`` `From whence come this perfume and this
shade?' cried I.
`` `Dost thou not see,' he answered, `these
crimson flowers bursting from among the leaves, and
hanging in clusters?'
``I was about to speak, but a gentle breeze
moved the leaves, scattering the petals of the
flowers around us. Scarcely had the falling flowers
reached the ground when I saw ruddy pomegranates
hanging beneath the leaves of the tree,
like almonds on Aaron's rod. Then the Man of
God left me, and I was lost in amazement.''
``Where is he, this Man of God?'' asked Prince
Solomon eagerly. ``What is his name? Is he
still alive?''
``Son of David,'' answered Nathan, ``I have
spoken to thee of a vision.''
When the Prince heard this he was grieved to
the heart. ``How couldst thou deceive me thus?''
he asked.
But the Prophet replied: ``Behold in thy father's
gardens thou mayest daily see the unfolding
of wonder trees. Doth not this same miracle happen
to the fig, the date, and the pomegranate?
They spring from the earth, they put out branches
and leaves, they flower, they fruit,--not in a
moment, perhaps, but in months and years,--
but canst thou tell the difference betwixt a
minute, a month, or a year in the eyes of Him with
whom one day is as a thousand years, and a
thousand years as one day?''
THE PROUD OAK TREE
OLD FABLE[11]
[11] From Deutsches Drittes Lesebuch, by W.
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