tree."
Then the Angel went to the second brother who was busy in his dairy.
"Brother," the Angel said, "in heaven's name, I pray you, give me a morsel of cheese."
"A morsel of cheese, you lazy good-for-nothing!" the second brother cried. "Be off with you or I'll call the dogs!"
The Angel lifted his staff, made the sign of the cross, and lo! the sheep and the dairy and all the busy laborers disappeared and he and the second brother were standing there alone in a field where flocks of pigeons were feeding.
"In your prosperity you have forgotten God's poor," the Angel said. "Go back to your pear tree!"
Then the Angel made his way to the forest where he had left the youngest brother and his wife. He found them in great poverty living in a mean little hut.
"God be with you!" said the Angel still in the guise of an old beggar. "I pray you in heaven's name give me shelter for the night and a bite of supper."
"We are poor ourselves," the youngest brother said.
"But come in, you are welcome to share what we have."
They put the old beggar to rest at the most comfortable place beside the fire and the wife set three places for the evening meal. They were so poor that the loaf that was baking in the oven was not made of grain ground at the mill but of pounded bark gathered from the trees.
"Alas," the wife murmured to herself, "it shames me that we have no real bread to put before our guest."
Imagine then her surprise when she opened the oven and saw a browned loaf of wheaten bread.
"God be praised!" she cried.
She drew a pitcher of water at the spring but when she began pouring it into the cups she found to her joy that it was changed to wine.
"In your happiness," the Angel said, "you have not forgotten God's poor and God will reward you!"
He raised his staff, made the sign of the cross, and lo! the mean little hut disappeared and in its place arose a stately palace full of riches and beautiful things. Servants passed hither and thither and addressed the poor man respectfully as "My lord!" and his wife as "My lady!"
The old beggar arose and as he went he blessed them both, saying:
"God gives you these riches and they will be yours to enjoy so long as you share them with others."
They must have remembered the Angel's words for all their lives long they were happy and prosperous.
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