How noisy it was in Jerusalem, and how peaceful it was here--almost as still and solemn as a Sabbath evening at Nazareth! Beloved Nazareth! How far away, how far away! Sometimes the sound of a shepherd's pipe was heard from the green hills.

A youth leaned up against an olive tree and made a wreath of twigs and sang: "Behold, thou art fair, my love.

Thine eyes are as doves in thy fragrant locks, thy lips are rosebuds, and thy two breasts are like roes which feed among the lilies.

Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse." Then he was silent, and the leaves rustled softly in the evening breeze.
Mary looked out for Joseph, but he came not.

And the singer continued: "Who art thou that shinest like the day-dawn, fair as the moon, and clear as the sun, divine daughter of Eve ?" And Mary still waited under the palm-tree and listened, and she began to feel strange pangs.