sis befalls them. And if they be
healthy they come to ill, either by adultery, or theft, or
fornication, or covetousness, or vain-glory. But if ye will be
persuaded by me, and keep yourselves purely unto God, ye shall
have living children to whom not one of these blemishes and hurts
cometh nigh; and ye shall be without care and without grief and
without sorrow, and ye shall hope for the time when ye shall see
the true wedding-feast." The young couple were persuaded, and
refrained from lust, and our Lord vanished. And in the morning,
when it was dawn, the King had the table furnished early and
brought in before the bridegroom and bride. And he found them
sitting the one opposite the other, and the face of the bride was
uncovered and the bridegroom was very cheerful. The mother of the
bride saith to her: "Why art thou sitting thus, and art not
ashamed, but art as if, lo, thou wert married a long time, and
for many a day?" And her father, too, said; "Is it thy great love
for thy husband that prevents thee from even veiling thyself?"
And the bride answered and said: "Truly, my father, I am in great
love, and am praying to my Lord that I may continue in this love
which I have experienced this night. I am not veiled, because the
veil of corruption is taken from me, and I am not ashamed,
because the deed of shame has been removed far from me, and I am
cheerful and gay, and despise this deed of corruption and the
joys of this wedding-feast, because I am invited to the true
wedding-feast. I have not had intercourse with a husband, the end
whereof is bitter repentance, because I am betrothed to the true
Husband." The bridegroom answered also in the same spirit, very
naturally to the dismay of the King, who sent for the sorcerer
whom he had asked to bless his unlucky daughter. But Judas Thomas
had already left the city and at his inn the King's stewards
found only the flute-player, sitting and weeping because he had
not taken her with him. She was glad, however, when she heard
what had happened, and hastened to the young couple, and lived
with them ever afterwards. The King also was finally reconciled,
and all ended chastely, but happily.

In these same _Judas Thomas's Acts_, which are not later than the
fourth century, we find (eighth act) the story of Mygdonia and
Karish. Mygdonia,