They call me Jenny in Lorraine

They call me Jenny in Lorraine.

In France I am Joan.

The soldiers call me The Maid.

When I was thirteen I saw a most strange thing,

for I saw a white shadow come slowly gliding

along the grass, and the whiteness of the shadow

was not like any other whiteness that we

know, except it be the whiteness of the lightnings.

My breath grew faint with the terror and the awe.

And with the shadow came speech, several saints,

and they spoke to me. (They are very dear to me

-- my voices.)

And the voices told me that I, Joan, must go away,

and that I must come to France and that

my father must know nothing of my leaving,

that I should find soldiers and that I should lift the

siege on the city of Orléans, and that I should

lead the Dauphin to crown him King of France

in the city of Reims and that I should

drive the English from French soil.

I was a child and I was afraid. But St. Michael

told me to come to the aid of the king. And he

told me the pity that was in the kingdom of France.