There was once on a time a hermit who lived in a forest at the foot of
a mountain, and passed his time in prayer and good works, and every
evening he carried, to the glory of God, two pails of water up the
mountain. Many a beast drank of it, and many a plant was refreshed by
it, for on the heights above, a strong wind blew continually, which
dried the air and the ground, and the wild birds which dread mankind
wheel about there, and with their sharp eyes search for a drink. And
because the hermit was so pious, an angel of God, visible to his eyes,
went up with him, counted his steps, and when the work was completed,
brought him his food, even as the prophet of old was by God’s command
fed by the raven. When the hermit in his piety had already reached a
great age, it happened that he once saw from afar a poor sinner being
taken to the gallows. He said carelessly to himself, “There, that one
is getting his deserts!” In the evening, when he was carrying the water
up the mountain, the angel who usually accompanied him did not appear,
and also brought him no food. Then he was terrified, and searched his
heart, and tried to think how he could have sinned, as God was so
angry, but he did not discover it. Then he neither ate nor drank, threw
himself down on the ground, and prayed day and night. And as he was one
day thus bitterly weeping in the forest, he heard a little bird singing
beautifully and delightfully, and then he was still more troubled and
said, “How joyously thou singest, the Lord is not angry with thee. Ah,
if thou couldst but tell me how I can have offended him, that I might
do penance, and then my heart also would be glad again.” Then the bird
began to speak and said, “Thou hast done injustice, in that thou hast
condemned a poor sinner who was being led to the gallows, and for that
the Lord is angry with thee. He alone sits in judgement. However, if
thou wilt do penance and repent thy sins, he will forgive thee.” Then
the angel stood beside him with a dry branch in his hand and said,
“Thou shalt carry this dry branch until three green twigs sprout out of
it, but at night when thou wilt sleep, thou shalt lay it under thy
head. Thou shalt beg thy bread from door to door, and not tarry more
than one night in the same house. That is the penance which the Lord
lays on thee.”
Then the hermit took the piece of wood, and went back into the world,
which he had not seen for so long. He ate and drank nothing but what
was given him at the doors; many petitions were, however, not listened
to, and many doors remained shut to him, so that he often did not get a
crumb of bread.
Once when he had gone from door to door from morning till night, and no
one had given him anything, and no one would shelter him for the night,
he went forth into a forest, and at last found a cave which someone had
made, and an old woman was sitting in it. Then said he, “Good woman,
keep me with you in your house for this night;” but she said, “No, I
dare not, even if I wished, I have three sons who are wicked and wild,
if they come home from their robbing expedition, and find you, they
would kill us both.” The hermit said, “Let me stay, they will do no
injury either to you or to me.” and the woman was compassionate, and
let herself be persuaded. Then the man lay down beneath the stairs, and
put the bit of wood under his head. When the old woman saw him do that,
she asked the reason of it, on which he told her that he carried the
bit of wood about with him for a penance, and used it at night for a
pillow, and that he had offended the Lord, because, when he had seen a
poor sinner on the way to the gallows, he had said he was getting his
deserts. Then the woman began to weep and cried, “If the Lord thus
punishes one single word, how will it fare with my sons when they
appear before him in judgment?”
At midnight the robbers came home and blustered and stormed. They made
a fire, and when it had lighted up the cave and they saw a man lying
under the stairs, they fell in a rage and cried to their mother, “Who
is the man? Have we not forbidden any one whatsoever to be taken in?”
Then said the mother, “Let him alone, it is a poor sinner who is
expiating his crime.” The robbers asked, “What has he done?” “Old man,”
cried they, “tell us thy sins.” The old man raised himself and told
them how he, by one single word, had so sinned that God was angry with
him, and how he was now expiating this crime. The robbers were so
powerfully touched in their hearts by this story, that they were
shocked with their life up to this time, reflected, and began with
hearty repentance to do penance for it. The hermit, after he had
converted the three sinners, lay down to sleep again under the stairs.
In the morning, however, they found him dead, and out of the dry wood
on which his head lay, three green twigs had grown up on high. Thus the
Lord had once more received him into his favour.