Free The Golden Braid by Melanie Dickerson

large tome. “A priest once told me that people who have not said their vows or been consecrated to God should not interpret the Bible for themselves. I do not want to be excommunicated.”
    Gerek frowned. “You will not be excommunicated.”
    â€œHow do you know? A woman in Heidelberg was ordered beaten by the bishop, and she only saw a vision and said she heard the voice of God. If I were to read God’s words . . .”
    Sir Gerek sighed very loudly. “Listen. You are not considered a heretic just for reading the Bible. I have been reading it for years and—”
    â€œBut you are a man! A knight noble born. I am a woman, and a peasant woman at that. Will you swear an oath that you will not tell anyone I read the Holy Writ?”
    â€œI don’t even know if you will learn to read it. Now stop with your ignorant fears and let me begin before you have to go.”
    Rapunzel’s cheeks burned at his calling her fears “ignorant.” She pressed her lips together and watched him turn the pages.
    He pointed to the open page. “See this? It’s the first missive to Timotheus written by the apostle Paul. See this word? It says ‘Timotheus.’ The first letter is tay .” He pointed with his large forefinger at a mark on the page. “And there is another tay there.”
    â€œBut that doesn’t look like the other tay you pointed to.”
    â€œThat was a tay at the beginning of someone’s name. These tays are not at the beginning of a sentence and are not names or nouns, and therefore they are small tays and not big tays .”
    Rapunzel fought to understand the seemingly random thing he was telling her. Why would you call something a tay and something else a tay when they looked completely different? Perhaps he was lying to her, trying to confuse her. But she had little choice but to trust him.
    â€œEach letter makes a sound,” he continued. “This letter tay sounds the same as these other tays . All tays make the same sound.”
    â€œOh. You said this word is ‘Timotheus’ and this is a book in the Bible?”
    â€œYes. Now this word is—”
    â€œIs this written in German? I thought the Bible was only written in Latin.”
    â€œYes, but occasionally you can find someone who will translate it into German for you.”
    She wouldn’t tell him, but she was impressed that he would spend his money on Scripture books and then carry them around with him.
    â€œThis is not the entire Bible. It is only the parts that were written after Jesus came. I do not have the Old Testament writings in German, except for what is in my Psalter.”
    â€œIs the Bible very expensive?” she asked.
    â€œYes, and when I have a home of my own, I shall commission a copy of the entire Bible, all the holy writings.”
    â€œBut even this much must have been very costly. The illuminations are very bright and color—”
    â€œYes, now pay attention. This word is “Pavel.” See? It is the first word of the first verse in the first missive to Timotheus.”
    â€œWhat sound does this letter make?” Rapunzel pointed to the second letter in the word Timotheus .
    He sighed, then made the sound. He pointed to each letter and made the sound, which might have made her laugh, hearing him saying, “Tuh, ee, mm, oh, tuh, ee, oo, ss,” if she had not been afraid of offending him. Then he went back to the beginning of the word and made the sound of each letter, but a bit faster than before.
    â€œSo I only have to remember what sound each letter makes and I will be able to read?”
    He shrugged and nodded.
    She wanted to ask him more questions but forced herself to tuck them away for later.
    â€œThe first three words are: ‘Pavel, an apostle.’ ”
    â€œWill you teach me the letters?”
    â€œYes, of course. But I will need something to write on and a writing instrument. I can get those