Part 18 (1/2)
”So? Maria? No, I don't.”
”And Purgatory?”
”I don't know anything about it.”
”And confession?”
”No.”
”What do you do then?”
”How do you mean, Femke?”
”I mean to be saved.”
”I don't know,” Walter replied. ”You mean, to get to heaven?”
”Why, certainly. That's the point. And you can't do that without the holy virgin and such a book. Shall I teach you the creed, Walter? Then we'll be together in heaven.”
That pleased Walter, and Femke and Walter began:
”G.o.d created the world----”
”What did he do before that, Femke?”
”I don't know. But the people were made wicked by a snake; then the Pope p.r.o.nounced a curse upon the snake, for the Pope lives in Rome, you know. And then Jesus was crucified to make the people good again. That was a long time ago.”
”Yes, I know,” Walter said, ”Jesus changed the number of the year. At his birth he began at nought.”
Femke didn't know again. In this way each supplemented the knowledge of the other; and Walter was proud that he knew something about the creed, even if Femke did think it the wrong creed.
”And so Jesus made the people good again, and if you will pray out of such a book you will be saved. Do you understand, Walter?”
”Not quite. What is an ivory tower?”
”Why, that's only a name for the virgin. It's as if you were to call the pastor father. Now you understand.”
Femke hunted for another ill.u.s.tration.
”You have a mother; what do you call her?”
”Why, I call her mother.”
”Correct. What do the other people call her?”
”They call her Juffrouw Pieterse.”
”Just so. When we call the holy virgin 'ivory tower' it's just like calling your mother Juffrouw Pieterse. Ivory gate means that to get to heaven we must go through the holy virgin. That's the main thing.”
”But, Femke, what is a virgin?”