Friday, July 23, 2010

The Frog in the Casket

Today is the feast day for St. Birgitta Birgersdotter of Vadstena, also known as St. Bridget of Sweden. She founded the Bridgettine (or Brigittine) Order, which was once extraordinarily widespread, but was pretty severely disrupted by the Reformation. There still are a number of branches of the Bridgettines in existence, though. Prior to founding the Order she had several children, one of whom, Catherine of Vadstena, was also canonized. St. Bridget is the patron saint of Europe.

She had visions, and her Revelations are a spiritual classic. Here's an excerpt, not very typical, but certainly the sort of thing that could be made into a solid short story:

Once there was a sorcerer who had the most shining gold. A simple and mild man came to him and wanted to buy this gold from him. The sorcerer said to the simple man: ‘You will not receive this gold, unless you give me better gold and in larger quantity.’ The man said: ‘I have such a great desire for your gold that I will give you what you want rather than losing it.’ He then gave the sorcerer better gold and in larger quantity and received the shining gold from him and put it in a casket, thinking of making himself a ring from it for his finger.

After a short time, the sorcerer approached that simple man and said: ‘The gold you bought from me and laid in your casket is not gold, as you thought, but the most ugly frog. It has been fostered in my chest and fed with my food. And in order for you to test and know that this is true, you may open the casket and you will see how the frog will jump to my chest where it was fostered.’ When the man wanted to open it and find out if it was true, the frog appeared in the casket. The cover of the casket was hanging on four hinges that were about to break and fall off soon. Immediately when the cover of the casket was opened, the frog saw the sorcerer and jumped into his chest.

When the servants and friends of the simple man saw this, they said to him: ‘Lord, this most fine gold is in the frog, and if you want, you can easily get the gold.’ The man said: ‘How can I get it?’ They replied: ‘If someone took a sharp and heated spear and thrust it into the hollow part of the frog’s back, he would quickly get the gold out. But if he cannot find any hollow in the frog, he should then, with the greatest force and effort, thrust his spear into it, and this is how you will get back the gold you bought.’