The Virgin Mary's Child, part 1

After catching up with Doctor Who and Casualty earlier I picked up a book and found this intriguing little tale. Invite you to ponder where you agree/disagree with it...

The Virgin Mary's Child

The Brother's Grimm

(Translated by Jack Zipes)

A poor woodcutter and his wife lived at the edge of a large forest, and their only child was a little girl who was three years old.They were so poor they could not have daily meals anymore and did not know how they would provide food for their daughter. One morning the woodcutter, who was distressed by all this, went into the forest to work. As he began chopping wood a tall, beautiful woman suddenly appeared before him. She was wearing a crown of shining stars on her head and said to him, "I am the Virgin Mary, mother of the Christ Child. Since you are poor and needy, bring me your child. I'll take her with me to be her mother and look after her."

The woodcutter obeyed her. He brought his child and gave her to the Virgin Mary, who took her up to heaven. Everything went well for the girl there: she ate cake and drank sweet milk. Her clothes were made of gold, and the little angels played with her. One day, when she turned fourteen, the Virgin Mary summoned her and said, "Dear child, I intend to go on a long journey, and I want you to take care of the keys to the thirteen doors of the kingdom of heaven. You may open twelve of the doors and look at all the marvellous things inside, but I forbid you to open the thirteenth door that this little key unlocks. Be on your guard and don't open it. If you do. you'll be unhappy.'

The maiden promised to be obedient, and when the Virgin Mary had departed, she began to explore the rooms of the kingdom of heaven. Every day she opened a new room until she had unlocked twelve of them. In each one there was an apostle in dazzling light, and she was delighted by the glory and splendour, and the little angels who always accompanied her were delighted too. Now the forbidden door was the only one left, and she felt a great desire to know what was inside, and she said to the little angels, "I won't open it all the way, and I won't go inside. I'll only unlock it so we can peek through the crack a little."

"Oh, no!" said the little angels."That would be a sin. the Virgin Mary's forbidden it, and something awful could happen to you."

So the maiden said nothing more about this, but she could not still the urge in her heart. Her desire kept gnawing and pecking away at her and gave her no peace. One day when the angels had all gone out, she thought, Now I'm all alone and can take a peek. No one will know if I do.

She looked for the key, and when she got it in her hand,  she put it in the lock and turned it. Suddenly the door sprang open, and there she saw the Holy Trinity sitting in fire and splendour. She stood still for a while and looked at everything in amazement. Then she touched the light just a little with her finger, and the finger turned golden. All at once she was overcome by a tremendous fear, and she slammed the door and ran away. The fear would not abate, no matter what she did, and her heart pounded constantly and she could not be calmed. Moreover, the gold stayed on her finger and would not go away even though she washed and rubbed it as much as she could.

Soon after, the Virgin Mary returned from her journey. She summoned the maiden and and asked her to return the keys of heaven to her. When the maiden handed her the bunch of keys, the Virgin looked into her eyes and said, "Didn't you also open the thirteenth door?"

To be continued...