Page:Apocryphal Gospels and Other Documents Relating to the History of Christ.djvu/192

76 that he reaped it, and gathered from it three quarters of corn, and gave it to many.

is a road which leads out of Jericho and goes to the river Jordan where the children of Israel went over. There the ark of the covenant is said to have rested. And Jesus was eight years old, and he went out from Jericho and went to the Jordan. And there was by the way side near the bank of the Jordan, a cavern where a lioness brought up her whelps: and no one could go along the road in safety. Now as Jesus came from Jericho, knowing that in that cavern the lioness had brought forth her young, he entered it in the sight of all. But when the lions saw Jesus they ran to meet him and adored him. And Jesus sat in the cavern, and the lions' whelps ran about his feet, fawning and playing with him. But the older lions stood at a distance with lowered head, and adored him: and fawning, wagged their tails before him. Then the people, who stood at a distance, not seeing Jesus, said. Unless he or his parents had done very grievous sins,