"Once upon a time, maybe two thousand years ago or longer, I don’t really know, there lived a rich man who had a beautiful, pious wife. Oh, how she could pray and carry on! The man and wife loved each other very much, but they had no children, and you can be sure that they wanted children very badly. The wife prayed for a baby day and night. But nothing happened. "Now, right in front of their house in the courtyard stood a tree. Some folks called it a juniper. But it might have been an almond." From the opening of The Juniper Tree: A Parable of Truth and Beauty