The woman, having begun talking, told them the whole story.
"It is about six years since their parents died, both in one week: their
father was buried on the Tuesday, and their mother died on the Friday.
These orphans were born three days after their father's death, and their
mother did not live another day. My husband and I were then living as
peasants in the village. We were neighbors of theirs, our yard being
next to theirs. Their father was a lonely man; a wood-cutter in the
forest. When felling trees one day, they let one fall on him. It fell
across his body and crushed his bowels out. They hardly got him home
before his soul went to God; and that same week his wife gave birth to
twins--these little girls. She was poor and alone; she had no one,
young or old, with her. Alone she gave them birth, and alone she met her
death."
"The next morning I went to see her, but when I entered the hut, she,
poor thing, was already stark and cold. In dying she had rolled on to
this child and crushed her leg. The village folk came to the hut, washed
the body, laid her out, made a coffin, and buried her. They were good
folk. The babies were left alone. What was to be done with them? I
was the only woman there who had a baby at the time. I was nursing my
first-born--eight weeks old. So I took them for a time. The peasants
came together, and thought and thought what to do with them; and at last
they said to me: 'For the present, Mary, you had better keep the girls,
and later on we will arrange what to do for them.' So I nursed the sound
one at my breast, but at first I did not feed this crippled one. I did
not suppose she would live. But then I thought to myself, why should the
poor innocent suffer? I pitied her, and began to feed her. And so I fed
my own boy and these two--the three of them--at my own breast. I was
young and strong, and had good food, and God gave me so much milk that
at times it even overflowed. I used sometimes to feed two at a time,
while the third was waiting. When one had enough I nursed the third. And
God so ordered it that these grew up, while my own was buried before he
was two years old. And I had no more children, though we prospered.
Now my husband is working for the corn merchant at the mill. The pay
is good, and we are well off. But I have no children of my own, and how
lonely I should be without these little girls! How can I help loving
them! They are the joy of my life!"
She pressed the lame little girl to her with one hand, while with the
other she wiped the tears from her cheeks.
And Matryona sighed, and said: "The proverb is true that says, 'One may
live without father or mother, but one cannot live without God.'"
So they talked together, when suddenly the whole hut was lighted up as
though by summer lightning from the corner where Michael sat. They all
looked towards him and saw him sitting, his hands folded on his knees,
gazing upwards and smiling.
X
The woman went away with the girls. Michael rose from the bench, put
down his work, and took off his apron. Then, bowing low to Simon and
his wife, he said: "Farewell, masters. God has forgiven me. I ask your
forgiveness, too, for anything done amiss."
And they saw that a light shone from Michael. And Simon rose, bowed down
to Michael, and said: "I see, Michael, that you are no common man, and I
can neither keep you nor question you. Only tell me this: how is it that
when I found you and brought you home, you were gloomy, and when my
wife gave you food you smiled at her and became brighter? Then when the
gentleman came to order the boots, you smiled again and became brighter
still? And now, when this woman brought the little girls, you smiled a
third time, and have become as bright as day? Tell me, Michael, why does
your face shine so, and why did you smile those three times?"
And Michael answered: "Light shines from me because I have been
punished, but now God has pardoned me. And I smiled three times, because
God sent me to learn three truths, and I have learnt them. One I learnt
when your wife pitied me, and that is why I smiled the first time. The
second I learnt when the rich man ordered the boots, and then I smiled
again. And now, when I saw those little girls, I learn the third and
last truth, and I smiled the third time."
And Simon said, "Tell me, Michael, what did God punish you for? and what
were the three truths? that I, too, may know them."
And Michael answered: "God punished me for disobeying Him. I was an
angel in heaven and disobeyed God. God sent me to fetch a woman's soul.
I flew to earth, and saw a sick woman lying alone, who had just given
birth to twin girls. They moved feebly at their mother's side, but she
could not lift them to her breast. When she saw me, she understood that
God had sent me for her soul, and she wept and said: 'Angel of God! My
husband has just been buried, killed by a falling tree. I have neither
sister, nor aunt, nor mother: no one to care for my orphans. Do not take
my soul! Let me nurse my babes, feed them, and set them on their feet
before I die. Children cannot live without father or mother.' And I
hearkened to her. I placed one child at her breast and gave the other
into her arms, and returned to the Lord in heaven. I flew to the Lord,
and said: 'I could not take the soul of the mother. Her husband was
killed by a tree; the woman has twins, and prays that her soul may not
be taken. She says: "Let me nurse and feed my children, and set them on
their feet. Children cannot live without father or mother." I have not
taken her soul.' And God said: 'Go-take the mother's soul, and learn
three truths: Learn What dwells in man, What is not given to man, and
What men live by. When thou has learnt these things, thou shalt return
to heaven.' So I flew again to earth and took the mother's soul. The
babes dropped from her breasts. Her body rolled over on the bed and
crushed one babe, twisting its leg. I rose above the village, wishing
to take her soul to God; but a wind seized me, and my wings drooped and
dropped off. Her soul rose alone to God, while I fell to earth by the
roadside."