Page:Apocryphal Gospels and Other Documents Relating to the History of Christ.djvu/318

202 like a mad dog. Now this boy, who struck Jesus, and from whom Satan went out in the form of a dog, was Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him to the Jews, and that side of him on which Judas had smitten him, the Jews pierced with a spear.

when the Lord Jesus had accomplished seven years from his nativity, on a certain day he was with other boys of the same age. Now they were playing with clay, out of which they made figures of asses, oxen, birds, and other animals, and each one, glorying in his skill, praised his own work. Then the Lord Jesus said to the boys, the figures which I have made I will command to walk. Being, asked by the boys whether then he was the son of the Creator, the Lord Jesus commanded them to walk, and they straightway began to jump about: then, when he gave them leave, they stood still again. Now he had made figures of birds and sparrows, which flew when he bade them fly, and stood still when he bade them stand, and ate and drank when he offered them food and drink. After the boys went and told these things to their parents, their fathers said to them, Beware, O sons, of keeping company with him again; for he is a sorcerer; therefore flee him and avoid him, and henceforth play with him no more.