After the soldiers had taken Jesus away, Peter and another follower had crept behind at a safe distance. They followed the soldiers to the High Priest's house. There was a girl at the gate of the courtyard, who spoke to Peter.

"Aren't you also one of the followers of that man they have just taken in?"

Peter answered, "No I am not!"

It was cold, so the servants and guards had built a fire. They were standing around it and warming themselves. Peter was standing with them, warming himself. They said to him, "Aren't you one of that man's followers?"

Peter denied it and said, "No I am not!"

One of the servants of the high priest was there. This servant was a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off. The servant said, "Didn't I see you with him in the garden?"

Again Peter said it wasn't true. Just then a cockerel crowed. Then Peter remembered what Jesus had told him earlier that evening : "Before the cock crows twice, you will say three times that you don't know me." He went out and wept bitterly.