1 Two wives of one man, each have a son sick.
2 One of them named Mary, and whose son's name was Caleb,
presents the Virgin with a handsome carpet, and Caleb is cured;
but the son of the other wife dies,
4 which occasions a difference between the women.
5 The other wife puts Caleb into a hot oven, and he is
miraculously preserved,
9 she afterwards throws him into a well,
and he is again preserved;
11 his mother appeals to the Virgin against the other wife,
12 whose downfall the Virgin prophecies,
13 and who accordingly falls into the well,
14 therein fulfilling a saying of old.
THERE were in the same city
two wives of one man, who
had each a son sick. One of them
was called Mary, and her son's
name was Caleb.
2 She arose, and taking her son,
went to the Lady St. Mary, the
mother of Jesus, and offered her a
very handsome carpet, saying, O
my Lady Mary accept this carpet
of me, and instead of it give me a
small swaddling cloth.
3 To this Mary agreed, and
when the mother of Caleb was
gone, she made a coat for her son
of the swaddling cloth, put it on
him, and his disease was cured;
but the son of the other wife died.
4 Hereupon there arose between
them a difference in doing
the business of the family by turns,
each her week;
5 And when the turn of Mary
the mother of Caleb came, and she
was heating the oven to bake
bread, and went away to fetch the
meal, she left her son Caleb by the
oven;
6 Whom the other wife, her
rival, seeing to be by himself,
took and cast him into the oven,
which was very hot, and then went
away.
7 Mary on her return saw her
son Caleb lying in the middle of
the oven laughing, and the oven
quite as cold as though it had not
been before heated, and knew that
her rival the other wife had thrown
him into the fire.
8 When she took him out, she
brought him to the Lady St. Mary,
and told her the story, to whom
she replied, Be quiet, I am
concerned lest thou shouldest make
this matter known.
9 After this her rival, the other
wife, as she was drawing water at
the well, and saw Caleb playing
by the well, and that no one was
near, took him, and threw him
into the well.
10 And when some men came to
fetch water from the well, they
saw the boy sitting on the
superficies of the water, and
drew him out with ropes, and were
exceedingly surprised at the child,
and praised God.
11 Then came the mother and
took him and carried him to the
Lady St. Mary, lamenting. and
saying, O my Lady, see what my
rival hath done to my son, and
how she hath cast him into the
well, and I do not question but
one time or other she will be the
occasion of his death.
12 St. Mary replied to her, God
will vindicate your injured cause.
13 Accordingly a few days after,
when the other wife came to the
well to draw water, her foot was
entangled in the rope, so that she
fell headlong into the well, and
they who ran to her assistance
found her skull broken, and bones
bruised.
14 So she came to a bad end,
and in her was fulfilled that saying
of the author, They digged a well,
and made it deep, but fell themselves
into the pit which they prepared.