Meridee

“Ah, that was the hardest thing to relinquish! Vigor of mind. The material things were not hard to give up, but memory, intellect, even perhaps at last the power to pray, those most precious treasures that had been symbolized by the books upon his shelves, from these it would be hard to part. Being human, he was feeling slightly sorry for himself at the moment and he found himself praying that he might never part from them, that he might die before that final stripping. Then, as he turned north at the corner of the lane and the cold wind struck him, he remembered the season. Christmas Eve. The Child in the manger had not only stripped Himself of the glory of heaven but of His wisdom too. The doing of the will of God had caused Him to lie there possessing neither memory, intellect nor the power to pray.”
― Elizabeth Goudge, The White Witch