histmss-074991-0041

The poor girl went to the woods cry-
ing. But all was covered with snow,
there was not even a path. Mary
lost her way, she was hungry,
she trembled from cold and
fear, for she did not know where
she was.

III

Suddenly she saw a light in the
distance. She walked, she climbed,
she arrived at the summit of a
cliff. She saw there a large fire.
Around the fire there were twelve
stones, and on each stone there
was a man wrapped in a large
cloak and head covered with a hood.
Three of these cloaks were white like
the snow, three were green like
the grass of the meadow, three were
yellow like beautiful ripe wheat;
three were purple like bunches of
grapes. Who were these twelve
men seated around the fire? They
were the twelve months of the
year.