is not lawful for thee to bring thine offering, seeing that thou hast not begot issue in Israel.’  And Joachim was exceeding sorrowful, and went down to his house; and he searched through all the registers of the twelve tribes to discover if he alone had been childless in Israel.  And he found that all the righteous men, and the patriarchs who had lived before him, had been the fathers of sons and daughters.  And he called to mind his father Abraham, to whom in his old age had been granted a son, even Isaac.

“And Joachim was more and more sorrowful; and he would not be seen by his wife, but avoided her, and went away into the pastures where were the shepherds and the sheep-cotes.  And he built himself a hut, and fasted forty days and forty nights; for he said ’Until the Lord God look upon me mercifully, prayer shall be my meat and my drink.’

“But his wife Anna remained lonely in her house, and mourned with a twofold sorrow, for her widowhood and for her barrenness.

“Then drew near the last day of the feast of the Lord; and Judith her handmaid said to Anna, ’How long wilt thou thus afflict thy soul?  Behold the feast of the Lord is come, and it is not lawful for thee thus to mourn.  Take this silken fillet, which was bestowed on me by one of high degree whom I formerly served, and bind it round thy head, for it is not fit that I who am thy handmaid should wear it, but it is fitting for thee, whose brow is as the brow of a crowned queen.’  And Anna replied, ’Begone! such things are not for me, for the Lord hath humbled me.  As for this fillet, some wicked person hath given it to thee; and art thou come to make me a partaker in thy sin?’ And Judith her maid answered, ’What evil shall I wish thee since thou wilt not hearken to my voice? for worse I cannot wish thee than that with which the Lord hath afflicted thee, seeing that he hath shut up thy womb, that thou shouldst not be a mother in Israel.’

“And Anna hearing these words was sorely troubled.  And she laid aside her mourning garments, and she adorned her head, and put on her bridal attire; and at the ninth hour she went forth into her garden, and sat down under a laurel tree and prayed earnestly.  And looking up to heaven, she saw within the laurel bush a sparrow’s nest; and mourning within herself she said, ’Alas! and woe is me! who hath begotten me? who hath brought me forth? that I should be accursed in the sight of Israel, and scorned and shamed before my people, and cast out of the temple of the Lord!  Woe is me! to what shall I be likened?  I cannot be likened to the fowls of heaven, for the fowls of heaven are fruitful in thy sight, O Lord!  Woe is me! to what shall I be likened?  Not to the unreasoning beasts of the earth, for they are fruitful in thy sight, O Lord!  Woe is me! to what shall I be likened?  Not to these waters, for they are fruitful in thy sight, O Lord!  Woe is me! to what shall I be likened?  Not unto the earth, for the earth bringeth forth her fruit in due season, and praiseth thee, O Lord!’