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
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