In 1212, a French shpherd boy named Stephen of Cloyes had a vision. The intense blue-eyed youth had told everyone that Jesus had called upon him to raise and army of children to win back the Holy Land.
He began preaching to crowds of people. His appeal struck a chord among devout Christians ashamed of the atrocities of earlier Crusades. Perhaps the pure of heart could succeed where the corrupt armies that had gone before had failed.
Tens of thousands of children were enlisted in the Children's Crusade. Across France and Germany, village after village was emptied of its young people. Some were orphans, but many others were sent by parents who believed that they were doing God's will.
The children marched off in high spirits, chanting hymns, confident of victory. But they would never see Jerusalem, and only a handful of them ever made it back~
Thousands of German children died of hunger and exposure during an agonizing march across the Alps. Fate had even worse things in store for the French children. More than a thousand, including Stephen, perished when their ships sank crossing the stormy Mediterranean. Several thousand survived the journey only to be sold into slavery by the merchants who had transported them.
This tragedy inspired a folktale that lives to this day, born of collective guilt and the need for someone to blame, a dark story of a town whose children are spirited away forever -- by the Pied Piper.
Stephen believed that when his army reached the Mediterranean, the seas would part for them. Puzzled when that failed to happen, they were delighted when two merchants offered to ferry them across -- the merchants, however, Hugh "The Iron" and William "The Pig".. betrayed the children, who survived the journey, by taking them to Egypt instead of Palestine and selling them to slave traders.
** Life gives us opportunities that come forth randomly... the calling from God was essential to Stephen as he wanted to fulfil his prophecy, but damned remnants needed to be dealt with --and the merchants were the tricking factors to his legacy.
We all face hard choices, and feelings that we do not know what to do with -- and thus can challenge our faith, and make us do things we really do not want to... as we follow the crowd and do what others desire us to do! We are in the prime of the World, where your opinions need to reign and you need to stand on your own two feet and follow the enlightened journey that is your life.
It is hard to figure out many of the decision along the way... and with this piece you will learn how to sense the ambiguous impurities that lie ahead depending upon your decisions. Find out in advance if you are headed for trouble, or danger --- you will have a built in compass for your life that will not leave you second guessing what to do, ever!
