The story appears in the vast collection of exempla written by Stephen in the middle years of the thirteenth century. It is a neat story, but with several overlapping layers, not all of which are immediately apparent. Most immediately, it presents a first-hand account: a heretic preaching his error to the people in an effort to win converts. His preaching, which is at the forefront of the story, would seem to depend at least initially on a use and exposition of the Catholic Scriptures for its support. That use of Scripture, though, is a more loaded image than it seems: first, it suggests literacy on the part of the heretic, and, secondly, it effectively constructs a pretended appearance for that heretic, and the idea that the public face of heresy is not the same as the one visible to the initiated.