The Great Gospel of John
Volume 4
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Jesus near Caesarea Philippi (cont.)
- Chapter 212 -
The mastery of the moors over the animals.
The leader, however, asked Me, whether there was anything else unusual which they should demonstrate to the whites.
2
I said: "Yes, My dear, old friends! See up there, about five-thousand steps towards midday at the lake you see a hill, which drops off very steep towards the lake. It is covered with very poisonous snakes and adders, and you can chase these beasts away for Me! All of us will accompany you to there!"
3
Said the leader: "Lord, You Almighty! If it concerns only the expulsion, it only costs You a thought, and the hill is free from all vermin for all times of times; but if it here also concerns an example, which power is hidden in primordial mankind, we do this like everything else according to Your highest holy will!"
4
Says I: "It is self-evident that I ask you for it for the sake of an example; therefore lets go!"
5
We started to go and moved quickly over to the described hill and reached it after half an hour. When arriving there, the quite stretched out hill was alive because of all the snakes and adders; a hissing and nearly intolerable whistling started, so that one hardly could understand ones own word. All those many thousand beasts hurried into the sea and swam with the speed of an arrow over the widely spread waves of the water, and within a few moments the hill was clean.
6
The leader came to Me and said: "Lord, all the snakes and adders, from the oldest to the most recently hatching the eggs, are gone; however, there are still as many stuck in the eggs! Who will remove them from the many holes and nests? Because if they are not removed, within six month this hill will be covered again like it was until now! Who will clean the hill then?"
7
Says I: "Do you have no means to also destroy these?"
8
Says the leader: "Accept for the Ich nei maon (does not have any poison) we do not know any other means! One had to heat up the whole hill for some time. Thereby the destruction of the nests and eggs would be possible along natural means; since to stay here, to suffocate the beasts by our permanent outer-life-circle, we cannot do."
9
Says I: "Let it be! You already have performed your miracles, and I do not ask more from you; I will take care of it! Since this hill is freed from its evil inhabitants, we will climb it, and you will give us some more examples of your human abilities!"
10
Thereupon we climbed the hill, where there was room for at least 2,000 people on its top. When we reached the top, about thousand feet above the surface of the water, long rows of cranes moved through the air.
11
And I said to the leader: "Friend, are these birds also still submissive to you?"
12
Said the leader: "These are foreign, never seen specie; however, I'm not doubting it for one moment, that also they feel our will and will direct themselves accordingly!"
13
Here the leader looked at his companions and said: "Be with me, so that we can fulfill the will of the Lord!"
14
As soon as the leader had spoken these words, the cranes began to descend and were within a few moments on the hill among the blacks; but they avoided the whites. Shortly afterwards the leader indicated to the cranes to continue their flight, and they flew away.
15
And again a couple of vultures of enormous size were flying high up in the air, and started to circle above our heads.
16
And the leader said to the whites: "Call them down, the circling pair!"
17
Said Cyrenius to the leader: "But why this a little haughty looking request to us? Since you know it anyway, that we spoiled people are not able to perform such primordial human deeds! Just fulfill the will of the Lord; for everything else the Lord will take care, and according to His teaching also we as far as possible!"
18
Says the leader: "You think that I have put the request to you whites for enticing the two floating vultures above us, from a kind of self-rise feeling? Oh, about such opinion of me you are quite wrong! I put the request to you my white brothers, to life deeply remind you about your great wrongness, for which you of course are finally little or not to blame at all, but nevertheless it cannot do you any harm!
19
How should we be able to boast about our natural properties?! Or do you boast about your vision or hearing?! Since if we could be proud about our to you appearing wondrous properties, we long ago would not possess them anymore; however, since this is something impossible for us, we still possess our to you wondrous appearing properties, of which you whites will soon get new proof of! - Come down you two inhabitants of the air!"
20
When the leader finished speaking quite loudly, the two mighty vultures shot down like arrows and sat with all gentleness and visible friendliness, as if properly trained by an animal tamer, on the right hand of the leader.
21
In this moment a magpie flew by and the leader instructed one of the vultures to catch it unharmed and bring it to him. Like an arrow the gigantic vulture shot after the quickly fluttering magpie and brought it within a few moments back to the leader without flying away. The vulture was holding the shouting magpie firmly in its claws, however, without harming it, and only let go of it when the leader got hold of it. Thereupon he stroked the two vultures and let them go again, whereupon the two large birds of prey quickly rose high into the air and were on the look out for a fat prey for them.
22
The magpie, however, the black gave to Cyrenius as remembrance to this deed, which appeared rather wonderfully to the upper governor and all the other Romans and Jews.
23
Cyrenius handed the magpie to his two daughters, who were also present, for carefully looking after it, and said to Me: "But Lord, this is absolutely miraculous, what these blacks are capable of, - if in all secrecy Your will was not playing a little roll in all this?!"
24
Said I: "I said it to you before, that I will let act them completely on their own! Why do you doubt this now?! O just be patient; I will let them do a few other things, which will make you feel quite dizzy!"