When the King Was Carpenter

Lovely color outdoor photograph of Maria in Austrian dress on back wrapper. "How did this book ever come to be written? So far, all my books have had to do with my family. Well, this one at least began with the family, with one incident, fifty years ago. Little Martina, aged four, didn't like oatmeal. (As this happened back in Europe, we called it porridge.) She used to spread her helping very thinly all over the plate, hoping to create an "almost finished" impression. In passing by I looked down at her and said, 'Martina, the child Jesus would never have done this.' Quick as a wink, she snapped back, 'Did He have to eat porridge for breakfast?' To which I had to answer , 'I don't know.' Now the whole little person was sheer interest, 'What did He have for breakfast, Mother?' And, embarrassed, again I had to answer, 'Really, I don't know.' Now came the weighty words, 'Why don't you find out?' Her question stuck in me like a dart from then on, And that is the beginning of this book. At first I tried the 'direct question' method. As we had on our estate a chapel and residing chaplain, there were many visiting priests coming." Â- Maria von Trapp, from her "Foreword. Religion.