The Coming of the King

s set in order three days before the expected arrival of Passover guests. Followed by Eli, who was girt about with a l

olls, at one end of the wide, latticed window-couch, for here on the comfortable cushions Lazarus spent much time reading. She had just

m hath already arrived and I have brought her to see Mary's beds of lilies.

not enough that the garden be full to overflowing with vines and herbs? Yet would Mary fill the house with flowers of the wayside did I not struggle against it. Even now is she wandering off to a valley of lilies she hath found by the wady beyond Oliv

at in his youth he had an issue of blood? And while the world knows that his home could not be among the clean were he a leper yet doth the name han

left for me to look after food and the pots and my stupid Eli. And if su

en to Lazarus

with us for many months,

's heart b

en in the garden searching a warm spot for some chicken yet wet from the shell, or scratching the sod fro

garden," Anna said.

rasses as grow by the wayside to be eaten of asses and goats. And when I asked Lazarus to have the wild green pulled out by the roots, he said since they injure not the wall and delight the heart of Mary by their playful wagging in the sp

e center of the courtyard near the house was a water pool in a stony basin, and from the top of a pile of stones in the middle of the pool, water bubbled and dropped over the aquatic plants that grew along its sides. On the side of the pool nearest the house was the sun-dial. Close to the stairs which went to the housetop from the outside, was an olive tree of unusual size, the wide ext

ed on the brow of Olivet and stopping to rest, turned her face to the east. Against the flood light of the rising sun the far distant Mountains of Moab cast dim blue sky-lines. Emerging from the many-hued green hills that rose in the

om her shoulders and the morning breeze touching her soft dark hair was moving it gently around her face while unseen fingers stirred the hem of her woolen skirt above her dew wet sandals. The altar smoke of the morning offering was ascending from the Temple of snow and gold, casting delicate and ever changing spirals of gray and black against the rosy sky, and now and then the silver glint of a dove's wing caught the eye as it circled over one of

panorama, of vineyards here and there with their gray watch towers set in nature's most delicate filigree of green; of billowing fields of grain; of groves of olives turning color from green to gray and white as move

keeping close watch, were browsing among the prickly pears, feeding their last before being driven into the Temple stalls as sacrificial beasts. On another road a company of Arabs was putting up its mean and ragged tents and just beyond some Galilean peasants were building booths. Turning from the brow of the olive-green Mount, Mary made her way down a dim trail toward th

she yet peeped at the nestlings, a man appeared with an ax. He was looking for boughs with which to thatch his booth and his eye was on the nightingale's home. Taking the nest from its hiding-place Mary tucked it under her veil, wrapped her lily stems in wet leaves

goat grazing at no great distance. By its broken tether the goat had made its escape. The milk and cheese of the family depended on the goat. In no spoken word could Mary converse with the woman, but

y of universal forces starts into vibration a thousand generations of instinctive motherhood. Nor did the little brown baby know aught of this. Moved by the first impulse of Nature which makes every mother a universal mother, the instinct of self-preservation had turned the face of the child to the breast of Mary. Looking about with a glance of apprehension lest she should be discovered in some unworthy act, s

ening. "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings shall come wisdom." The words of one of the Rabbis kept coming to her. But what was the wisdom? Her only impression at the time was the strange suggestion that because both nestlings and Bedouin babe had mistaken her for their mother, they must be brot

with his merry speech-making," Mary observed q

or thy distinguished gue

thicket by the spring just over the garden wall. And next year when Zador Ben Amon

Passover than Zador Ben Amon-and

y father, and with a retinue of servants that doth make Herod green with envy. And speech hath it that

lory of display for apeth he not the Romans? Herod is great whe

to the Passover." It was Debora wh

" Martha exclaimed. "T

the like of which hath not been seen since Elia

e words," Mary observed

th, for there did he live bef

d thieves, so sayeth my father. Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? My f

st of Tabernacles

er forehead. "Methinks Lazarus did mention the name when Jo

er. But what of it? None

thou not that the cohorts of Rome guard the Sacred Temple and profane the Sanctuary of the Most High? Knowest thou not the heart of Israel hath long waited for the king who sha

s he the Messia

firm he held it as if he were holding down a struggling world. And lo! The struggling world grew quiet. The vain babbling of the parched lips ceased. Then did he speak. Aye-Mary, Martha, Anna-to hear his voice-deep like unsounded depths, mellow like the music of the viol and restful as when small waves play upon smooth shores. Twice did h

le to heal those who a

the sick?"

ts are all dead

e," was Debo