The Missing Nails

By Megan Powell

A long time ago there was an innkeeper who had a son. This was back when the Romans were conquering different lands and building a lot of roads. Their horses' hooves were damaged by constantly traveling over the hard surfaces of the roads, and the innkeeper's son gave this problem some thought. He tried fitting wooden clogs over the horses' hooves, but the wood was not particularly durable. Then inspiration came in the form of a dream: iron shoes would solve the problem. And so the innkeeper's son built a smithy and sold horseshoes and nails.

The smith prospered and lived well. When he was old, the Romans ordered twelve nails. The smith delivered nine of the nails, but then he learned that they were to be used in the crucifixion of Jesus and the two thieves. The smith refused to deliver the final three nails, and by the time the executioner came to collect them his son had already run away with the nails. And so the prisoners were crucified with one nail through each hand and one nail through both feet.

After the crucifixion, a mob went to the smith's house, angry that he had delivered the first nine nails. But the smith and his family had escaped. They say the smith himself was condemned to eternal life, and that even today he sits on the moon, his anvil and tools beside him.

The persecution didn't stop there; in fact, the gaje will probably harass the gypsies until they finally get those three nails back, or until the world ends, whichever comes first. The smith's sons scattered and lived as best they could.

One of them seemed to do pretty well for a while: he concealed his identity and married a Romanian princess. Her father the king went blind, and the smith's son decided to see if his people had any herbs which could help. The king's sons had learned the origins of their brother-in-law, and so they followed him and branded his back with a red-hot horseshoe. He recovered, and brought the king the herb which restored his sight, but the king was still angry at the deception and banished the smith's son. The king decided not to banish the rest of the smith's people, because they were very clever doctors and blacksmiths. And because there were so many gypsies in Romania, they came to be called the Rom.

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