By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

Paulo Coelho

English version of Na margem do rio Piedra eu sentei e chorei, the Portugese original edition, published in Brazil in 1994. English translation prepared by Alan R. Clarke. Published 1996. ISBN 0-7225-3520-I. For I. C. and S. B., whose loving communion made me see the feminine face of God; for Monica Antunes, my companion from the beginning, who with her love and enthusiasm spreads the fire all over the world; for Paulo Rocco,for the joy of the battles we have fought together and for the dignity of the battles we have fought between us; and for Matthew Lore, for not having forgotten a sage quotation from the I Ching: "Perseverance is favorable,"

AUTHOR'S NOTE

A Spanish missionary was visiting an island when he came across three Aztec priests. "How do you pray?" the missionary asked. "We have only one prayer," answered one of the Aztecs. "We say, 'God, you are three, we are three. Have pity on us.'" "A beautiful prayer," said the missionary. "But it is not exactly the one that God heeds. I'm going to teach you one that's much better." The padre taught them a Catholic prayer and then continued on his path of evangelism. Years later, when he was returning to Spain, his ship stopped again at the island. From the deck, the missionary saw the three priests on the shore and waved to them. Just then, the three men began to walk across the water toward him. "Padre! Padre!" one of them called, approaching the ship. "Teach us again that prayer that God heeds. We've forgotten how it goes." "It doesn't matter," responded the missionary, witnessing the miracle. And he promptly asked God's forgiveness for failing to recognize that He speaks all languages. This story illustrates just what this book is about. Rarely do we realize that we are in the midst of the extraordinary. Miracles occur all around us, signs from God show us the way, angels plead to be heard, but we pay little attention to them because we have been taught...