Christ legends . old around herwaist loosened, .and he let her fall, as if shewere too heavy a burden for him, now that shewas alone. Thereupon he swung himself with a singlestroke up into Paradise. But Saint Peter lay for a long while in thesame place, and sobbed, and our Lord stoodsilent beside him. Saint Peter, said our Lord at last, Inever thought that you would weep like thisafter you had reached Paradise. Then Gods old servant raised his head andanswered: What kind of a Paradise is this,where I can hear the moans of my dearestones, and see the sufferings of my fellowmen! The face of our
Christ legends . old around herwaist loosened, .and he let her fall, as if shewere too heavy a burden for him, now that shewas alone. Thereupon he swung himself with a singlestroke up into Paradise. But Saint Peter lay for a long while in thesame place, and sobbed, and our Lord stoodsilent beside him. Saint Peter, said our Lord at last, Inever thought that you would weep like thisafter you had reached Paradise. Then Gods old servant raised his head andanswered: What kind of a Paradise is this,where I can hear the moans of my dearestones, and see the sufferings of my fellowmen! The face of our Lord became oercast by thedeepest sorrow. What did I desire more than;to prepare a Paradise for all, of nothing butlight and happiness ? He said. Do you notunderstand that it was because of this I went OUR LORD AND SAINT PETER 219 down among men and taught them to love theirneighbors as themselves? For as long as theydo this not, there will be no refuge in heavenor on earth where pain and sorrow cannot THE SACRED FLAME A GREAT many years ago, when the cityof Florence had only just been made arepublic, a man lived there named Raniero diRaniero. He was the son of an armorer, andhad learned his fathers trade, but he did notcare much to pursue it. This Raniero was the strongest of men. Itwas said of him that he bore a heavy ironarmor as lightly as others wear a silk was still a young man, but already he hadgiven many proofs of his strength. Once hewas in a house where grain was stored in theloft. Too much grain had been heaped there;and while Raniero was in the house one of theloft beams broke down, and the whole roof wasabout to fall in. He raised his arms and heldthe roof up until the people managed to fetchbeams and poles to prop it. It was also said of Raniero that he was thebravest man that had ever lived in Florence,and that he could never get enough of soon as he heard any noise in the street, he 224 CHRIST LEGENDS rushed out from the worksho
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