The woman went away with the girls, and Mikháyla got up from his bench.
He lay down his work, took off his apron, bowed to the master and to the
housewife, and said:
"Forgive me, people! God has forgiven me. You, too, should forgive me."
And the master and his wife saw a light coming from Mikháyla. And Semén
got up, and bowed to Mikháyla, and said:
"I see, Mikháyla, you are not a simple man, and I cannot keep you, and
must not beg you to remain. But tell me this: Why, when I found you and
brought you home, were you gloomy, and when my wife gave you a supper,
why did you smile at her and after that grow brighter? Later, when the
gentleman ordered the boots, you smiled for the second time, and after
that grew brighter, and now, when the woman brought her girls, you
smiled for the third time, and grew entirely bright. Tell me, Mikháyla,
why does such light come from you, and why did you smile three times?"
And Mikháyla said:
"The light comes from me, because I had been punished, and now God has
forgiven me. And I smiled three times because I had to learn three words
of God. And I have learned the three words: one word I learned when your
wife took pity on me, and so I smiled for the first time. The second
word I learned when the rich man ordered the boots, and then I smiled
for the second time. And now, when I saw the girls, I learned the last,
the third word, and I smiled for the third time."
And Semén said:
"Tell me, Mikháyla, for what did God punish you, and what are those
words of God, that I may know them."
And Mikháyla said:
"God punished me for having disobeyed him. I was an angel in heaven, and
I disobeyed God. I was an angel in heaven, and God sent me down to take
the soul out of a woman. I flew down to the earth, and I saw the woman
lying sick, and she had borne twins,--two girls. The girls were
squirming near their mother, and she could not take them to her breasts.
The woman saw me, and she knew that God had sent me for her soul. She
wept, and said: 'Angel of God! My husband has just been buried,--he was
killed by a tree in the forest. I have neither sister, nor aunt, nor
granny,--there is no one to bring up my orphans, so do not take my soul!
Let me raise my own children, and put them on their feet. Children
cannot live without a father, without a mother.' And I listened to the
mother, and placed one girl to her breast, and gave the other one into
her hands, and rose up to the Lord in heaven. And I came before the
Lord, and said: 'I cannot take the soul out of the mother in childbirth.
The father was killed by a tree, the mother bore twins, and she begged
me not to take the soul out of her, saying, Let me rear and bring up my
children, and put them on their feet. Children cannot live without a
father or mother. I did not take the soul out of the woman in
childbirth.' And the Lord said: 'Go and take the soul out of the woman
in childbirth! And you will learn three words: you will learn what there
is in men, and what is not given to men, and what men live by. When you
learn them, you will return to heaven.' I flew back to earth and took
the soul out of the woman.
"The little ones fell away from the breasts. The dead body rolled over
on the bed and crushed one of the girls, and wrenched her leg. I rose
above the village and wanted to take the soul to God; but the wind
caught me, and my wings fell flat; and dropped off, and the soul went by
itself before God, and I fell near the road on the earth."