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 tormented themselves 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 the hoopers 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 England
by Butler & Tanner Selwood Printing Works Frome, Somerset
* * * * *
e-text transcriber note:
Information was cropped off when the book used as a scan
source was rebound. Emailed University of Southern Mississippi
Libraries, and received confirmation from a librarian there
concerning 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 face
page 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