The poor, pious firewood collector to whom the town's gatekeeper betrothed his daughter
CONTENT INFORMATION
Story Type: Miracle of Mary
Story Theme(s): Professions & Occupational Hazards; Marriage & Husbands; Monks & Monasteries
Date Read in Church: 21 Maskaram (according to ESP (UH) SM-010, scan 52a)
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
Earliest Attested Instance of the Story: 1400
Earliest Manuscripts in which Story Appears: EMML (HMML) 9002; BAdd (BL) 16192; EMML (HMML) 8970; EMML (HMML) 3536; BOr (BL) 652
Total Manuscripts in which Story Appears: 233
Total Incipits in the ITool: 82
Incipit(s): ወሀሎ፡ ፩ብእሲ፡ ወሬዛ፡ ዘይነብር፡ ውስተ፡ አሐቲ፡ ሀገር፡ ወሠናይ፡ ውእቱ፡ እምወራዙት፡ ወኄር፡ በፍኖቱ፡ ወንጹሕ፡ ወጽሩይ፡ ወፈራሄ፡ እግዚአብሔር፡ ዘያፈቅር፡ ሠናያተ፡ ወይጸልእ፡ እኩያተ፡ እምንእሱ፡ ወነዳይ፡ ውእቱ፡ ይበልዕ፡ እምፍሬ፡ ጻማሁ፡ ወኮነ፡ ኵሎ፡ ዕለተ፡ የሐውር፡ ውስተ፡ ገዳም፡ ወይሴጽር፡ ዕፀወ፡ አው፡ የዓጽድ፡ ሣዕረ፡ ወይሠይጦ፡ ውስተ፡ ምሥያጥ፡, from EMML (HMML) 3872, f. 78r
ID Numbers: PEMM Theme ID 72; PEMM ID 184; Macomber ID 184; Beta maṣāḥǝft ID LIT3911Miracle; Clavis ID CAe 3911
Translations & editions of this story
Amharic: Täsfa Gäbrä Śəllase. 1996. From TGS (EOTC) 1988-1996, p. 930.
Amharic: Täsfa Gäbrä Śəllase. 2014. From TGS (EOTC) 2004-2011, p. 841-843.
English: Wallis Budge. 1933. From BOr (BL) 652, ff. 79v–80v.
French: Gérard Colin. 2004. From TGS (EOTC) 1988-1996, p. 930.
Manuscripts in which story appears:
1400s: EMML (HMML) 9002, f. 222r; EMML (HMML) 3536, f. 85r; EMML (HMML) 8970, f. 23r; BOr (BL) 652, f. 79v;...
1500s: B-Mc (McCarthy) 1574, f. 78v; EMIP (EMIP) 2701, f. 37v; R-Vatican (BAV) Raineri 55, f. 86v; EMML (HM...
1600s: BOr (BL) 637, f. 45r; CM-Ar-Cairo (CM) 11-8, s. 95b; EMML (HMML) 6640, f. 74v; EMDA (HMML) 407, s. 4...
1700s: CZ-CC-Ar (HMML) 00012, f. 20v; BOr (BL) 643, f. 47v; EMML (HMML) 7543, f. 114r; BOr (BL) 654, f. 26v...
1800s: CZ-CC-Ar (HMML) 00019, f. 24v; CM-Ar-Cairo (CM) 05-12, f. 293; EMIP (EMIP) 763, f. 76v; EMDA (HMML) ...
1900s: EMIP (EMIP) 2519, f. 114r; DSAE (HMML) 7, s. 69a; EMML (HMML) 8923, s. 164b; EMIP (EMIP) 2609, f. 16...
2000s: TGS (EOTC) 2004-2011, s. 195b
This story, with the short title "A Bride for a Firewood Collector ," is very old: the earliest PEMM manuscript* in which this story appears is from around 1400.
It appears in 233 out of 709 PEMM manuscripts (33%).
This story is not illustrated in PEMM manuscripts.
It is a post-life miracle: it does not take place during Our Lady Mary's lifetime, but after it.
This story was originally composed in Europe (probably).
It is available in the following languages: Amharic, Geʿez, Arabic, French, English.
If you think any of the information on this page is incorrect (e.g., the date, manuscripts, translation), please use our PEMM Feedback Form to let us know. We depend on users like you to improve the site.
* A "PEMM manuscript" is defined as any Geʿez Marian manuscript or book that PEMM has catalogued. For more information, see Using the Site.
Summary
A devout young man walked to the desert every day and collect firewood to sell. One day, as he entered the city with his firewood, he stopped to honor a picture of Mary. The people waiting in line behind him did not know why he stopped and grew frustrated. But the gatekeeper witnessed the man’s devotion, and he saw that when the young man prostrated before the image, the figure in the picture miraculously shrouded her head. The gatekeeper, who also loved Mary, took the young man to his house. He cleaned the young man up, offered him clothes, married him to his daughter, and gave him all his belongings. The gatekeeper became a monk, and, through his devotion to Mary, the young man became rich.
Translation
Translated by Wallis Budge from BOr (BL) 652, ff. 79v–80v, in 1933.
There was a young man who lived in a certain town. He was excellent and feared God, and from his youth he loved what was good and rejected what was bad.
Now he was poor, and he lived on what the labor of his hands produced. He went into the desert every day to split trees for firewood, or else to collect bundles of brushwood, which he sold in the market in order to live.
He loved Our Lady Mary with all his heart, and three times a day, rain or shine, he stood before her, bowed to her, and saluted her.
One day he went out from the city and gathered much brushwood. He tied it in a bundle and lifted it up upon his head.
As he was coming into the city, he arrived at the gate and saw a picture of Our Lady Mary. Straightaway he cast his load from his head into the gateway, and he stood up and bowed to Our Lady Mary.
Many people were coming through the gate, and they were unable to pass each other.
The gatekeeper rose and said, “What is the cause of this blockage?”
They told him, “This young man has cast his load down in the roadway.”
The gatekeeper turned and saw the young man standing opposite the picture of Our Lady Mary. When the young man bowed to [the figure in the image], the head of that figure shrouded itself in a covering.
The gatekeeper looked on at the miracle. Then he rose and asked the young man, “Where do you come from, and what do you do?”
The young man said, “I am a poor man, and I live by the labor of my hands.”
The gatekeeper said, “I have seen Mary paying honor to you, and I also will pay you honor through love of her.”
The young man went to take up the brushwood, but the gatekeeper stopped him. He took the youth to his house, washed and dressed him, married him to his daughter, and gave him all his possessions.
The gatekeeper then dressed himself in the garb of the monk.
The young man became rich through the petition of our Lady Mary, and he acquired all his wealth through love of her.
Those who serve her become rich in heaven and upon earth: may her blessing be with us all forever.
Note: This English translation was composed by Wallis Budge in the early 1900s but updated by the PEMM team for modern readers. We have replaced old-fashioned terms (e.g., thee, thou), stripped old-fashioned word endings (e.g., striketh), and corrected offensive language (e.g., lame, barren). However, Budge made some of these translations from a peculiar manuscript, which often had missing words and sentences, so the translations don't always do justice to the story in its original, earliest form. We hope to retranslate the story from better manuscripts in future. His translations are from what he calls MS A, which is PEMM MS B-Oslo (SCOL) 248; MS B, which is PEMM MS B-Dublin (CBL) 914; and Brit. Mus. Orient. No. 652, which is PEMM MS BOr (BL) 652.
TO CITE THIS TRANSLATION
Wallis Budge. 1933. "ID 184: The pious mower of hay to whom the gatekeeper gave his daughter in marriage." One Hundred and Ten Miracles of Our Lady Mary, edited by Wallis Budge, page 317–18. Updated by PEMM Copyeditor Taylor Eggan. From BOr (BL) 652, ff. 79v–80v. https://pemm.princeton.edu/stories/184.
This story, with the short title "A Bride for a Firewood Collector ," is very old: the earliest PEMM manuscript* in which this story appears is from around 1400.
It appears in 233 out of 709 PEMM manuscripts (33%).
This story is not illustrated in PEMM manuscripts.
It is a post-life miracle: it does not take place during Our Lady Mary's lifetime, but after it.
This story was originally composed in Europe (probably).
It is available in the following languages: Amharic, Geʿez, Arabic, French, English.
If you think any of the information on this page is incorrect (e.g., the date, manuscripts, translation), please use our PEMM Feedback Form to let us know. We depend on users like you to improve the site.
* A "PEMM manuscript" is defined as any Geʿez Marian manuscript or book that PEMM has catalogued. For more information, see Using the Site.