G.K.Chesterton (1874-1936), was one of the great Catholic writers of the twentieth century. He brought a distinctive Catholic perspective to scores of books and articles - even to the genre of detective novels in the famous Father Brown mysteries. As this collection shows, Chestertons writing contains a spiritual dimension. In his ability to combine matters of great seriousness with great humour the contours of his distinctive and "paradoxical" spirituality emerge.

Young Ethelbert, King of Kent, goes to Paris to collect a substantial debt. Old Charibert, King of the Franks, greets him, stalls him a hundred times, then promises his daughter's weight in gold. On second thought he gives her away instead. Bertha is large, but she's beauteous, bounteous, bumptious. Ethelbert is small, but he's a fierce warrior who bows to no one. But she nearly kills him by opening a door just as he was about to knock on it. She tends to his splattered nose and his wounded pride. He likes her jolly jokes, but she grows sad, thinking that Bert, like all the other young men she's met, will run away from a big fat blob like herself. She won't be sad ever again, promises Bert, not while he's alive. Having met their match, then, they decide to make a match, even though her parents and the bishop don't think it's a good match. Ethelbert, you see, is a pagan, and Bertha, a Christian. A beautiful marriage and a wild wedding reception take place, complete with pop-up cake, dwarf-tossing, competitive dancing, and truly horrid foods that only a young reader can like. By the way, it's A.D. 562 for anyone who wants to know.

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone

Literature about the wise men from the east is wide and varied. The first three, bearing gold, frankincense, and myrrh, arrived a few years late. A fourth, after a trek of thirty-three years, arrived just moments before Jesus died on the cross. The fifth, the subject of this novel, arrived early, just moments after Mary of Nazareth conceived. At that time the world was thought to be at peace, and well it may have been, but it was a total and absolute mess. It is through this mess, and with clouds as uncertain guides, that Dill of the Nile slogged, from Babylon to Nazareth, in hope of finding a celebrity birth. Instead he found himself bewildered and exhausted and was about to turn back when he heard a scream and saw a young woman running toward him.... The novel is about the trip in 50 chapters, a perilous passage during which Dill finds himself in desperate situations with disparate characters. Along the way there is much satire about things old and new; a history of comedy, mainly Jewish; a conversion from many gods to one God; a critique of atheism and atheists; a love story between Dill and his wife, lasting ten years after her murderous death; a region occupied by the Roman Empire and ruled by a client king; rare moments of reverence and piety; a jaunty text in several languages. In the end the novel has everything but elephants, and that would include two unusual camels. DILL OF THE NILE is a modern novel about ancient events that seem to have occurred last week, last month, last year. It's meant to entertain, even though it makes a point or two along the way. Caution. This is not a children's book; it's for adults only.