WHY THE ASPEN QUIVERS
OLD LEGEND
Long, long ago, so the legend says, when Joseph
and Mary and the Holy Babe fled out of
Bethlehem into Egypt, they passed through the
green wildwood. And flowers and trees and
plants bent their heads in reverence.
But the proud aspen held its head high and
refused even to look at the Holy Babe. In vain the
birds sang in the aspen's branches, entreating it
to gaze for one moment at the wonderful One;
the proud tree still held its head erect in scorn.
Then outspake Mary, his mother. ``O aspen
tree,'' she said, ``why do you not gaze on the Holy
Child? Why do you not bow your head? A star
arose at his birth, angels sang his first lullaby,
kings and shepherds came to the brightness of his
rising; why, then, O aspen, do you refuse to honor
your Lord and mine?''
But the aspen could not answer. A strange
shivering passed through its stem and along its
boughs, which set its leaves a-quivering. It
trembled before the Holy Babe.
And so from age to age, even unto this day, the
proud aspen shakes and shivers. |