the sacred sky of the desert where his Father came down to
him that his spirit became quite free--his heart more animated, glowing
with love. And thus was Jesus perfected. Leaving the desert, he then
sought out the fertile land; he sought out men.

His earthly task stood clear and fixed before him.

CHAPTER XIII

The Lake of Gennesaret, also called the Sea of Galilee, lies to the
east of Nazareth, where the land makes a gradual descent, and where,
among the hills and the fertile plains, pleasant villages are situated.
The mountains of Naphtali, which in some places rise up steeply from
its banks, were clothed with herbage in the days of David. But
gradually, as stranger peoples cultivated them, fertility descended to
the hills and valleys.

Near where the Jordan flows into the sea, on the left of the river
under the sandy cliffs of Bethsaida, a small cedar forest, the seeds of
which may have been blown thither from Lebanon, grows close down to the
shore of the lake. A fisher-boat, rocking in the shade on the dark
waters, was tied to one of the trees. The holes in it were stuffed
with seaweed, the beams fastened with olive twigs. Two tall poles
crossed were intended for the sail, which now lay spread out in the
boat because the boatman was sleeping on it. The brown stuff, made of
camel's hair, was the man's most valuable possession. On the water it
caught the wind for him, on land it served as a cloak, if he slept it
formed his bed.

The little elderly man's face was tickled by a cedar twig for so long
that at length he awoke. He saw a young woman sitting on a rock. She
was just going to hurry off with her round basket when the fisherman
called loudly to her; "Well, Beka, daughter of Manasseh, whither are
you taking your ivory white feet?"

"My feet are as brown as yours," replied Beka. "Stop mocking at me,
Simon."

"How can I be mocking at you? You're a fisherman's child, like me.
But your basket is too heavy for you."

"I am taking my father his dinner."

"Manasseh has had a good catch. Look, smoke is rising yonder behind
the palms of Hium. He is cooking the fish. But I have eaten nothing
since yesterday at the sixth hour."

"I can well believe that, Simon. The fish of the Lake of Gennesaret do
not swim ready-cooked into the mouth. He who lies like a child in the
cradle, and lets the gods provide----!"

Simon, with his legs apart in order to preserve the balance, stood up
in the bo