ould not choose any of them. The people
were in great despair, and the cardinals had to wander forth and search
the whole country to see whether another hermit was yet to be found, and
a crowd of people accompanied them.

At last they came to the inn in the lonely neighborhood, and asked the
hostess whether she knew of any hermit or penitent who was yet unknown
to the world. The hostess answered: "Many years ago a sorrowful youth
came here and made me conduct him to a cave to do penance. He is surely
dead long ago, for he took with him only two _grani's_ worth of bread
and a pitcher of water." The cardinals said: "We will look, however, and
see whether he is still alive; take us to him." Then the hostess
conducted them to the cave; the entrance was scarcely to be recognized,
so overgrown was it with brambles, and before they could enter the
attendants had to cut away the brambles and bushes with axes. After they
had forced their way in, they saw Crivoliu kneeling in the cave, with
crossed arms, and his beard had grown so long that it touched the
ground, and before him lay the bread, and by it the pitcher of water;
for in all those years he had not eaten or drunken. When they let the
white dove loose now, it flew about in a circle for a moment and then
alighted on the head of the penitent. Then the cardinals perceived that
he was a saint, and begged him to come with them and be their Pope. As
they were going to raise him up, they noticed that his knees had grown
fast, and they had to cut the roots. Then they took him to Rome with
them and he was made Pope.

Now it happened that at the same time the sister said to her brother:
"Dear brother, when we were young, we committed a sin that we have not
yet confessed, for the Pope alone can absolve us from it. Let us go,
then, to Rome, before death overtakes us, and confess there our sin." So
they started on their journey to Rome, and when they arrived there they
entered the church where the Pope sat in the confessional.

When they had confessed in a loud voice, for one always confesses openly
to the Pope, the Pope said: "Behold, I am your son, for on my shoulder
is the mark you speak of. I have done penance many years for your sin,
until it has been forgiven you. I absolve you, therefore, from your sin,
and you shall stay with me and live in comfort." So they remained with
him, and when their time came, the Lord called them all three to his
kingdom.[13]

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