It had pleased God to deprive them of their father whilst yet in their infancy, and they had been brought up by their widowed mother, a woman of singular virtue; but now that they were growing towards manhood, she deemed it time to send them to the care of an uncle, who lived at some distance, and from whom they might receive good counsels for their walk in life, besides the expectation of an ample heritage.
So one day, after bestowing upon each a new cap, a pair of silver-buckled shoes, a violet mantle,[1] a well-filled purse, and a horse, she bade them set forth towards the house of their father’s brother.
The two boys began their journey in the highest spirits, glad that they were travelling into a new country. Their horses made such good speed, that in the course of a few days they found themselves already in another kingdom, where the trees, and even the corn, were quite different to their own. There one morning, coming to a cross-road, they saw a poor woman seated near a wayside cross, her face buried in her apron.
Tonyk drew up his horse to ask her what she ailed; and the beggar told him, sobbing, that she had just lost her son, her sole support, and that she was now cast upon the charity of Christian strangers.
The youth was touched with compassion; but Mylio, who waited at a little distance, cried out mockingly,
“You are not going to believe the first pitiful story told you by the roadside! It is just this woman’s trade to sit here and cheat travellers of their money.”
“Hush, hush, my brother,” answered Tonyk, “in the name of God; you only make her weep the more. Do not you see that she is just the age and figure of our own dear mother, whom may God preserve.” Then stooping towards the beggar-woman, he handed her his purse, saying,
“Here, my good woman, I can help you but a little; but I will pray that God Himself may be your consolation.”
The beggar took the purse, and pressed it to her lips; then said to Tonyk,
“Since my young lord has been so bountiful to a poor woman, let him not refuse to accept from her this walnut. It contains a wasp with a sting of diamond.”