Then said he, good woman, keep me with you in your house for this night. But she said, no, I dare not, even if I wished, I have three sons who are wicked and wild, if they come home from their robbing expedition, and find you, they would kill us both. The hermit said, let me stay, they will do no injury either to you or to me. And the old woman was compassionate, and let herself be persuaded. Then the man lay down beneath the stairs, and put the bit of wood under his head. When the old woman saw him do that, she asked the reason of it, on which he told her that he carried the bit of wood about with him for a penance, and used it at night for a pillow, and that he had offended the Lord, because, when he had seen a poor sinner on the way to the gallows, he had said he was getting his deserts.
Then the woman began to weep and cried, if the Lord punishes one single word, how will it fare with my sons when they appear before him in judgment.
At midnight the robbers came home and blustered and stormed.
They made a fire, and when it had lighted up the cave and they saw a man lying under the stairs, they fell in a rage and cried to their mother, who is the man. Have we not forbidden anyone whomsoever to be taken in. Then said the mother, let him alone, it is a poor sinner who is expiating his crime. The robbers asked, what has he done. Old man, cried they, tell us your sins.
The old man raised himself and told them how he, by one single word, had so sinned that God was angry with him, and how he was now expiating this crime. The robbers were so powerfully touched in their hearts by this story, that they were shocked with their life up to this time, reflected, and began with hearty repentance to do penance for it. The hermit, after he had converted the three sinners, lay down to sleep again under the stairs. In the morning, however, they found him dead, and out of the dry wood on which his head lay, three green twigs had grown up on high. Thus the Lord had once more received him into his favor.
In a large town there was an old woman who sat in the evening alone in her room thinking how she had lost first her husband, then both her children, then one by one all her relatives, and at length, that very day, her last friend, and now she was quite alone and desolate. She was very sad at heart, and heaviest of all her losses to her was that of her sons, and in her pain she blamed God for it. She was still sitting lost in thought, when all at once she heard the bells ringing for early prayer. She was surprised that she had thus in her sorrow watched through the whole night, and lighted her lantern and went to church. It was already lighted up when she arrived, but not as it usually was with wax candles, but with a dim light. It was also crowded already with people, and all the seats were filled, and when the old woman got to her usual place it also was not empty, but the whole bench was entirely full. And when she looked at the people, they were none other than her dead relatives who were sitting there in their old-fashioned garments, but with pale faces. They neither spoke nor sang, but a soft humming and whispering was heard all over the church. Then an aunt of hers stood up, stepped forward, and said to the poor old woman, look there beside the altar, and you will see your sons.
The old woman looked there, and saw her two children, one hanging on the gallows, the other bound to the wheel. Then said the aunt, behold, so would it have been with them if they had lived, and if the good God had not taken them to himself when they were innocent children. The old woman went trembling home, and on her knees thanked God for having dealt with her more kindly than she had been able to understand, and on the third day she lay down and died.
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.
A certain cat had made the acquaintance of a mouse, and had said so much to her about the great love and friendship she felt for her, that at length the mouse agreed that they should live and keep house together. But we must make a provision for winter, or else we shall suffer from hunger, said the cat, and you, little mouse, cannot venture everywhere, or you will be caught in a trap some day. The good advice was followed, and a pot of fat was bought, but they did not know where to put it.
