The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1889-08-17
THE HOLY MAN.

of people from starvation. But when
they blessed him and would have given
him back his great possessions after one
or two prosperous seasons, he would
not.
"Let be, my children" he said. "My
forefathers made me rich, and l have no
son to leave riches to. Be you all my
sons and enjoy your heritage now"
So he dwelt in little house he had
builded with his own hands on the
mountain side, and ate of the millet
which he grew on a little patch of
ground he had cleared, and wanted
nothing.
And because hewas wise he healed the
people when they were sick, and prayed
for them when they died, and taught
them many proverbs from the writings
of the poets; for his books only he had
not sold. And so they would have wor-
SHIPPED him, but he forbade them, saying:
81 am a man also. Pray not to me till
am dead, for then it may be that can
hear and can help you"
Meantime he prayed always, TO his
forefathers and to Buddha. And he
himself and set it in the brook that ran
down the mountain side, SO that night
and day his prayers were always rising
to Buddha for his soul But he builded
q greater wheel for his neighbors, and set
it where there was more water, for he
said; II am only one, and they are
many"
And every year he made long pill
grimage to the banks of the great river
that none can see across because there
are mists and clouds and always the
farther bank is yelled in darkness where
Buddha, and the pious dead who are
ghosts, live forever. And lie prayed
always for the boatmen to come to him
and ferry him across the great river
where SO many were crossing every day..
but he came not
Yen Tszee was very sad every year,
when the boatman came not, and he
went back to his little house on the
mountain side with heavy heart; but
the people rejoiced when he returned,
for they loved him. And he would see
that they were glad and he would forget
his sorrow, until the winter would come
again, when he could not work in the
field nor visit the sick, and the DAYS
were dark, and the nights long. Then
he prayed, saying: because l am very
old and my arms and my legs are weak,
and because have no more Joy in my
body, | would cross the great river"
and again he would make the pilgrim
age and watch and wait for the boat
man; but he came not.
But at last there came winter when
it was nine times colder than he had ever
known, and when the snow was very
deep. And he could not go to his neigh
bors when they were sick, and they
could not come TO him, for they were
sick, and he was old and very feeble.
And he went again to the river.
The way was long, and his poor, thin
legs bent under him as he toiled through
the snow and ice, and his heart failed
him because he was sick with the cold.
but he went on till he came to the river.
and the boatman was there, and the boat
was there.
Then Yen Tszee said: care you come
TO take me across the river?'
And the boatman, who was old and
bent, and who wore a thick veil, said:
''Yes, if you are ready"
And Yen Tsee said: 81 am ready"
Yen Tszee was very glad, and he drew
near to the boat to step in that he might
cross the river; but when he came near,
he stopped and shrank back, for there
was no bottom to the boat, and there was
nothing but water for him TO step ON,
and the water was very black and colder
than ice. He shuddered, and said: 81
am very cold and am too old and weak;
cannot go in the water"
Then the boatman said: eff Won have
faith, the water will be as the bottom of
the boat, and you shall go across the
river; but if you have not faith it will
not hold you up"
Then Yen Tszee said, 81 have faith,
and he stepped into the boat, and lol the
water bore him up even the same as the
wooden bottom of boat.
Then the boatman pushed Off from the
shore, and Yen Tszee was very much
afraid, for the river was very swift and
the boat was old and rotten, and the wa
ter seemed to rise up on either side; and
he thought the boat and the boatman
and he would all sink. And he prayed
to Buddha.
The boatman rowed hard and spake
never a word; but he pulled up the
stream, and not straight across, and the
harder he pulled the slower the boat
went, for the waterraged terribly. Then
they hoated away from the shore, so that
Yen Tszee could neither see behind nor
before him, because the mist that is al
ways over the river was very thick.
While they were in the middle of the
river Yen Tszee saw man swimming
in the icy water, and he was almost
spent, SO that he could swim no more
and was near sinkingi and Yen Tszee
called to the boatman to stop so that
they should save the man. But the
boatman said: "No. We cannot stop to
save him; because if we do you cannot
go across the river, for 1 cannot carry
two across
Then Yen Tszee wept sorely, for he
,onged to go across; but he said; 81 can
not see this man perish. We must help
him. Stop and will pull him into the
boat"
And the boatman stopped and Yen
Tszee pulled the drowning man into the
boat, and when he locke at his face he
saw that it was his own body that he had
rescued. And he wondered greatly and
looked up at the boatman, and lol the
boatman's veil fell off and Yen Tszee
saw .hat he was not old and bent, but
that he was a beautiful anael.