He took her by the hand and they went leaping and bounding over the heights towards the Mountain of Pomegranates. As they went she sang a little song:

The Mountain Peaks at Dawn

As in the early morning

The snowy mountain peaks

Look up to greet the dawning,

So my heart longs and seeks

To see thy face

And glow with grace.

Here like the peaks at sunrise

My mind to thee I raise;

Clothe me with glory likewise

Make me to burn with praise

In love’s attire

Of flaming fire.

In robes of snowy whiteness

They greet their lord the sun;

I too, await thy brightness,

On winged feet I run.

Give, now we meet,

Communion sweet.

Thus singing and leaping side by side they came to a new part of the mountain range with which Grace and Glory was unfamiliar. Here in beautiful orchards grew fruit trees of every variety, but more especially, pomegranate trees. She had often noticed how the King seemed to rejoice in the pomegranates above all the other fruits, and this morning she felt that she understood as never before why he found them so delightful. They bore flowers and fruit at the same time, both a beautiful rose color, with shimmerings of lavender in the depths of the flower petals; and the shining green leaves, rosy fruits and flowers against a background of turquoise blue sky were so lovely that she caught her breath with delight. The trees also cast a cool shade, and when the two sat down beneath one of the largest of them it was as though they sat in a little arbor, looking out over a new range of peaks higher than any she had seen before.

“Tell me, my Lord,” she said, after a little quiet pause during which she rested beside him, delighting in his Presence and stilling her heart and mind so that she might be ready to listen to him and to learn all that he wanted to teach her, “tell me why, as it seems, you love the pomegranates almost more than any other tree, and why this whole mountain is covered with them.”

“We are now on the Mountains of Spices,” said the King, “a range of nine mountains upon which grow my choicest fruits and spices. These pomegranate trees are the best picture of the first of the ninefold fruit of the Spirit, which is love. As you can see, it is an evergreen tree, and the peoples of the East say that it is always safe to lie down and rest beneath a pomegranate tree because no evil spirit dare approach it. Its flowers are lovely, its fruit is delicious, and from it can be made a healthful and refreshing drink. The fruit too is full of beautiful seeds and it is said that at least one seed in each fruit is from Paradise. Beautiful, fruitful, evergreen, healing and able to ward off evil spirits—do you wonder that people find it lovelier than almost any other tree?”