The godson wandered and wandered until nightfall, when he came to a
wood, and in the wood was a cell. He went up to the cell and knocked at
the door.
A voice from within asked, “Who is that?”
“A great sinner. I have come to atone for the sins of another.”
And the hermit asked, “What are these sins you have taken upon
yourself?”
And the godson told him everything about his godfather and the
mother-bear and the cubs and about the throne in the sealed room, and
about his godfather’s commands, and about the peasants who had trampled
the corn in the field, and the calf that had come to its mistress at her
call.
“I know now,” he said, “that you cannot drive out evil by evil, but I
don’t know how it can be driven out and I want you to tell me.”
And the hermit said, “Tell me what else you have seen on the way?”
The godson told him about the woman and how she had tried to clean the
table, and of the peasants who had tried to make the hoops, and the
shepherds who had tried to light a fire.
The hermit waited until he had finished, then he went into his cell and
brought out a jagged axe.
“Come,” he said.
The hermit walked away from the cell and pointed to a tree. “Cut it
down,” he said.
The godson felled it.
“Chop it into three parts.”
The godson chopped it into three parts. The hermit again went into his
cell and brought out a light.
“Set fire to those three logs,” he said.
The godson made a fire and burnt the three logs till only three pieces
of charcoal were left.
“Now plant them half into the ground, like this.”
The godson planted them.
“Do you see a river there by that hill? Fetch some water in your mouth
and water them. Water this one in the way you taught the woman to clean,
this one in the way you taught the hoopers, and this one in the way you
taught the shepherds. When the three pieces of charcoal grow into
apple-trees you will know how to rid the world of evil, and will then
have atoned for your sins.”
With these words the hermit went into his cell. The godson pondered and
pondered and could not understand what the hermit had said, but he did
what the hermit had told him.
X
The godson went to the river, filled his mouth with water and watered
one piece of charcoal; then he went again and again, until he had
watered the other two. The godson was tired and hungry. He went to the
hermit’s cell to ask for some food. When he opened the door there was
the hermit lying dead on a bench. The godson looked about the cell and
found some rusks, which he ate; then he discovered a spade and went out
to dig a grave for the old man. By night he carried water to water the
pieces of charcoal, and by day he dug the grave. He had no sooner
finished it and was about to bury the hermit, when some people came from
the village to bring the hermit food.
When the people heard that the hermit was dead they asked the godson to
take his place. They buried the hermit, left the bread with the godson
and went away, promising to bring him more food later on.
And the godson fell into the hermit’s place and he lived and nourished
himself with the food people brought him, and went on watering the
pieces of charcoal as the hermit had bidden him do.
The godson lived thus for a year and many people began to visit him. He
grew famous throughout the country as a saint who saved his soul by
carrying water in his mouth from beneath a hill, and watering stumps of
charcoal. People flocked to him. Rich merchants brought him gifts, but
the godson used nothing but what he needed, giving the rest to the poor.
And the godson began to live thus--for half the day he carried water in
his mouth to water the pieces of charcoal, for the other half he rested
and received people.
And the godson came to think that he had been told to live thus and that
in this way he would atone for his sins.
The godson lived thus for another year, not missing a single day for
watering the charcoal, yet not a single piece had begun to sprout.
One day when he was sitting in his cell he heard a horseman gallop past,
singing to himself. The hermit came out to see what manner of man he
was. And he saw that the man was young and strong and was dressed in
fine clothes and seated on a spirited horse.
The godson stopped him and asked him who he was and where he was going.
The man pulled up.
“I am a robber,” he said; “I roam the highway and kill whomever I have a
mind to. The more men I kill the merrier are my songs.”
The godson was horrified and thought, “How can one destroy evil in such
a man? It is well to talk to the people who come to me; they repent of
their own accord, but this man glories in the evil he does.” The godson
said nothing to him and turned away, thinking, “What shall I do? If this
robber makes up his mind to stay here, he will scare away my people and
no one will come to see me. They will lose some good thereby, and I
shall have nothing to live on.”
And the godson stopped and said to the robber, “People come to me not to
boast of the evil they do, but to repent and pray for their sins to be
forgiven them. You repent likewise, if you have the fear of God in your
heart, and if you do not seek repentance, go away from this place and do
not come back again, so as not to hinder me or scare away my people. If
you fail to listen to my words God will punish you.”
The robber laughed.
“I am not afraid of your God and I won’t listen to you. You are not my
master to order me about. You live by your piety, I by my robbery. We
must all live. Teach the women who come to you, but let me alone. Since
you have dared to mention the name of God to me I will kill two extra
people to-morrow. I would kill you now, only I don’t want to soil my
hands, but take care never to cross my path again.”
The robber threatened him thus and rode away. He did not come again and
the godson lived in the hermitage as before for another eight years.