Ancient Legends of Faith and Eternal Love
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Carols and Passion: The Legend of the Lily
This legend begins in the cave where Mary and Joseph, the parents of Jesus Christ, took refuge. Once Jesus had already been born, a couple with a child came seeking shelter. The child was sick with leprosy, and Mary, moved by compassion, completely cured him of his illness, leaving only a small mark on his skin, silver and white like a lily.
Thirty-three years later, Jesus was tried and sentenced to crucifixion. Beside him, two robbers shared his conviction, one good and one bad. The good robber turned out to be the little boy with leprosy who, years ago, slept in the cave where Jesus was born, as he could still see the mark of the lily upon himself.
The Legend of Sakuntala and the King's Ring
This legend is of Oriental origin. It tells of the love between a beautiful maiden, Sakuntala, and a young king, Duchmanta. Upon entering the forest where she lived, he discovered her beauty and fell for her. Having to return to his court, the king promised her marriage and, as proof, gave her a ring with his name and seal. By counting the letters on the ring (one per day), Sakuntala was to go to the palace to celebrate the wedding.
Sakuntala, as a good maiden and worker, was required to meet the hermits or pilgrims passing through the forest. One day, blinded by thoughts of her beloved, she forgot her obligations; a hermit she did not respond to cursed her: if she lost her ring, King Duchmanta would not remember her. And so it happened. Sakuntala, while bathing in the Ganges River, lost her ring.
When the day came at the court of the king, he did not remember her, and since she did not have the ring, she had no proof. Furthermore, she was expecting a baby, who was born with a mark on their skin. Sakuntala disappeared from Duchmanta's life. Days later, the king's guards brought into his presence a fisherman who had found Sakuntala's lost ring. Upon putting it on, the King recovered his memory.
For years, Duchmanta wept with sadness for his beloved, until fate caused him to find his son—who actually had a mark on his skin—along with his mother, Sakuntala. The king returned the ring to the maiden, and she returned to the kingdom of Duchmanta.