The people fed Yefim, giving him all he wanted to drink; they settled him for the night, and they themselves lay down to sleep.

But Yefim was unable to sleep; and the thought would not leave his mind, how he had seen Yeliser in Jerusalem three times in the foremost place.

"That's how he got there before me," he said to himself. "My labors may, or may not, be accepted; but the Lord has accepted his."

In the morning the people wished Yefim good speed; they loaded him with pirozhki for his journey, and they went to their work; and Yefim started on his way.

CHAPTER XII

YEFIM had been gone exactly a year. In the spring he returned home.

His son was not His son came home

He reached home in the evening. at home; he was at the tavern. tipsy. Yefim began to question him. In all respects he saw that the young man had got into bad ways during his absence. He had spent all the money badly, he had neglected things. The father began to reprimand him. The son began to be impudent.

"You yourself might have stirred about a little," says he, "but you went wandering. Yes, and you took all the money with you besides, and then you call me to account!"

The father grew angry, and beat his son.

In the morning Yefim Tarasuitch started for the starosta's to talk with him about his son; he passed by Yeliser's dvor. Yeliser's old woman was standing on the doorsteps; she greeted him.

"How's your health, neighbor?" said she; "did you have a good pilgrimage?"

Yefim Tarasuitch stopped.

"Glory to God," says he, "I have got back! I lost your old man, but I hear he is at home!"

And the old woman began to talk. She was very fond of prattling.

"He got back," says she, "good neighbor; he got back long ago. Very soon after the Assumption. And glad enough we were that God brought him. It was lonely for us without him. He isn't good for much work his day is done; but he is the head, and we are happier. And how glad our lad was! Without father,' says he, 'it's like being without light in the eye.' It was lonely for us without him; we love him and we missed him so!"

"Well, is he at home now?"

"Yes, friend, he's with the bees: he's hiving the new swarms. Splendid swarms! such a power of bees God never gave, as far as my old man remembers. God does n't grant according to our sins, he says. Come in, neighbor; how glad he'll be to see you!"

Yefim passed through the vestibule, through the yard, to the apiary, where Yeliser was. He went into the apiary, he looked-there was Yeliser standing under a little birch tree, without a net, without gloves, in his gray kaftan, spreading out his arms, and looking up; and the bald spot over his whole head gleamed just as when he stood in Jerusalem at the Lord's sepulcher; and over him, just as in Jerusalem the candles burned, the sunlight played through the birch tree; and around his head the golden bees were circling, flying in and out, and they did not sting him. Yefim stood still.

Yeliser's old woman called to her husband.

"Our neighbor's come," says she.

Yeliser looked around, was delighted, and came to meet his companion, calmly detaching the bees from his beard.

"How are you, comrade, how are you, my dear friend! did you have a good journey?"

"My feet went on the pilgrimage, and I have brought you some water from the river Jordan. Come .... you shall have it.... but whether the Lord accepted my labors...."

"Well, glory to God, Christ save us!"

Yefim was silent for a moment.

"My legs took me there, but whether it was my soul that was there or another's....

"That is God's affair, comrade, God's affair."

"On my way back I stopped also.... at the hut where you left me....

Yeliser became confused; he hastened to repeat:

"It's God's affair, comrade, God's affair. What say you? shall we go into the izba?—I will bring you some honey."

And Yeliser changed the conversation; he spoke about domestic affairs.

Yefim sighed, and did not again remind Yeliser of the people in the hut, and the vision of him that he had seen in Jerusalem.

And he learned that in this world God bids every one do his duty till death — in love and good deeds.

TEXTS FOR WOODCUTS

(1885)

THE DEVIL'S PERSISTENT, BUT GOD IS RESISTANT1

HERE lived in olden times a good master.2 He

had plenty of everything, and many slaves served him. And the slaves used to praise their master.3 They said:

"There is not a better master under heaven, than ours. He not only feeds us and clothes us well, and gives us work according to our strength, but he never insults any of us, and never gets angry with us; he is not like other masters, who treat their slaves worse than cattle, and put them to death whether they are to blame or not, and never say a kind word to them. Our master wishes us well, and treats us kindly, and says kind things to us. We could n't have a better life than ours."

Thus the slaves praised their master.

And here the Devil began to get vexed because the slaves lived in comfort and love with their master.

And the Devil got hold of one of this master's slaves named Alyeb. He got hold of him and commanded him to entice the other slaves.

And when all the slaves were taking their rest, and were praising their master, Alyeb raised his voice, and said:

"It's all nonsense your praising our master's goodness. Try to humor the Devil, and the Devil will be good. We serve our master well, we humor him in all things. As soon as he thinks of anything, we do it;

1 Vrazhye Lyepko a Bozhye Kryepko.
8 Gospodin, Lord.

2 Khozyaïn.

we divine his thoughts. How make him be not good to us? Just stop humoring him, and do bad work for him, and he will be like all the others, and he will return evil for evil worse than the crossest of masters."

And the other slaves began to argue with Alyeb. And they argued, and laid a wager. Alyeb undertook to make their kind master angry. He undertook it on the condition that, if he did not make him angry, he should give his holiday clothes; but if he should make him angry, then they agreed to give him, each one of them, their holiday clothes; and, moreover, they agreed to protect him from their master, if he should be put in irons, or, if thrown in prison, to free him. They laid the wager, and Alyeb promised to make their master angry the next morning.

Alyeb served his master in the sheep-cote; he had charge of the costly breeding-rams.

And here in the morning the good master came with some guests to the sheep-cote, and began to show them his beloved, costly rams. The Devil's accomplice winked to his comrades:

"Look! I'll soon get the master angry."

All the slaves had gathered. They peered in at the door and through the fence; and the Devil climbed into a tree, and looked down into the dvor, to see how his accomplice would do his work.

The master came round the dvor, showed his guests his sheep and lambs, and then was going to show his best ram.

"The other rams," says he, "are good; but this one here, the one with the twisted horns, is priceless; he is more precious to me than my eyes."

The sheep and rams were jumping about the dvor to avoid the people, and the guests were unable to examine the valuable ram. This ram would scarcely come to a stop before the Devil's accomplice, as if accidentally, would scare the sheep, and again they would get mixed up.

The guests were unable to make out which was the priceless ram.