The Turks, the Greeks, & the Slavons : travels in the Slavonic provinces of Turkey-in-Europe / by G. Muir Mackenzie and A.P. Irby ; with maps, and numerous illustrations by F. Kanitz.

Date:
1867
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Turks, the Greeks, & the Slavons : travels in the Slavonic provinces of Turkey-in-Europe / by G. Muir Mackenzie and A.P. Irby ; with maps, and numerous illustrations by F. Kanitz. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    [chap. is. But he was answered : Don't ask for that, St. Peter; thou mayst not beg pardon for thy mother; thy mother has many sins on her soul. Still St. Peter prayed on for three years and three days ; and at the end of three years and three days the Lord said to him : Cease now, St. Peter, for thou hast obtained pardon for thy mother's soul. Get thee to the sea-shore, and twist thee a slender rope, and lower it to the bottom of hell. There may thy mother catch it, and be hauled up to the light of day. But, besides thy mother, there are seventy other souls ; let them take hold of her skirts and her sleeves, that they too may be drawn out of hell. Off went St. Peter,—olf went he hastily to the sea- shore ; and he tore off half his skirt, and he tore off his flaxen girdle, and of these he twisted a long slender rope, and lowered it to the pit of hell. Alas! the little rope proved too short! But St. Peter wore a red feather; this too he tore off, and added it to the length of the rope. And now St. Peter cried aloud : Catch hold, sinful old. mother ! I have obtained a pardon for thy soul. And you seventy other souls, do you hear 1 You are to lay hold on my mother's skirt,—on her skirt and on her sleeves,—and you too shall be drawn up into the light of day. But behold the old woman was (jrudging, even as she had been while yet in the white world. She called out to the seventy other souls : Begone, 3'^ou dogs! begone, you swine! what right have you to be saved ^vith St. Peter's mother ? I myself suckled St, Peter : I sang the lullaby of St. Peter : ye did not suckle him, ye did not sing his lullaby 1 The Lord heard the old woman's words; suddenly the rope brake, and down she fell to the lowest pit.