The Star Child : Part 3

The Star-Child went to his friends but when they saw him they laughed at

him. "We don't want to play with you now because you're ugly," they said.

"Why do they say these things to me?" he thought. He went to the well to

look at his reflection. He was different now: he had a face like a toad and

skin like a snake.

Then the Star-Child understood and started to cry. "This is my

punishment," he said. "I am very cruel and my mother suffered. Now I must

find her and say sorry."

The woodcutter's little daughter said to him, "It's not important if you're

ugly. Please stay. I will not laugh at you."

"No, this is my punishment," he replied. "I treated my mother very badly

and now I must find her."

He ran into the forest calling, "Mother! Mother! I'm sorry, please come

back." All day he called but nobody answered. When night came he slept on

a bed of leaves, but when the animals saw him they ran away. They knew

that he was a cruel boy.

He said to the mole, "You can go under the ground. Tell me if my

mother is there?"

"I don't know if your mother is there. I cannot see because you hurt my

eyes," replied the mole.

He said to a little bird, "You can fly over the trees. Tell me if you can see

my mother."

"I don't know if your mother is there. I cannot fly because you hurt my

wings," replied the bird.

He saw a little squirrel and asked, "Where is my mother?"

"I don't know," replied the squirrel. "You killed my mother. Do you want

to kill your mother too?"

The Star-Child heard all these things and he cried and prayed to God to

forgive him. He travelled to many different villages to find his mother, and

the children of these villages laughed at him and threw stones at him.

Nobody had pity for the Star-Child.