“We don’t know whether it was a man, or an angel from God. He loved us all, pitied us all, and went away without telling us his name, so that we don’t even know whom to pray for. I can see it all before me now! There I lay waiting for death, when in comes a bald-headed old man. He was not anything much to look at, and he asked for a drink of water. I, sinner that I am, thought to myself: ‘What does he come prowling about here for?’ And just think what he did! As soon as he saw us, he let down his bag, on this very spot, and untied it.”

Here the little girl joined in.

“No, Granny,” said she, “first he put it down here in the middle of the hut, and then he lifted it on to the bench.”

And they began discussing and recalling all he had said and done, where he sat and slept, and what he had said to each of them.

At night the peasant himself came home on his horse, and he too began to tell about Elisha and how he had lived with them.