must have
stood on a cloud which let him gently down, and set him on the top of
one of the neighboring hills.

Then they discussed the power the umbrella possessed of raising the dead
to life, and so the legend was spread abroad. And whenever a rich
peasant died, even in the villages miles off, Father Janos was sent for,
with the red umbrella, to read the burial services. He was also sent for
to sick persons who wished the umbrella spread over them while they
confessed their sins. It must have a good effect, and either the sick
person would recover, or if he did not do that he was at least
sanctified.

If a newly married couple wished to do things very grandly (and they
generally do), they were not only married at home by their own priest,
but they made a pilgrimage to Glogova in order to join hands once more
under the sacred umbrella. And that, to them, was the real ceremony. The
bell-ringer held it over their heads, and in return many a piece of
silver found its way into his pocket. And as for the priest, money and
presents simply poured in upon him. At first he fought against all this
superstition, but after a while even he began to believe that the red
umbrella, which day by day got more faded and shabby, was something out
of the common. Had it not appeared on the scene as though in answer to
his prayer, and was it not the source of all his good fortune?

"Oh, Lord!" he had prayed, "unless Thou workest a miracle, how am I to
bring up the child?"

And lo and behold, the miracle had been worked! Money, food, all the
necessaries of life flowed from that ragged old umbrella. Its fame
spread to higher circles too. The Bishop of Besztercebanya heard of it
and sent for Father Janos and the umbrella; and after having examined it
and heard the whole story, he crossed his hands on his breast and
exclaimed: "Deus est omnipotens." Which was equivalent to saying he
believed in it.

A few weeks later he went still further, and sent orders for the
umbrella to be kept in the church, instead of in the priest's room. Upon
which Father Janos answered that in reality the umbrella belonged to his
little sister, who was still a minor, so that he had no right to it, nor
to give it away. But he was sure, as soon as Veronica was of age, she
would make a present of it to the church. But the umbrella not only
brought good fortune to the priest, who soon started a small farm, and
in a few years built himself a new house, and kept a horse