make me a couch both useful and handsome. Now Joseph was in trouble because the wood which he had cut out for this work was too short. Jesus said to him, Be not sad. Take this wood at one end, and I at the other, and let us stretch it. Which also was done. And immediately he found it fit for what he wanted it. And he said to Joseph, Behold, make what thou wilt. Now when Joseph saw what he had done, he embraced him and said, Blessed am I, in that God hath given me such a son.
CHAPTER XII.
How Jesus was sent to learn Letters.
And when Joseph saw that he had such grace, and increased in stature, he thought he would send him to learn letters; and he sent him to another teacher to teach him. And the teacher said to Joseph, What letters dost thou wish the boy to be taught? Joseph answered and said. First teach him Gentile letters, and afterwards the Hebrew. Now the teacher knew him to be of excellent understanding, and received him willingly. And when he had written for him the first lesson, which is A and B, he
this false Gospel was compiled, or at least translated, at a still later date. The phrase "to take or receive for a blessing" is a Hebraism for a gift (Josh. xv. 19; 2 Kings v. 15); but the ecclesiastical application of it must be understood in a wider sense, as something with which blessing is connected, — a kind of spiritual charm, etc.
