Of a fayre mayden that should be put to death wrongfully.
THE cause is, for as much as a fayre maiden yt was blamed wyth wrong that she hadde done fornication, for the which cause she was demed1 to dye and to bee brente2 in that place to the which she was ledde. And as the woode began to brenne about hir, she made hir prayer to our Lorde as she was not gyltie of that thing, that he would helpe hir that it might be knowne to all men. And whan she had thus sayde, she entred the fyre and anone the fyre went out, and those braunches that were brenninge became red Roses and those braunches that were not kindled became white Rosiers3 full of white roses, and those were the fyrst roses and rosyers that any man sawe, and so was the mayden saved through the grace of God, and therefore is that felde called the feeld of God florished, for it was full of Roses. Also besyde the quire of that Church aforesayd at the right side as men come downwarde xii4 grees5 is the place where our Lorde was borne that is now full well dyght6 of Marble & full rychely depaynted of golde, sylver and asure and other colours. And a lyttle thens by three paces is the crybe7 of the Oxe and the Asse, and besyde yt is the place where the sterre8 fell that lede the three Kinges Jasper, Melchior and Balthasar, but men of Grece call the Kinges thus, Galgalath, Saraphy, Malgalath. These three Kinges offered to our Lorde, Encence, Gold & Mirre and they came together through myracle of God, for they mette togither in a citie that men call Chasak, that is liii journeys from Bethleem, and there they were at Bethleem the fourth9 daye after they hadde seene the sterre. And under the cloyster of this church xviii grees10 at the righte syde is a great pytte where the bones of the Innocentes lie, and before that place where Chryst was borne is the tombe of Sainct Jerom that was a priest and a Cardinal that translated the Byble and the Sauter11 from Hebrew into Latyn, and beside that church is a Church of Saynte Nycolas, where our Lady rested hir whan she was delivered of chyld, and for as much as she had so much mylke in hir pappes that it greved hir, she mylked it out uppon the redde stones of Marble, so that yet may the traces bee seene whyte uppon the stones. And ye shall understande that all that dwell in Bethleem are Chrysten men, and there are fayre vynes all aboute the citie and great plentie of wine, for their booke that Mahomet betoke12 them, the which they call Alkaron and some call it Massap and some call it Harme, forbiddeth them to drinke any wyne, for in that booke Machomet curseth all those that drynke of that wyne and all that sell it, for some men saye that he onse slewe a good hermite in his dronkennesse which13 he loved much, and therefore he cursed the wyne, and them that drynke wyne, but his malyce is torned to hymselfe, as holye writ sayth "Et in verticem ipsius iniquitus ejus descendit," That is to say in Englyshe, His wickednesse shall descende on his owne head. And also the Sarasins bringeth forthe no geise,14 ne they eate no swines fleshe, for they say it is brother to manne and that it was forbidden in the olde lawe. Also in the lande of Palestine ne in the lande of Egypte they eate but lyttle veale and beefe but it be so olde that it may no more travayll15 ne werke, not that it is forbidden but they kepe them to tylling of their lande. In this castell of Bethleem was Kyng David borne and he had Lx wives and ccc lemmans. From Bethleem to Hierusalem is two myle, and in the way of Hierusalem halfe a myle from Bethleem is a Church where the aungell sayd to the shepherdes of the bearing of Christ. In that waye is the tombe of Rachel that was Josephs mother the Patryarke and she dyed as soone as she hadde borne Benjamyn and there she was buried, and Jacob hir husbande set xii great stones upon hir in tokening that she had borne xii children. In this way to Hierusalem are many Christen churches by the which men go to Hierusalem.
