f she could not
find him on her return. He also asked that on the third day she should
take whatever she should find in a certain compartment of the great
chest and give it to the girl without price. All this she promised,
realizing fully that this was not a natural child.

At last he died, and when his foster mother left the body, his great
love reanimated the body and it crept into the chest, becoming there
transformed into a beautifully carved casket of fragrant wood.

Obedient to his wishes, on the third day the old woman carried the
casket to the girl, giving it to her without price.

When the girl took the casket into her hands, its charm fascinated
her, and she clasped it tight and covered it with kisses. At last the
spell was broken by the magic of her kisses, and the casket whispered
softly to her, "I am thy true love. I was the heart of him who killed
himself for love of thee, and I was the youth who died for love of
thee, but at last I am contented. In life and death we shall never
more be separated." And it was so, for the woman lived to a great
age, carrying the casket always with her, inhaling its fragrance [17]
with her kisses, and when she died it was buried with her.

CHAPTER 15

The Priest, the Servant Boy, and the Child Jesus.

There was once a priest who had for his servant a very good boy. One
day the padre wanted the boy, and, after looking everywhere for him,
went to church. Opening the door quietly, he looked in and there he
saw that the statue of the child Jesus had left its shrine and was
down on the floor talking and playing with the boy. The priest slipped
softly away and ordered a very fine dinner cooked for the lad. When
the boy returned to the convent, the padre asked him where he had
been. "I have been down to the church playing with a friend." "Very
well, there is your dinner. If you play with your friend again, ask
him if I shall go to glory in heaven when I am dead." The boy took
his dinner to the church and ate, sharing it With the child Jesus.

"Tell me, friend," said he to his heavenly companion, "will my master,
the priest, go to glory in heaven?"

"No," said the child Jesus, "because he has neglected his father and
mother." When the boy carried these words to the priest he became
very sad, and asked the lad to inquire whether he might atone for his
wrong by doing good to other old people. "No," came the answer. "It
must be his father and mother who shall receive their d