2
One day when Jesus Christ was grown up, and went about preaching, He came to a certain village and knocked at the first door, and said, ‘Give me a lodging.’[2] But the master of the house shut the door in his face, saying, ‘Here is nothing for you.’ He came to the next house, and received the same answer; and the next, and the next, no one in all the village would take Him in. Weary and footsore, He came to the cottage of a poor little old woman, who lived all alone on the outskirts, and knocked there. ‘Who is there?’[3] asked the old woman. ‘The Master with the Apostles,’ answered Jesus Christ. The old woman opened the door, and let them all in. ‘Have you no fire?’ asked Jesus Christ. ‘No fire have I,’ answered the old woman. Then Jesus Christ blessed the hearth, and there came a pile of wood on it, and a fire was soon made. ‘Have you nothing to give us to eat?’ asked Jesus Christ. ‘Nothing worth offering you,’ answered the old woman; ‘here is a little fish’ (it was a little fish, that, not so long as my hand) ‘and some crusts of bread, which they gave me at the eating-shop in charity just now, and that’s all I have;’ and she set both on the table. ‘Have you no wine?’ again asked Jesus Christ. ‘Only this flask of wine and water they gave me there, too;’ and she set it before Him.
Then Jesus Christ blessed all the things, and handed them round the table, and they all dined off them, and at the end there remained just the same as at the beginning. When they had finished, He said to the old woman, ‘This fire, with the bread, and the fish, and the wine, will always remain to you, and never diminish as long as you live. And now follow Me a little way.’
The Master went on before with His Apostles, and the old woman followed after, a little way behind. And behold, as they walked along, all the houses of that inhospitable village fell down one after the other, and all the inhabitants were buried under them. Only the cottage of the old woman was left standing. When the judgment was complete, Jesus Christ said to her, ‘Now, return home.’[4]
As she turned to go, St. Peter said to her, ‘Ask for the salvation of your soul.’ And she went and asked it of Jesus Christ, and He replied, ‘Let it be granted you!’