Kristuslegender. English

by Selma Lagerlöf

you wouldfind! I fear some evil has befallen him, since his disciples are besidethemselves and can not bear to hear him spoken of."

  Faustina and her retinue finally rode through the gate archway and camein on the narrow and dark streets, which were alive with people. Itseemed well-nigh impossible to get through the city. The riders time andagain had to stand still. Slaves and soldiers tried in vain to clear theway. The people continued to rush on in a compact, irresistible stream.

  "Verily," said the old woman, "the streets of Rome are peaceful pleasuregardens compared with these!"

  Sulpicius soon saw that almost insurmountable difficulties awaited them.

  "On these overcrowded streets it is easier to walk than to ride," saidhe. "If you are not too fatigued, I should advise you to walk to theGovernor's palace. It is a good distance away, but if we ride wecertainly will not get there until after midnight."

  Faustina accepted the suggestion at once. She dismounted, and left herhorse with one of the slaves. Thereupon the Roman travelers began towalk through the city.

  This was much better. They pushed their way quickly toward the heart ofthe city, and Sulpicius showed Faustina a rather wide street, which theywere nearing.

  "Look, Faustina," he said, "if we take this street, we will soon bethere. It leads directly down to our quarters."

  But just as they were about to turn into the street, the worst obstaclemet them.

  It happened that the very moment when Faustina reached the street whichextended from the Governor's palace to Righteousness' Gate and Golgotha,they brought through it a prisoner, who was to be taken out andcrucified. Before him ran a crowd of wild youths who wanted to witnessthe execution. They raced up the street, waved their arms in rapturetowards the hill, and emitted unintelligible howls--in their delight atbeing allowed to view something which they did not see every day.

  Behind them came companies of men in silken robes, who appeared tobelong to the city's elite and foremost. Then came women, many of whomhad tear-stained faces. A gathering of poor and maimed staggeredforward, uttering shrieks that pierced the ears.

  "O God!" they cried, "save him! Send Thine angel and save him! Send adeliverer in his direst need!"

  Finally there came a few Roman soldiers on great horses. They kept guardso that none of the people could dash up to the prisoner and try torescue him.

  Directly behind them followed the executioners, whose task it was tolead forward the man that was to be crucified. They had laid a heavywooden cross over his shoulder, but he was too weak for this burden. Itweighed him down so that his body was almost bent to the ground. He heldhis head down so far that no one could see his face.

  Faustina stood at the opening of the little bystreet and saw the doomedman's heavy tread. She noticed, with surprise, that he wore a purplemantle, and that a crown of thorns was pressed down upon his head.

  "Who is this man?" she asked.

  One of the bystanders answered her: "It is one who wished to makehimself Emperor."

  "And must he suffer death for a thing which is scarcely worth strivingafter?" said the old woman sadly.

  The doomed man staggered under the cross. He dragged himself forwardmore and more slowly. The executioners had tied a rope around his waist,and they began to pull on it to hasten the speed. But as they pulled therope the man fell, and lay there with the cross over him.

  There was a terrible uproar. The Roman soldiers had all they could do tohold the crowds back. They drew their swords on a couple of women whotried to rush forward to help the fallen man. The executioners attemptedto force him up with cuffs and lashes, but he could not move because ofthe cross. Finally two of them took hold of the cross to remove it.

  Then he raised his head, and old Faustina could see his face. The cheekswere streaked by lashes from a whip, and from his brow, which waswounded by the thorn-crown, trickled some drops of blood. His hair hungin knotted tangles, clotted with sweat and blood. His jaw was firm set,but his lips trembled, as if they struggled to suppress a cry. His eyes,tear-filled and almost blinded from torture and fatigue, stared straightahead.

  But back of this half-dead person's face, the old woman saw--as in avision--a pale and beautiful One with glorious, majestic eyes and gentlefeatures, and she was seized with sudden grief--touched by the unknownman's misfortune and degradation.

  "Oh, what have they done with you, you poor soul!" she burst out, andmoved a step nearer him, while her eyes filled with tears. She forgother own sorrow and anxiety for this tortured man's distress. She thoughther heart would burst from pity. She, like the other women, wanted torush forward and tear him away from the executioners!

  The fallen man saw how she came toward him, and he crept closer to her.It was as though he had expected to find protection with her against allthose who persecuted and tortured him. He embraced her knees. He pressedhimself against her, like a child who clings close to his mother forsafety.

  The old woman bent over him, and as the tears streamed down her cheeks,she felt the most blissful joy because he had come and sought protectionwith her. She placed one arm around his neck, and as a mother first ofall wipes away the tears from her child's eyes, she laid her kerchief ofsheer fine linen over his face, to wipe away the tears and the blood.

  But now the executioners were ready with the cross. They came now andsnatched away the prisoner. Impatient over the delay, they dragged himoff in wild haste. The condemned man uttered a groan when he was ledaway from the refuge he had found, but he made no resistance.

  Faustina embraced him to hold him back, and when her feeble old handswere powerless and she saw him borne away, she felt as if some one hadtorn from her her own child, and she cried: "No, no! Do not take himfrom me! He must not die! He shall not die!"

  She felt the most intense grief and indignation because he was being ledaway. She wanted to rush after him. She wanted to fight with theexecutioners and tear him from them.

  But with the first step she took, she was seized with weakness anddizziness. Sulpicius made haste to place his arm around her, to preventher from falling.

  On one side of the street he saw a little shop, and carried her in.There was neither bench nor chair inside, but the shopkeeper was akindly man. He helped her over to a rug, and arranged a bed for her onthe stone floor.

  She was not unconscious, but such a great dizziness had seized her thatshe could not sit up, but was forced to lie down.

  "She has made a long journey to-day, and the noise and crush in the cityhave been too much for her," said Sulpicius to the merchant. "She isvery old, and no one is so strong as not to be conquered by age."

  "This is a trying day, even for one who is not old," said the merchant."The air is almost too heavy to breathe. It would not surprise me if asevere storm were in store for us."

  Sulpicius bent over the old woman. She had fallen asleep, and she sleptwith calm, regular respirations after all the excitement and fatigue.

  He walked over to the shop door, stood there, and looked at the crowdswhile he awaited her waking.

  VII

  The Roman governor at Jerusalem had a young wife, and she had had adream during the night preceding the day when Faustina entered the city.

  She dreamed that she stood on the roof of her house and looked down uponthe beautiful court, which, according to the Oriental custom, was pavedwith marble, and planted with rare growths.

  But in the court she saw assembled all the sick and blind and halt therewere in the world. She saw before her the pest-ridden, with bodiesswollen with boils; lepers with disfigured faces; the paralytics, whocould not move, but lay helpless upon the ground, and all the wretchedcreatures who writhed in torment and pain.

  They all crowded up towards the entrance, to get into the house; and anumber of those who walked foremost pounded on the palace door.

  At last she saw that a slave opened the door and came out on thethreshold, and she heard him ask what they wanted.

  Then they answered him, saying: "W
e seek the great Prophet whom God hathsent to the world. Where is the Prophet of Nazareth, he who is master ofall suffering? Where is he who can deliver us from all our torment?"

  Then the slave answered them in an arrogant and indifferent tone--aspalace servants do when they turn away the poor stranger:

  "It will profit you nothing to seek the great Prophet. Pilate has killedhim."

  Then there arose among all the sick a grief and a moaning and a gnashingof teeth which she could not bear to hear. Her heart was wrung withcompassion, and tears streamed from her eyes. But when she had begun toweep, she awakened.

  Again she fell asleep; and again she dreamed that she stood on the roofof her house and looked down upon the big court, which was as broad as asquare.

  And behold! the court was filled with all the insane and soul-sick andthose possessed of evil spirits. And she saw those who were naked andthose who were covered with their long