Thursday, January 3, 2008

St. Mary of Egypt and the Legend of the Virgin Mary

The theme of penance and Mary of Egypt....
The legend of the Virgin Mary shares themes associated with Mary of Egypt, patron saint of repentant sinners. Mary of Egypt was a penitent living in the wilderness and was widely venerated during the Middle Ages. Miraculously she was able to nourish herself on plants, nuts and berries. After a harsh life in the wilderness had destroyed her clothing, the only protection from the elements was her long golden hair. The solitude of the desert was the only place she could properly atone for her sins.

War or Peace Predicted by the Wee Wife

ln Saga 169, those who have the power to portend good and evil live among us.

Grimm's Saga 169. War and Peace
In the year 1644, on the 18th of August, the Prince Elector Johann Georg I moved his army past the city of Chemnitz. There, his men captured a wild little wife in the thicket of the area. She was only one ell high but otherwise had a human shape. Her face, hands and feet were smooth, but the rest of her body was rough. The wee wife began to speak: “I prophesy and bring peace to all the land.” The Prince Elector ordered that the wee wife be released, because twenty-five years earlier a wee husband had been found with the same shape. He foreboded unrest and war for all the land.

The ghosts of the past year still haunt familiar places in Saga 167.
Saga 167. The Stone Table at Bingenheim
In olden times it was the Count of a region who meted out justice in a "Zent" or lower court. Here noblemen and landowners met three times each year and the count presided. In the Hessian town of Bingenheim near Wetterau the trials were held in front of the guildhall under the linden tree. This is because many fine noblemen had settled near the Fulda borderland. A stone table stood under the linden tree and it is said that the table had been brought down from the forest of the high mountain near Staden. The stone table of justice had been moved to this spot but it was a mystery how. Years before the Zent Court was held, the place was populated by wild people. You can still see their handprints in the stone. Three stone seats with deep impressions can be seen near the linden tree. In the summer of 1604 , three white figures were observed as they wandered through the town in bright daylight.

To read more fairy tales about the wee mossy folk;

http://www.fairytalechannel.com/2008/01/farmer-tries-to-ignore-wee-wifes-gift.html

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Table of Content

This site contains translations for the following Brother Grimm Fairy Tales and Legends
If you cannot find via the label link, scroll down:

Fairy Tales for Christmas Tide
No. 5 Frau Holla is Stirring
No. 6 Frau Holla’s Bath
No. 7 Frau Holla and True Eckart
No. 314 True Eckart
No. 8 Frau Holla and the Farmer
No. 117 Christmas Eve

Sterntaler

The Virgin Mary and Her Child

More Tales of the Virgin Mary, Christ Child, the Winter Season and Heaven

No. 200 The Golden Key
No. 7 The Cup of the Mother of God
No. 9 The Heavenly Wedding
No. 10 The Hazel Branch

Christmas Stories with Augury:
No. 116 The Lover Invited to Dinner

The Christmas Saints:
No. 180 Eve’s Unequal Children (December 24th Feast Day of Adam and Eve)
No. 3 The Virgin Mary and Her Child
Saint Joseph in the Forest