Countess Belle Luce - an intelligent, kind and absolutely charming young woman - was in despair. She cried for days and no one could console her. The fact is that the Countess had been married for several years, and the Lord still did not send her children. The poor thing thought that her husband would stop loving her and leave her if she did not bear him a son or daughter, and she suffered terribly from this.
In those ancient times, as in our days, in the capital of the county of Gruyères, families were large. Belle Luce looked with envy at the contented townspeople who walked the streets in the evenings, surrounded by five, six, or even a dozen children.
The Countess did not know how to help her grief. She prayed, donated for the construction of temples, took care of the poor and needy. Finally, she equipped many pilgrims on the journey to holy places, so that they, together with her, asked the Virgin Mary to save her from trouble and send a child to the count’s family as soon as possible.
The count, who, by the way, doted on his wife, loved to organize balls and feasts in the castle. Famous guests came to the courtyard. Gathered in a beautiful hall, where the fireplace was blazing and a huge oak table was laden with food, they drank to the health of the count and his beautiful wife. And in the garden musicians played and young people danced merrily.
It seemed to the unfortunate countess that her husband was being nice to all the ladies at the holiday, but hardly noticed her. “And all this is probably due to the fact that I don’t have children,” she thought, sighing heavily.
While the childless countess was sad in her castle, a strange beggar appeared in the area. His leg was crippled, and therefore the people called him Lame Jean. Lame Jean was poor like Job, but happy like Croesus. Always cheerful, always cheerful and good-natured, Lame Jean walked with his bag throughout the county of Gruyères. Singing hymns, he wandered through forests and valleys, not afraid of rough roads and stubbornly overcoming steep mountain paths. The beggar went to all the chapels he encountered on his way and prayed there for a long time, often until the evening, until the time came for the church guards to close the gates.
People rejoiced when they saw Lame Jean, because it was believed that this man brought happiness to the house. They fed him dinner, put him to bed, and the next morning the whole family saw him off on the road, having first filled his knapsack with food, clothes and various useful things. But Lame Jean gave away everything that was given to him to other beggars, and then moved on, leaning on his old gnarled stick.
Who was Lame Jean really? Where did he come from?
Nobody knew this.
Tall, thin, with a long gray beard, he once came to Gruyères and never left this region. There were rumors that under the pitiful rags of a beggar was hiding a noble man who had forgotten his noble name and abandoned his huge fortune in order to devote his life to serving God. Some claimed that in the past Lame Jean was a soldier, that he was captured by the Moors, spent many years in slavery, but miraculously escaped and after that made a vow to wander throughout the earth and glorify the Lord. Someone else believed that Lame Jean was a rich nobleman and once committed a grave sin, and now, dressed in rags, he is repenting. Other assumptions were made, but, as already mentioned, no one really knew who this beggar was.
It remains to add that, despite such different opinions about the past of Lame Jean, everyone was confident that he was a holy man.
Christmas has come. The cheerful ringing of bells announced the beginning of the celebrations at Gruyères Castle. The night was cold. Snow was falling in large flakes. After the festive service, which ended a long fast, all the inhabitants of the castle - servants, garrison, count, his wife - as well as numerous guests began to congratulate each other. Christmas carols came from the kitchen, where the cooks were knocking knives and slamming pot lids, from the courtyard, where the guards, despite the cold, were having fun with all their might, from the halls filled with a motley crowd of noble ladies and gentlemen who exchanged news while waiting for dances and refreshments.
Belle Luce, taking advantage of the joyful bustle reigning in the castle, quietly jumped out into the street and ran to the small chapel of John the Baptist built nearby. Kneeling at the altar, she fervently prayed to the One who was born that night many years ago. The Countess sincerely believed that He would hear her request and send her a child.
It turned out that Belle Luce was not alone in the chapel. Lame Jean also decided at this late hour to pray to the Lord God. He sat in the depths, and the twilight hid him from the countess's eyes. The holy fool did not recognize the mistress of Gruyere Castle in the mournful crying woman. He listened to her words, but could not make out what she was praying for. Finally, Lame Jean decided that this was a hungry beggar woman who came to the chapel to complain about her hardships to St. John, and he felt sorry for the poor woman. Lame Jean pulled out a piece of bread from his knapsack and, falling on his sore leg, headed towards Belle Luce. Handing her the bread, he said:
- Take it and eat. This will comfort you.
The Countess recognized Lame Jean. She decided that meeting him was a sure sign that her prayers were heard in heaven. After all, he is blessed and brings happiness to people! Grabbing the offering, she ran out of the chapel and within a few minutes was in her chambers. There, going up to the window and looking with a smile at the flying snow flakes, the countess began quietly gnawing on a piece of stale bread.
No one noticed Belle Luce leaving the castle. With eyes shining with happiness, the countess came out to the guests and sat down at the head of the table next to her husband. To celebrate, she drank a glass of wine and ate a whole chicken.
The fun was incredible! All night until the morning, and then for another thirteen days, the owners and guests of Gruyères Castle celebrated the most wonderful holiday of the year. What was there on the generous count’s Christmas table! Skilled chefs prepared magnificent dishes from the meat of deer, roe deer, wild boar and even bear. Whole roasted geese, chickens and turkeys were served. On huge silver dishes lay sausages and hams, and all kinds of fruit. And what wonderful wine the Count de Gruyère treated his guests to! Music played loudly in the brightly lit hall, and the dancing continued until they dropped.
Autumn has come. The peasants were harvesting. Cheerful shepherds, having decorated not only their own hats with flowers, but also the heads of the most beautiful cows, left the mountain pastures with their herds, because soon the fields with emerald grass and pink clover were to be covered with a snow carpet. Over the summer, the cows had eaten plenty of lush grass and now slowly, with a drawn-out moo, they descended into the valley, where in the middle of golden fields there were houses surrounded by gardens. Apple, cherry and plum trees bent under the weight of ripe fruits. Flocks of children were running along the hedges. The children jumped up and picked yellow nuts from the branches.
And in the castle of Count de Gruyères there is a holiday again! Noble nobles, as well as many noble ladies and gentlemen, with all their children and household members, came to the court. Some guests came from distant lands - some from the Savoy Mountains, and some from France. Everyone congratulated the strong, rosy-cheeked newborn - the count's heir - on Holy Baptism, and his mother wished to recover quickly after childbirth. The boy was named John.
The common people were also having a lot of fun. On the city streets there were spits on which whole bull carcasses were roasted. The count's servants laughingly rolled out huge barrels of wine from the cellars so that everyone could drink to the health of Belle Luce and her son. The count himself, feeling like the happiest man in the world (he never thought that being a father would be so pleasant!), freed his townspeople from paying taxes and gave many gifts.
But let's return to the castle. The young mother, surrounded by a crowd of friends and relatives, was showered with congratulations and compliments.
And she decided to reveal her secret, telling everyone about her meeting with Lame Jean and about the alms she received from a beggar on Christmas Day. To prove her words, the countess showed a dried piece of bread. She wanted to keep it for life. But that was not the case! The women around her, not only young and lively blondes and brunettes, but also stately ladies with gray hair, wanted at all costs to pinch off at least a tiny bit from him and eat them - as a guarantee of family happiness and well-being.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru