{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/grimm/ht02.htm","path":"neu/grimm/ht02.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/grimm/ht02.htm","text":"Our Lady's Child\nHard by a great forest dwelt a wood-cutter with his wife, who had an\nonly child, a little girl of three years old. They were, however, so poor that\nthey no longer had daily bread, and did not know how to get food for her. One\nmorning the wood-cutter went out sorrowfully to his work in the forest, and\nwhile he was cutting wood, suddenly there stood before him a tall and\nbeautiful woman with a crown of shining stars on her head, who said to him, \"I\nam the Virgin Mary, mother of the child Jesus. Thou art poor and needy, bring\nthy child to me, I will take her with me to be her mother, and care for her.\"\nThe wood-cutter obeyed, brought his child, and gave her to the Virgin Mary,\nwho took her up to heaven with her. There the child fared well, ate sugar -\ncakes, and drank sweet milk, and her clothes were of gold, and the little\nangels played with her. And when she was fourteen years of age, the Virgin\nMary called her one day and said, \"Dear child, I am about to make a long\njourney, so take into thy keeping the keys of the thirteen doors of heaven.\nTwelve of these thou mayest open, and behold the glory which is within them,\nbut the thirteenth, to which this little key belongs, is forbidden to thee.\nBeware of opening it, or thou wilt bring misery on thyself.\" The girl promised\nto be obedient, and when the Virgin Mary was gone, she began to examine the\ndwellings of the kingdom of heaven. Each day she opened one of them, until she\nhad made the round of the twelve. In each of them sat one of the Apostles in\nthe midst of a great light, and she rejoiced in all the magnificence and\nsplendour, and the little angels who always accompanied her rejoiced with her.\nThen the forbidden door alone remained, and she felt a great desire to know\nwhat could be hidden behind it, and said to the angels, \"I will not quite open\nit, and I will not go inside it, but I will unlock it so that we can just see\na little through the opening.\" \"Oh, no,\" said the little angels, \"that would\nbe a sin. The Virgin Mary has forbidden it, and it might easily cause thy\nunhappiness.\" Then she was silent, but the desire in her heart was not\nstilled, but gnawed there and tormented her, and let her have no rest. And\nonce when the angels had all gone out, she thought, \"Now I am quite alone, and\nI could peep in. If I do it, no one will ever know.\" She sought out the key,\nand when she had got it in her hand, she put it in the lock, and when she had\nput it in, she turned it round as well. Then the door sprang open, and she saw\nthere the Trinity sitting in fire and splendour. She stayed there awhile, and\nlooked at everything in amazement; then she touched the light a little with\nher finger, and her finger became quite golden. Immediately a great fear fell\non her. She shut the door violently, and ran away. Her terror too would not\nquit her, let her do what she might, and her heart beat continually, and would\nnot be still; the gold too stayed on her finger, and would not go away, let\nher rub it and wash it ever so much.\nIt was not long before the Virgin Mary came back from her journey. She\ncalled the girl before her, and asked to have the keys of heaven back. When\nthe maiden gave her the bunch, the Virgin looked into her eyes and said, \"Hast\nthou not opened the thirteenth door also?\" \"No,\" she replied. Then she laid\nher hand on the girl's heart, and felt how it beat and beat, and saw right\nwell that she had disobeyed her order and had opened the door. Then she said\nonce again, \"Art thou certain that thou hast not done it?\" \"Yes,\" said the\ngirl, for the second time. Then she perceived the finger which had become\ngolden from touching the fire of heaven, and saw well that child had sinned,\nand said for the third time, \"Hast thou not done it?\" \"No,\" said the girl for\nthe third time. Then said the Virgin Mary, \"Thou hast not obeyed me, and\nbesides that thou hast lied, thou art no longer worthy to be in heaven.\"\nThen the girl fell into a deep sleep, and when she awoke she lay on the\nearth below, and in the midst of a wilderness. She wanted to cry out, but she\ncould bring forth no sound. She sprang up and wanted to run away, but\nwhithersoever she turned herself, she was continually held back by thick\nhedges of thorns through which she could not break. In the desert, in which\nshe was imprisoned, there stood an old hollow tree, and this had to be her\ndwelling place. Into this she crept when night came, and here she slept. Here,\ntoo, she found a shelter from storm and rain, but it was a miserable life, and\nbitterly did she weep when she remembered how happy she has been in heaven,\nand how the angels had played with her. Roots and wild berries were her only\nfood, and for these she sought as far as she could go. In the autumn she\npicked up the fallen nuts and leaves, and carried them into the hole. The nuts\nwere her food in winter, and when snow and ice came, she crept amongst the\nleaves like a poor little animal that she might not freeze. Before long her\nclothes were all torn, and one bit of them after another fell off her. As\nsoon, however, as the sun shone warm again, she went out and sat in front of\nthe tree, and her long hair covered her on all sides like a mantle. Thus she\nsat year after year, and felt the pain and misery of the world. One day, when\nthe trees were once more clothed in fresh green, the King of the country was\nhunting in the forest, and followed a roe, and as it had fled into the thicket\nwhich shut in this bit of the forest, he got off his horse, tore the bushes\nasunder, and cut himself a path with his sword. When he had at last forced his\nway through, he saw a wonderfully beautiful maiden sitting under the tree; and\nshe sat there and was entirely covered with her golden hair down to her very\nfeet. He stood still and looked at her full of surprise, then he spoke to her\nand said, \"Who art thou? Why art thou sitting here in the wilderness?\" But she\ngave no answer, for she could not open her mouth. The King continued, \"Wilt\nthou go with me to my castle?\" Then she just nodded her head a little. The\nKing took her in his arms, carried her to his horse, and rode home with her,\nand when he reached the royal castle he caused her to be dressed in beautiful\ngarments, and gave her all things in abundance. Although she could not speak,\nshe was still so beautiful and charming that he began to love her with all his\nheart, and it was not long before he married her.\nAfter a year or so had passed, the Queen brought a son into the world.\nThereupon the Virgin Mary appeared to her in the night when she lay in her bed\nalone, and said, \"If thou wilt tell the truth and confess that thou didst\nunlock the forbidden door, I will open thy mouth and give thee back thy\nspeech, but if thou perseverest in thy sin, and deniest obstinately, I will\ntake thy new born child away with me.\" Then the Queen was permitted to answer,\nbut she remained hard, and said, \"No, I did not open the forbidden door\"; and\nthe Virgin Mary took the new-born child from her arms, and vanished with it.\nNext morning, when the child was not to be found, it was whispered among the\npeople that the Queen was a man-eater, and had killed her own child. She\nheard all this and could say nothing to the contrary, but the King would not\nbelieve it, for he loved her so much.\nWhen a year had gone by the Queen again bore a son, and in the night the\nVirgin Mary again came to her, and said, \"If thou wilt confess that thou\nopenedst the forbidden door, I will give thee thy child back and untie thy\ntongue; but if thou continuest in sin and deniest it, I will take away with me\nthis new child also.\" Then the Queen again said, \"No, I did not open the\nforbidden door\"; and the Virgin took the child out of her arms, and away with\nher to heaven. Next morning, when this child also had disappeared, the people\ndeclared quite loudly that the Queen had devoured it, and the King's\ncouncillors demanded that she should be brought to justice. The King, however,\nloved her so dearly that he would not believe it, and commanded the\ncouncillors under pain of death not to say any more about it.\nThe following year the Queen gave birth to a beautiful little daughter,\nand for the third time the Virgin Mary appeared to her in the night and said,\n\"Follow me.\" She took the Queen by the hand and led her to heaven, and showed\nher there her two eldest children, who smiled at her, and were playing with\nthe ball of the world. When the Queen rejoiced thereat, the Virgin Mary said,\n\"Is thy heart not yet softened? If thou wilt own that thou openedst the\nforbidden door, I will give thee back thy two little sons.\" But for the third\ntime the Queen answered, \"No, I did not open the forbidden door.\" Then the\nVirgin let her sink down to earth once more, and took from her likewise her\nthird child.\nNext morning, when the loss was reported abroad, all the people cried\nloudly. \"The Queen is a man-eater! She must be judged,\" and the King was no\nlonger able to restrain his councillors. Thereupon a trial was held, and as\nshe could not answer, and defend herself, she was condemned to be burnt alive.\nThe wood was got together, and when she was fast bound to the stake, and the\nfire began to burn round about her, the hard ice of pride melted, her heart\nwas moved by repentance, and she thought. \"If I could but confess before my\ndeath that I opened the door.\" Then her voice came back to her, and she cried\nout loudly, \"Yes, Mary, I did it\"; and straightway rain fell from the sky and\nextinguished the flames of fire, and a light broke forth above her, and the\nVirgin Mary descended with the two little sons by her side, and the new-born\ndaughter in her arms. She spoke kindly to her, and said, \"He who repents his\nsin and acknowledges it, is forgiven.\" Then she gave her the three children,\nuntied her tongue, and granted her happiness for her whole life.","title":"Our Lady's Child","type":"page"}