And A Little From Hebron Is The Mount Of Mamre, Of The Which The
Valley Taketh His Name.
And there is a tree of oak, that the
Saracens clepe DIRPE, that is of Abraham's time:
The which men
clepe the Dry Tree. And they say that it hath been there since the
beginning of the world, and was some-time green and bare leaves,
unto the time that our Lord died on the cross, and then it dried:
and so did all the trees that were then in the world. And some
say, by their prophecies, that a lord, a prince of the west side of
the world, shall win the Land of Promission that is the Holy Land
with help of Christian men, and he shall do sing a mass under that
dry tree; and then the tree shall wax green and bear both fruit and
leaves, and through that miracle many Saracens and Jews shall be
turned to Christian faith: and, therefore, they do great worship
thereto, and keep it full busily. And, albeit so, that it be dry,
natheles yet he beareth great virtue, for certainly he that hath a
little thereof upon him, it healeth him of the falling evil, and
his horse shall not be a-foundered: and many other virtues it
hath; wherefore men hold it full precious.
From Hebron men go to Bethlehem in half a day, for it is but five
mile; and it is full fair way, by plains and woods full delectable.
Bethlehem is a little city, long and narrow and well walled, and in
each side enclosed with good ditches:
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 64 of 305
Words from 16924 to 17194
of 81655
