Page:Apocryphal Gospels and Other Documents Relating to the History of Christ.djvu/327

Rh thrown me down, so shalt thou fall and not rise; and the same hour the boy fell down and breathed his last.

there was at Jerusalem one named Zacchæus, who was a teacher of boys. He said to Joseph, Joseph, why dost thou not bring me Jesus to learn letters? Joseph gave him his consent, and reported this to lady Mary. So they brought him to the master, who, as soon as he saw him, wrote the alphabet for him, and bade him say Aleph; and when he had said Aleph, the master ordered him to say Beth; and the Lord Jesus said to him, Tell me first the meaning of the letter Aleph and then I will say Beth. And when the master threatened to flog him, the Lord Jesus explained to him the meanings of the letters Aleph and Beth; also which forms of the letters were straight, which crooked, which drawn spirally, which marked with points, which were without them, and why one letter came before another; and he began to tell and explain many other things which the master himself had never heard, nor had read in any book. Moreover, the Lord Jesus said to the master, Attend, that I may tell thee. And he began clearly and distinctly to repeat Aleph, Beth, Gimel, and Daleth, as far as Tau. The master, wondering at this, said, I think this boy was born before