Page 74
By Jack Joseph Smith
By Jack Joseph Smith
Original Scan
AI Interpretation
The magician confirms the child's adoption, blesses the Irish mother, names a saint already seen, and tells the parents to send him to the school of the strong man so his heart will not close in fear.
The page turns the performance into family revelation, pulling the parents into the act and giving their private facts a ceremonial public shape. Even through the rough transcript, the strongest force is the promise that the right school and the right priestly figure can harden the child against fear without deadening him.
The magician asks the parents' permission to go on, tells the boy he has already seen a saint (the last living child of Fatama had visited his Mount Mercy classroom), warns him against questioning himself, learns from the mother that the boy is adopted, urges them to send him to the school of 'the strong man', and names him 'Michael the Ark Angel' before thanking the family and walking away.
The prophecy links the grandfather's earlier Michael blessing to this stranger's words, giving the child's name a mythic weight. The revelation of adoption slips in almost casually, and the magician's promise that nothing 'will ever close his heart in fear' reads as both comfort and burden.