of comparatively recent origin or of reconstruction in the sixteenth
century.

"The Merciful Woman of Compassion," or "The Alleluia Woman," dates from
the most ancient Christian tradition, and is a model of simplicity and
beauty. It is allied to the English ballad of "The Flight into Egypt"
(which also occurs among the Christmas carols of the Slavonians of the
Carpathian Mountains), in which the Virgin Mary works a miracle with the
peasant's grain, in order to save Christ from the Jews in pursuit. The
Virgin comes to the "Alleluia Woman," with the infant Christ in her
arms, saying: "Cast thy child into the oven, and take Christ the Lord in
thy lap. His enemies, the Jews, are hastening hither; they seek to kill
Christ the Lord with sharp spears." The Alleluia Woman obeys, without an
instant's hesitation. When the Jews arrive, immediately afterwards, and
inquire if Christ has passed that way, she says she has thrown him into
the oven. The Jews are convinced of the truth of her statement, by the
sight of a child's hand amid the flames; whereupon they dance for joy,
and depart, after fastening an iron plate over the oven door. Christ
vanishes from the arms of the merciful woman; she remembers her own
child and begins to weep. Then Christ's voice assures her that he is
well and happy. On opening the oven door, she beholds her baby playing
with the flowers in a rich green meadow, reading the Gospels, or rolling
an apple on a platter, and comforted by angels.

"The Wanderings of the All-Holy Birth-giver of God," another very
ancient ballad, represents the Virgin Mother wandering among the
mountains in search of Christ. She encounters three Jews; and in answer
to her query, "Accursed Jews, what have ye done with Christ?" they
inform her that they have just crucified him on Mount Zion. She hastens
thither, and swoons on arriving. When she recovers, she makes her
lament, and her _plakh_, or wail, beginning: "O, my dear son, why didst
thou not obey thy mother?" Christ comforts her, telling her that he
shall rise again, and bidding her: "Do not weep and spoil thy beauty." A
form of the ballad which is common in Little Russia reverses the
situation. It is the Jews who inquire of Mary what she has done with her
son. "Into the river I flung him," she promptly replies. They drain the
river, and find him not. Again they ask, "Under the mountains I buried
him." They dig up the mountains, and find him not. At last they discover
a church,