LONG time ago, perhaps as much as two
thousand years, there was a rich man,
and he had a beautiful and pious wife,
and they loved each other very much,
and they had no children, though they
wished greatly for some, and the wife
prayed for one day and night. Now,
in the courtyard in front of their house
stood an almond tree; and one day
in winter the wife was standing beneath it, and paring an
apple, and as she pared it she cut her finger, and the blood
fell upon the snow.
c Ah,” said the woman, sighing deeply, and looking down
at the blood, “if only I could have a child as red as blood,
and as white as snow !”
And as she said these words, her heart suddenly grew
light, and she felt sure she should have her wish. So she went
was gone; in two months everything was green; in three
the trees were in full leaf, and the branches were thickly
entwined ; the little birds began to sing, so that the woods
echoed, and the blossoms fell from the trees ; when the fifth
it smelt so sweet that her heart leaped within her, and she fell
on her knees for joy ; and when the sixth month had gone, the
seventh month she gathered the almonds, and ate them
eagerly, and was sick and sorrowful; and when the eighth