Doctor in Rags

Michael Bruhn, his younger sister Gudryn, and their widowed mother live in a castle in Moravia. Madame Bruhn's field workers had fled two months before when her husband died, fearing he had the plague. She now illegally welcomed Hutterites to her estate to farm the land, giving them permission to build a Bruderhof because she felt they worshiped God in the right way.

When a doctor wearing ragged clothing appeared at their gate, Michael thought he, too, must be a Hutterite. He learned later that this was the famed doctor, Paracelsus. When Michael's sister, Gudryn, became ill, this doctor in rags was able to help her. Michael was impressed and began to plan when he could be a doctor.

And then tragedy struck the Bruhn household. They were arrested along with the Hutterites. Their land was taken by King Ferdinand. Michael was put into chains with the Hutterites to become a galley slave.

Through an exciting escape Michael found Paracelsus. He decided to become both a Hutterite and a missionary doctor all because of Paracelsus, a doctor in rags, who helped people.