One night the godson set out to water his pieces of charcoal and when he had finished he sat down in his cell to rest. He peered along the path now and again to see if any visitor was coming, but no one came that day. The godson sat alone until evening and he grew lonesome and weary and began to think about his life. He recollected how the robber had reproached him for living by his piety. He began to look back upon his life. “I am not living as the hermit told me,” he thought. “The hermit imposed a penance on me and I have used it as a means of earning my bread and even gaining fame thereby. I have been so led astray over it that I am even dull when people do not come to see me, and when they do come, I rejoice when they praise my saintliness. This is not the way one must live. I have been blinded by fame. Not only have I not atoned for past sinsbut have taken new ones upon myself. I will go away to another place far into the wood, where the people will not find me, and I will live alone there and atone for my past sins, taking care not to commit new ones.”
Thinking thus the godson took a bag of rusks and a spade, and he left the cell and set out down a ravine to build himself a mud hut in the thicket and disappear from people’s sight.
The godson was walking along with his bag and spade when the robber jumped out upon him. The godson was afraid and would have run away, but the robber stopped him.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
The godson told him that he wanted to go away from people and bury himself in a wild part of the wood where no one would come to him.
The robber wondered.
“But what will you live on if no one comes to see you?”
The godson had not thought of that, but now the robber had mentioned it he remembered that he had to eat.
“On what God gives,” he said.
The robber made no reply and went his way.
“Why didn’t I say anything to him about his life?” the godson thought. “He may be repentant now. He seemed softer of manner and did not threaten to kill me to-day.” And he called to the robber saying, “It is time you repented. You cannot get away from God.”
The robber turned his horse round, seized a knife from his girdle and brandished it aloft. The godson took fright and ran away into the wood.
The robber did not trouble to go after him, he merely said, “I have let you off twice, old man; take care not to come my way a third time, or I’ll kill you.”
With these words the robber rode away.
That evening the godson went to water his pieces of charcoal and behold! one of the pieces had sprouted! A young apple-tree had shot forth.
The godson hid himself from the eyes ofmen and began to live alone. His rusks were all gone. “I must hunt for some roots,” he thought, but he had no sooner gone out than he saw a bag of rusks hanging on the branch of a tree. He took the bag and began to eat.
When that was all gone he found another bag in the very same place. Thus the godson lived. He had only one care—his fear of the robber. When he heard him coming he hid himself, thinking, “If he kills me I shall not be able to atone for my sins.”
Another ten years passed. One apple-tree grew up, the other pieces of charcoal remained as they were before.
One day the godson went out early to do his watering. He moistened the soil around the stumps until he was tired and sat down to rest. As he rested he thought, “I have sinned greatly in fearing death. If it be God’s will I will atone for my sins by death even.”
The thought had no sooner occurred to him than he heard the robber come along cursing at some one. And the godsonthought, “Besides God no one can do me either good or evil.” And he went to meet the robber. He saw that the robber was not alone. On the saddle, behind him, was another man, and this man’s hands were bound and his mouth was gagged. The man made no sound and the robber kept on abusing him. The godson approached the robber and stopped before his horse.
“Where are you taking this man to?” he asked.
“Into the wood. He is a merchant’s son and won’t tell me where his father’s money is hidden. I will keep him prisoner until he tells me.”
The robber was about to go on, but the godson would not let him, seizing the horse by the bridle.
“Let the man go,” he said.
The robber grew angry and raised his arm to strike him.
“Do you want to share his fate? I told you I would kill you. Let go!”
The godson was not afraid.
“I won’t let go,” he said. “I’m notafraid of you; I only fear God. He tells me not to let go. Set the man free.”
The robber frowned; he seized the knife from his girdle, cut the cords and released the merchant’s son.
“Be gone, the two of you!” he said, “and don’t come across my path a second time!”
The merchant’s son fled. The robber was about to go, but the godson stopped him and once more beseeched him to abandon his wicked life. The robber stood and listened without saying a word, then turned and rode away.
In the morning the godson went to water his pieces of charcoal. Behold! another one had burst forth, another apple-tree had grown!
Ten more years passed. The godson lived desiring nothing, afraid of nothing, and a feeling of gladness always at his heart. And he thought one day, “What blessings the good Lord gives us! And we torment ourselves for nothing. People should live in joy and happiness.” And he remembered the evil men suffered and how they tormentedthemselves and he grew to pity them. “It is in vain that I live as I do,” he thought; “I must go among people and tell them what I know.”
The thought had no sooner occurred to him than he heard the robber come along, but he took no notice of him, thinking, “What is the use of talking to that man? He will not understand.”
This was his first thought, but in a little while he repented of it and went out in the road. The robber sat on his horse, frowning and looking at the ground. When the godson saw him, a feeling of pity came over him; he rushed up and seized the robber’s knee.
“My dear brother,” he said, “take pity on your soul! Don’t you know that the spirit of God is in you? You torment yourself and others, and as time goes on your torments will grow worse, and God loves you and wants to heap His blessings upon you. Don’t destroy yourself, brother; change your way of life.”
The robber frowned and turned away. “Leave me alone,” he said.
The godson clutched the robber’s knee still firmer and the tears stood in his eyes. The robber raised his eyes to his, gazed into them for a long time, then climbed down from his horse and fell on his knees before the godson.
“You have subdued me, old man,” he said. “For twenty years I struggled against you, but you have won. I am powerless before you. Do what you want with me. When you spoke to me the first time, I grew more hardened still. I only began to take your words to heart when you went away from people and I knew that you needed nothing from them. It was then I began to supply you with rusks.”
And the godson recollected that the woman had only managed to clean the table after she had washed the cloth. When he ceased to care for himself and cleansed his heart, he was able to cleanse the hearts of others.
And the robber continued, “And my heart turned when I saw that you had no fear of death.”
And the godson remembered that thehoopers began to bend the hoops only when they had made the block firm. When he ceased to fear death and established his life firmly in God he had been able to subdue this man’s wild heart.
And the robber said, “And the heart in me melted altogether when I saw that you pitied me and wept before me.”
The godson rejoiced. He led the robber to the place where his pieces of charcoal were planted and behold! a third apple-tree had grown. And the godson remembered that when the shepherds had allowed their dry twigs to catch well, a big fire blazed up. It was only when his heart grew warm that he had been able to kindle the heart of another.
And the godson rejoiced that he had now atoned for all his sins.
He told the robber everything and died. The robber buried him and began to live as the godson had told him, and to teach other men what he knew.
Printed in Englandby Butler & Tanner Selwood Printing Works Frome, Somerset
e-text transcriber note:Information was cropped off when the book used as a scansource was rebound. Emailed University of Southern MississippiLibraries, and received confirmation from a librarian thereconcerning missing page references on plates:1: The frontispiece has the word "Frontispiece.", in italics,no bracket, lower left.2: The plate which faces page 56 in the TIA copy should facepage 57 (was probably positioned incorrectly when rebound).3: For plate facing page 82, bottom right reference reads,"[To face page 82."4: For plate facing page 158, bottom right reference reads,"[To face page 158."5: For the plate facing page 166, the plate actually says"[To face page 166."--but it faces 167 instead.--srjfoo, 2016-02-15