Page:Apocryphal Gospels and Other Documents Relating to the History of Christ.djvu/322

206 thou art indeed the Good Shepherd of Israel; have pity on thy handmaids who stand before thee and never doubted; for, O our Lord, thou hast come to heal, and not to destroy. But when the Lord Jesus had answered, that the children of Israel were like Ethiopians among the nations, the women said, Thou Lord, knowest all things, and nothing is hidden from thee; but now we pray thee, and from thy kindness we ask, that thou wouldst restore these boys, thy servants, to their former condition. The Lord Jesus therefore said, Come, boys, let us go and play; and immediately, while the women stood there, the kids were changed into boys.

in the month of Adar, Jesus assembled the boys as if he were their king; they strewed their garments on the ground, and he sat upon them. Then they put on his head a crown wreathed of flowers, and, like attendants waiting on a king, they stood in order before him on his right hand and on his left. And whoever passed that way, the boys took him by force, saying, Come hither and adore the king, and then proceed on thy way.

, as these things were going on, there