An angel of wisdom came upon Simon and spoke, “Simon of Nineveh, your enemies are plotting against your showing and will kill you if you continue. Go to the house of Brother Bartholomew the fisherman. The work of the Lord will continue in his house. You are to speak with his child daughter, for God favors her, but he will resist you.”
Simon evaded the crosswrights and headed to the west end of Nineveh. There he found the house of the one called Bartholomew the fisherman.
“Brother Bartholomew! Come out! The Lord has called upon your name!” Simon called, but Bartholomew did not come.
Simon called again, “Brother Bartholomew! Come out! The Lord has called upon your name!” But Bartholomew did not come.
Simon entered the fisherman’s house, and as he came through the doorway, Simon caught sight of the man sitting and drinking in the darkness.
Bartholomew spoke, “I have heard the one who has sent you, Simon of Nineveh; I have spoken to him.”
Simon questioned, “Why did you not come then, Brother Bartholomew?”
Bartholomew answered, “Is it not written that if you hear someone say the Lord has come, do not go out? I have done what the scriptures command.”
Simon spoke back, “It is also written, ‘I am the good shepherd, and my sheep listen to my voice. The good shepherd calls his sheep by name and leads them out.’ I do not speak of my own but of the one who sent me. The one who owns my voice is my Lord, and he is also your Lord, but you did not come. Explain yourself.”
“It is my son; he is very sick. A terrible demon holds onto the child. You cannot heal him, prophet of Nineveh. I have brought him to all of the holy men in the land; they could do nothing for him. You are no different.” Bartholomew explained.
“Yes, you are correct in one regard. Let me see this child,” said Simon.
Brother Bartholomew led Simon to the inner room of his house, where the child lay. The body of the child was laid on a bed of dirty straw and dressed in blackened sackcloth. The child’s skin was white and blue, and the limbs were limp. The child’s hair was shaved, the eyes were sunken, and the lips were blue.
“How long has the child been this way?” Simon asked.
Bartholomew replied, “All the child’s life. He has not worked a single day and only wakes to eat and eliminate.”
Simon sternly spoke, “Truly, by your own words, you admit a demon is in the bed of this child. This child is not your son.”
Aghast, Bartholomew questioned Simon, “How could you know that?”
Simon spoke, “I tell you, this is not your son; this child is your daughter. You have taken her to the priests and shamans after her mother died in childbirth, and they told you your daughter could not have children and had lameness of the mind. You had betrothed your firstborn daughter to the son of your friend, but to save yourself shame, you falsified that she had died with her mother, shaved her head, placed her in sackcloth, and tried to raise her as your son. I know this: even though you have tried to hide her, she has long, light hair. Her feet and hands show her feminine nature, and the sackcloth you have dressed her in does not hide her breasts. You have done a wicked thing, Bartholomew, and your sins have found you out.”
Bartholomew said nothing, for he knew that it was true.
Simon broke the silence. “There is one thing you do not know, however, and that is that this daughter is pregnant.”
“Pregnant? How is this possible? She cannot bear a child, and so, no man has touched her.” Bartholomew exclaimed.
Simon continued, “The child is pregnant. The Lord has sent me here to continue His work, but I tell you, not even I foresaw what I was to see here. But now I understand.”
Simon walked over to the child and said to her, “Wicked one, leave this child alone! Rise, little girl!” And the girl opened her eyes and sat up. Then a wicked devil, a great red dragon covered in a halo of fire, came out of the mouth of Bartholomew and ensnared the girl.
The dragon spoke, “The child this one carries is mine. He has always been mine, and he will be mine again. When brought forth out of the womb of this girl, I shall take him into my flesh.”
The great mouth of the dragon opened, and the dragon thrashed his tail, causing the morning stars to fall and curse both the child and the One in her womb. They were both marked for persistent trials and desolation. The heavens shook, and the dragon vanished until the ordained time, when the child was to give birth, and the dragon would return.
“Truly, this is the elect daughter who is to bring forth the King of Kings and Lord of Lords,” said Simon of Nineveh, and he anointed the child’s feet with oil.
The child lifted her head and spoke to Simon, “Simon of Nineveh, you have told no lies since you have come because you and I serve the same Lord. The Lord came down from the clouds and filled my womb. He protected me as I was under siege from that wicked devil. His angels told me that the one in my womb shall be the One to give to each person according to what they have done. He shall be the sign to all nations, and they shall bear witness to the return of the Kingdom of God. I must go to Jerusalem to bring forth the one from my womb so that all shall see, and you shall lead me there, Simon of Nineveh. Our Lord has given you knowledge of life and death, and I tell you, you will be called to give it up to the birds of the Kingdom so that the scriptures may be fulfilled.”
Though Simon knew what the child was saying, it troubled him greatly.
“Simon, you are worried that you will not be able to finish the things being asked of you because you are a weak man,” she said. Simon was amazed at the child. “Do not worry. Your weakness is the reason you will not be able to resist what is being asked of you. For if the Father chose a stronger man, his selfish will would lead us all to destruction. But because you are weak, you are blessed to do the will of the Father.” The child continued, “I am in need of a christening, for the name given to me by my Lord was stolen from me by the devil. Simon, it is proper for you to do this since you have done your duty as a midwife and brought me forth.”
Simon, moved by the child’s authority, anointed her forehead with oil and spoke, “The Lord calls this one the child Mary.”
A sudden mist came over the house of Bartholomew, the fisherman. The morning star above the child Mary was cast into the skies as a sign for all nations, righteous and wicked, that the Lord had come.
The child Mary told Bartholomew, “Gentle man, your sins are forgiven, for you have fulfilled your part in the coming of the Lord. Do not despair. You are still needed to work here in Nineveh, and you shall dig a new well, a living sign of the Lord’s mercy and eternal life. You shall tend to this wellspring as atonement and as an act of mercy for Nineveh. Simon will show you where to dig, for the Lord has granted him the knowledge of life.”
Simon led Brother Bartholomew to the heart of Nineveh, in the center of the city, and marked the spot with his scepter where they would break the ground. With the mighty swing of his pickax, Brother Bartholomew struck the ground, and a lavish wellspring flooded the heart of Nineveh. The wellspring poured out so much clean water that a great freshwater lake was formed. In an instant, the black waters that brought illness to the people transformed into new, clean waters. The lake in the heart of Nineveh never ran dry, even beyond the end of days.