elation, telling how Jesus, James, John, Andrew, and himself
were at table, mingling jest with earnest (Peter was not with them,
being kept at home, for his wife was in child-birth at the time), when
the women of the village were heard running up the street crying
together to the men to take part in the chase of the wild man of the
woods, who had come down amongst them once more questing the flesh of
women. But this time we'll put a stop to his leaping, they cried. A
goatherd coming from the hills has seen him enter a cave and as soon as
he has folded his goats he will lead us to it. But the villagers were in
no mood for waiting; the goats could be folded by another; and the
goatherd was bidden and obliged to leave his goats and lead the way,
Jesus and his disciples following with the others through the forest
till we came to a ravine. And the goatherd said: look between yon great
rocks, for it was between them he passed out of my sight. And let one of
you creep in after him, but I must return to my goats, having no
confidence that they have been properly folded for the night. The
goatherd would have run away if he hadn't been held fast, and there
were questions as to who would enter. The first said "no," the second
the same, giving as reason that they were not young or strong enough,
whereas the goatherd was both, and none better endowed for the struggle;
and the people became of one mind that they must beat the goatherd with
the crows if he did not go down into the cave, but Jesus, arriving in
time, said: it is not lawful to break into any man's dwelling with
crows, nor to kill him because his sins affront you; let us rather give
him means to cut himself free from sins. At which words the people were
near to jeering, for it seemed to them that Jesus knew little of the man
they were pursuing, and they knew not what to understand when he asked
if any among them had a long, sharp knife, and there was a movement as
if they were about to leave him; but one man said: thou shalt have mine,
Master, and, taking it out of his girdle, he gave it to Jesus, who
tested it with his thumb, and, satisfied with it, laid it on the rock
beside the cave. But the people began to mutter: he will use the knife
against us, Master. Not against you, Jesus answered, but against
himself, thereby defending himself against himself. There were
mutterings among the people, and some said that his words were too hard
to understand, but all were silent as