Hard by a great forest dwelt a wood-cutter with his wife, who had an only child, a little girl three years old. They were so poor, however, that they no longer had daily bread, and did not know how to get food for her. One morning the wood-cutter went outsorrowfully to his work in the forest, and while he was cutting wood, suddenly there stood before him a tall and beautiful woman with a crown of shining stars on her head, who said to him, "I am the Virgin Mary, mother of the child Jesus. Thou art poor and needy, bring thy child to me, I will take her with me and be her mother, and care for her." The wood-cutter obeyed, brought his child, and gave her to the Virgin Mary, who took her up to heaven with her. There the child fared well, ate sugar-cakes, and drank sweet milk, and her clothes were of gold, and the little angels played with her.

大森林邊住著一位樵夫和他的妻子。他們只有一個孩子,是個三歲的女孩。可是他們非常窮,連每天要吃的面包都沒有,更不知道該拿什么東西喂孩子。一天早晨,樵夫愁眉苦臉地到森林里去砍柴,他的面前突然出現(xiàn)了一位高大、美麗的女人,她的頭上還戴著一頂飾滿了閃爍的星星的寶冠。她對樵夫說:“我是耶穌的母親,圣母瑪利亞。你很窮,需要幫助。把你的'孩子給我吧。我愿意把她帶走,做她的母親,好好照料她�！遍苑蚵爮乃�的話,把孩子帶來,交給了圣母瑪利亞。圣母瑪利亞把孩子帶到了天堂。孩子在天堂里過得很舒服,吃的是糖餅,喝的是甜牛奶,穿的是金衣服,陪她玩的是小天使。

And when she was fourteen years of age, the Virgin Mary called her one day and said, "Dear child, I am about to make a long journey, so take into thy keeping the keys of the thirteen doors of heaven. Twelve of these thou mayest open, and behold the glory which is within them, but the thirteenth, to which this little key belongs, is forbidden thee. Beware of opening it, or thou wilt bring misery on thyself." The girl promised to beobedient, and when the Virgin Mary was gone, she began to examine the dwellings of the kingdom of heaven. Each day she opened one of them, until she had made the round of the twelve. In each of them sat one of the Apostles in the midst of a great light, and she rejoiced in all the magnificence and splendour, and the little angels who always accompanied her rejoiced with her. Then the forbidden door alone remained,