n. 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 dropped from her breasts. Her body rolled over on the bed and
crushed one babe, twisting its leg. I rose above the village, wishing
to take her soul to God; but a wind seized me, and my wings drooped and
dropped off. Her soul rose alone to God, while I fell to earth by the
roadside."

XI

And Simon and Matryona understood who it was that had lived with them,
and whom they had clothed and fed. And they wept with awe and with joy.
And the angel said: "I was alone in the field, naked. I had never known
human needs, cold and hunger, till I became a man. I was famished,
frozen, and did not know what to do. I saw, near the field I was in, a
shrine built for God, and I went to it hoping to find shelter. But
the shrine was locked, and I could not enter. So I sat down behind the
shrine to shelter myself at least from the wind. Evening drew on. I was
hungry, frozen, and in pain. Suddenly I heard a man coming along the
road. He carried a pair of boots, and was talking to himself. For the
first time since I became a man I saw the mortal face of a man, and his
face seemed terrible to me and I turned from it. And I heard the man
talking to himself of how to cover his body from the cold in winter, and
how to feed wife and children. And I thought: 'I am perishing of cold
and hunger, and here is a man thinking only of how to clothe himself and
his wife, and how to get bread for themselves. He cannot help me.' When
the man saw me he frowned and became still more terrible, and passed me
by on the other side. I despaired; but suddenly I heard him coming back.
I looked up, and did not recognize the same man; before, I had seen
death in his face; but now he was alive, and I recognized in him the
presence of God. He came up to me, clothed me, took me with him, and
brought me to his home. I entered the house; a woman came to meet us and
began to speak. The