The Legend of the Horseshoe

By Wolfgang von Goethe

Featured in New Lyre - Winter 2021

When Jesus Christ still walked over the Earth,
Outcast, and not yet known by holy birth,
Though followed by many an eager youth,
They seldom understood his words’ full truth,
He often gathered crowds in open air,
Sharing the Word with anyone who’d care.
He spoke beneath the wide, blue open skies
Where eager minds were freest to surmise.
He stirred the deepest truth within men’s hearts,
And shamed the fool who thought himself too smart.
By his example and his parables
He turned the markets into temples.
One day, he made his way across a town
With his young followers gathered around,
When suddenly he saw a broken horseshoe
Upon the grassy ways they travelled through.
Christ turned to Peter and then said, “Retrieve
That little worn-out piece of iron, please.”

But Peter’s thoughts were somewhere else that day,
He rambled and carelessly dreamed away;
His mind pictured a glorious government,
The world transformed into Christ’s regiment—
A dream beheld by every noble soul,
That things below might be as they’re above.
He paid no mind to things upon the ground,
Although he'd quickly seize a fallen crown.
For, why bend for a piece of ironwork—
A minor object of so little worth?
He walked right by it, as if nothing seen,
Keeping his sights on his heavenly dream.
But Christ the Lord, true to his suffering,
Retrieved the horseshoe without muttering
(Though he would never bend likewise again).
Then when, after some time, they reached a town,
Christ found a smithy and then sold the shoe,
Which had a penny’s worth of value.
As they made their way through the marketplace,
His eyes fell on a giant cherry case—
He bought a bundle for a penny’s worth,
Then gently placed the cherries in his sleeve,
Gracefully hiding them, by sight unseen.

So, they continued on the shadeless ways,
Beneath the summer’s scorching sunny rays
Where but a drop of water would have fetched
A solid price—a mortal thirst to quench.
Virtuously deceiving his apostle,
Christ let a single shining cherry tumble.
St. Peter saw it fall and picked it up,
As if the cherry were a golden cup.
Peter relished the sweet and shining fruit,
Which Christ regularly dropped right by his foot.
So Christ let fall a cherry now and then,
Which Peter bent for time and time again.
The Lord continued letting cherries fall;
The saintly Peter caught and ate them all.
And after this had gone on for a while,
Christ turned to his apostle with a smile:
“Had you listened to my words the first time,
There would have been no need to bend and strain;
For, a man who disdains life's little things
Will suffer even more for smaller things.”

Translation © David B. Gosselin

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New Lyre - Winter 2021