Page:Tolstoy - Tales from Tolstoi.djvu/242

Tales from Tolstoi to eat. And we should have died had not God sent unto us a pilgrim like unto thee. He came amongst us for a drink of water, and he saw us, had compassion upon us, and stayed among us. And he gave us meat and drink, and set us on our feet, and redeemed our land, and bought us a horse and a cart, and threw away his money upon us."

An old woman came into the hut and interrupted the discourse of the other woman.

"And we don't know," said she, "whether he was a man or an angel of God's. He loved us all, he had compassion on us all, and he went away without saying a word, and we know not for whom to pray God. I can see it all before me now. There I lie and await death. I look up, and in comes the old pilgrim, so plain and simple-like, and baldish too, to ask for a drink of water. And I, sinful woman, fell a-thinking: 'What vagabond is this then?' And look now what he did for us. No sooner did he see us than down came his knapsack, and he goes and puts it down there, and unties it."

The little girl then came in. "No, granny," said she, "first of all he placed his knapsack right in the middle of the room here, and then he put it on the bench."

And they all began to dispute among themselves, and everyone remembered all about his words and deeds and movements, and where he sat, and where he slept, and what he did, and what he said to each.

At nightfall the peasant-proprietor arrived behind his horses, and he too began to speak about Elisyei, and how he had lived with them. 192