The Hazel-Branch 榛树枝

THE HAZEL BRANCH
ONE AFTERNOON the Christ-child had laid himself in his cradlebed
and had fallen asleep. Then his mother came to him, looked at
him full of gladness, and said, “Hast thou laid thyself down to
sleep, my child? Sleep sweetly, and in the meantime I will go into
the wood, and fetch thee a handful of strawberries, for I know that
thou wilt be pleased with them when thou awakest.” In the wood
outside, she found a spot with the most beautiful strawberries; but
as she was stooping down to gather one, an adder sprang up out of
the grass. She was alarmed, left the strawberries where they were,
and hastened away. The adder darted after her; but Our Lady, as
you can readily understand, knew what it was best to do. She hid
herself behind a hazel bush, and stood there until the adder had
crept away again.
Then she gathered the strawberries, and as she set out on her way
home she said, “As the hazel bush has been my protection this
time, it shall in future protect others also.” Therefore, from the
most remote times, a green hazel branch has been the safest
protection against adders, snakes, and everything else which
creeps on the earth.
THE END