Christopher, a Canaanite by race, was of very tall stature and terrible countenance, and he was twelve cubits in height. As is read in certain accounts of his deeds, while he was serving a certain king of the Canaanites, it came into his mind to seek out the greatest prince in the world and to go to him to dwell with him. He therefore came to a certain very great king, of whom it was commonly reported that the world had no greater prince. Seeing him, the king received him gladly and made him remain in his court. Now on a certain day a minstrel was singing a song before the king, in which he frequently named the devil.
Now since the king had the faith of Christ, whenever he heard the devil named, he immediately made the sign of the cross upon his face. Seeing this, Christopher marveled greatly why the king did this and what such a sign might mean to him. And when he asked the king about this matter, and the king was unwilling to disclose it to him, Christopher answered: "Unless you tell me this, I will not remain with you any longer." Wherefore, compelled, the king said to him: "Whenever I hear the devil named, I fortify myself with this sign, fearing lest he gain power over me and harm me." Christopher said to him: "If you fear the devil, lest he harm you, then he is proved to be greater and more powerful than you, since you are shown to dread him so greatly.
I am therefore frustrated in my hope, thinking that I had found the greatest and most powerful lord of the world; but now farewell, for I wish to seek out the devil himself, so that I may take him as my lord and become his servant." He therefore departed from that king and hastened to seek the devil. And as he was journeying through a certain wilderness, he saw a great multitude of soldiers, and one of them, a fierce and terrible soldier, came to him and asked where he was going. Christopher answered him: "I am going to seek the lord devil, to take him as my lord." He replied: "I am the one you seek." Rejoicing, Christopher bound himself to him as a perpetual servant and took him as his lord.
When therefore the two were journeying together and had found a cross set up on a certain common road, as soon as the devil saw that cross, he fled in terror and, leaving the road, led Christopher through a rough wilderness, and afterward brought him back to the road. Seeing and marveling at this, Christopher asked him why, fearing so greatly, he had abandoned the level road and turned aside so far to go through so rough a wilderness. And when the devil was utterly unwilling to indicate this, Christopher said: "Unless you tell me this, I will depart from you at once." Wherefore, compelled, the devil said to him: "A certain man called Christ was fixed upon a cross, and when I see the sign of his cross, I am greatly afraid and flee in terror." Christopher said to him:
"Then that Christ is greater and more powerful than you, whose sign you so greatly dread! In vain therefore have I labored, nor have I yet found the greatest prince of the world. Now farewell, for I wish to abandon you and seek out Christ himself." When therefore he had sought long for someone who might give him knowledge of Christ, he at last came to a certain hermit, who preached Christ to him and diligently instructed him in his faith. And the hermit said to Christopher: "This king whom you desire to serve requires this service, that you will often have to fast." Christopher said to him: "Let him require some other service of me, for I am by no means able to do this thing." Again the hermit said: "You will also have to make many prayers to him." Christopher said to him:
"I do not know what this is, nor am I able to perform such a service." The hermit said to him: "Do you know such-and-such a river, in which many who cross over are imperiled and perish?" Christopher said to him: "I know it." And the hermit said: "Since you are of tall stature and strong in strength, if you were to settle beside that river and carry all across, it would be most pleasing to King Christ whom you desire to serve, and I hope that there he would manifest himself." Christopher said to him: "Indeed I am able to do this service, and I promise to serve him in this." He therefore went to the aforesaid river and built himself a dwelling there, and carrying in his hands a certain pole instead of a staff, by which he supported himself in the water, he carried everyone across without ceasing.
When many days had passed, as he was resting in his little house, he heard the voice of a certain child calling him and saying: "Christopher, come out and carry me across." Christopher leaped up in haste, but found no one. And returning to his little house, he again heard the voice calling him. He again ran out and found no one. A third time, called by the same one as before, he went out and found a certain child beside the bank of the river, who earnestly begged Christopher to carry him across. Christopher therefore, lifting the child onto his shoulders and taking his staff, entered the river to cross over. And behold, the water of the river gradually swelled, and the child weighed most heavily like lead.
And the more he advanced, the more the wave grew, and the child pressed down upon Christopher's shoulders more and more with an unbearable weight, so that Christopher was placed in great distress and feared that he was in peril. But when he had barely escaped and crossed the river, he set the child down on the bank and said to him: "You have placed me in great peril, child, and weighed so heavily that, if I had had the whole world upon me, I would scarcely have felt a greater weight." The child answered him: "Do not marvel, Christopher, for you have not only had the whole world upon you, but you have also carried on your shoulders him who created the world. For I am Christ your king, whom you serve in this work.
And that you may prove that I speak the truth, when you have crossed over, fix your staff in the ground beside your little house, and in the morning you will see that it has flowered and borne fruit." And immediately he vanished from his eyes. When Christopher therefore came and had fixed his staff in the earth, rising in the morning he found that it had put forth fronds and dates after the manner of a palm tree.