“En Toled’ á un costume
que foi de longa sazon,
que quando y casar queren
as donas que pobres son,
peden aas ricas donas
de suas dõas enton,
que possan en suas uodas
máis ricas apparecer.”
But her husband for some reason forbade her to do so any longer. Soon after this another poor woman came begging for the pearls, and because she asked “in the name of the Virgin” the lady could not withstand the plea and loaned them surreptitiously. While the girl was bathing, a servant stole them, but note—
“Ela deu-o a sa filla
el leuou-a a bannar,
com’ é costum’ en Toledo
de quantas queren casar.”[41]
The bride was heartbroken and the lady, very much grieved but still more frightened, went to the church of the Virgin, where from sheer weakness caused by her anxiety she fell asleep before the altar. While there still asleep, the woman who had stolen the jewels passed thru the church with them hidden in her bosom. The sleeping woman awoke at that moment and, miraculously given to know that this one had her pearls, forcibly recovered them.
Legends of necessities being miraculously supplied are not lacking. There is one concerning a church in Jerusalem built under the guidance of the Virgin that reminds us of the widow’s cruse of oil. The community was about to have to leave owing to a severe famine. As a last resort they met and prayed all night, and when morning came they found all the bread boxes full. Later a similar famine occurred and again they prayed all night, and this time they found a large sum of pure gold on the altar. (No. 187). Miracles similar to the one performed by Jesus at the wedding feast in Canaan of Galilee (John 2: 1-11) are Nos. 23 and 351. The first is the simple story of a woman who was out of wine when the King came to visit her, so she asked the Virgin to help her in her perplexity, and immediately the wine casks in the cellar were filled. The second, on a larger scale and with an element of humor, maintains that at the great annual feast in honor of the Virgen de Agosto one year a great hogshead of wine was supplied for the public, but, sad to relate, it did not last long. After it became exhausted the crowd was slow to go away and someone suggested that they look again to see whether it was entirely empty. To their surprise they found it was full of miraculous wine supplied by the Saint, and it had the quality not only of delighting those who partook of it but also of curing ills.
Altho such benefits and protection are usually bestowed only upon Christians, and more especially upon those who are particularly devoted to the Mother of Christ, occasionally she will hear the requests of those who belong to another faith provided they are ready to accept Christianity. A vagrant Jewess was cast from a high rock in punishment for her misconduct, but, on appealing to the Virgin, she fell harmlessly beside a fig tree. In gratitude she was baptised and remained constant to the faith thru life (No. 107). The Virgin’s mercy was also great enough to restore life to the child of a Moorish woman who, because she had heard of the miraculous power of Santa María de Salas, took the dead body of her little one to the shrine. After the mother had remained there all night in prayer the child was brought back to life altho it had been dead three days (No. 167).
There is another small group of miracles recorded in which the response is not to prayers but to threats—cases in which the believer loses control of himself and defies both God and man. No reason is given why the threats are effective after prayers and requests have been of no avail. Does it imply that the Holy Mother was to them such a human personality that, like an earthly lord, she might be susceptible to fear?
One case in point (No. 76) is that of a devout woman, the mother of a criminal, who became desperate when her son was hanged. Snatching the form of the child Jesus from the arms of the image in the church she threatened to keep it as a hostage. The Virgin became merciful—(or fearful)—and brought from the other world to the distracted mother her criminal son, who, now truly penitent, reprimands his mother for her sacrilegious act. So greatly was she impressed by the experience that she became a nun.
The most surprising miracle of the entire collection so far as the behavior of Saint Mary is concerned and her show of fear is the following, from which I shall quote freely. The young son of a baron fell with his horse from a high bridge. The father saw the accident and cried out aloud to the Virgin:
“Dizend’ a mui grandes uozes:
‘Ual-me, Rëynna Sennor.’
Enton a Vírgen bêeita
que seu fillo Saluador
tijnna ontre seus braços,
ouue da uoz tal pauor
como quando Rei Herodes
lle quis seu fillo matar.