St. John of the Cross - a Hagiographic Tall Tale
St. John of the Cross was born in a desert, and seeing how thirsty the lizards and owls were, he wept for them so they could drink his tears. When his father died he wove tapestries of his mother's hair so she could sleep. In school the poor children couldn't afford shoes, but the desert creatures brought their friend Juan some wood and string and he invented sandals for his friends. For exposing all these dirty feet he was locked in prison with only a candle. From its soot he wrote his poems, using for paper the scales of snakes. He hid his food and refused to eat, and when he had enough he called a wolf who took the food in exchange for escape. He saddled the wolf, tied down with his poems, and they leapt over the wall, over the mountain, over the moon, and now sail always where it is night, and when he sees any sadness he weeps and the wolf cries so that there is a nighttime storm of thunder and rain.
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