ving gifts and rites of
kindness. So shall the peace of the White Christ reign in your hearts!"

And with songs of joy the multitude of heathen folk took up the little
fir tree and bore it to the house of their chief, and there with good
will and peace they kept the holy Christmastide.

THE CHRISTMAS THORN OF GLASTONBURY

A LEGEND OF ANCIENT BRITAIN

ADAPTED FROM WILLIAM OF MALMESBURY AND OTHER SOURCES

There is a golden Christmas legend and it relates how Joseph of
Arimathea--that good man and just, who laid our Lord in his own
sepulcher, was persecuted by Pontius Pilate, and how he fled from
Jerusalem carrying with him the Holy Grail hidden beneath a cloth of
samite, mystical and white.

For many moons he wandered, leaning on his staff cut from a white-thorn
bush. He passed over raging seas and dreary wastes, he wandered through
trackless forests, climbed rugged mountains, and forded many floods.
At last he came to Gaul where the Apostle Philip was preaching the glad
tidings to the heathen. And there Joseph abode for a little space.

Now, upon a night while Joseph lay asleep in his hut, he was wakened
by a radiant light. And as he gazed with wondering eyes he saw an angel
standing by his couch, wrapped in a cloud of incense.

"Joseph of Arimathea," said the angel, "cross thou over into Britain and
preach the glad tidings to King Arvigarus. And there, where a Christmas
miracle shall come to pass, do thou build the first Christian church in
that land."

And while Joseph lay perplexed and wondering in his heart what answer he
should make, the angel vanished from his sight.

Then Joseph left his hut and calling the Apostle Philip, gave him the
angel's message. And, when morning dawned, Philip sent him on his way,
accompanied by eleven chosen followers. To the water's side they went,
and embarking in a little ship, they came unto the coasts of Britain.

And they were met there by the heathen who carried them before Arvigarus
their king. To him and to his people did Joseph of Arimathea preach the
glad tidings; but the king's heart, though moved, was not convinced.
Nevertheless he gave to Joseph and his followers Avalon, the happy isle,
the isle of the blessed, and he bade them depart straightway and build
there an altar to their God.

And a wonderful gift was this same Avalon, sometimes called the Island
of Apples, and also known to the people of the land as Ynis-witren, the
Isle of Glassy Waters. Beauti