PHILIP PULLMAN
Illustrated by Dan French
wo thousand years ago, or a very long time anyway, there lived a rich man and his good and beautiful wife. They loved each other dearly. There was only one thing they needed to complete their happiness, and that was children.
ut as much as they longed for a child, and as much as the woman prayed both day and night, no child came...
and
no
child
came.
ow in front of the house was a courtyard, where there grew a juniper tree.
ne winter’s day, the woman stood in front of the juniper tree peeling an apple, and as she did so she cut her finger...
...and
a
drop
of
blood fell into the
snow.
h!” she sighed. “If only I had a child as as blood and
white as
snow!”
red
s she said that her heart lifted, and she felt happy.
She went back into the house, feeling sure that everything would end well.