‘Who is there?’ said a tremulous voice from within.
‘The Master with the disciples,’ answered Jesus Christ. The man didn’t know what He meant; nevertheless, the tone was too gentle to inspire fear, so he opened, and let them all in.
‘Have you no fire to give us?’ asked Jesus Christ.
‘I’m only a poor beggar. I never have any fire,’ said the man.
‘But these poor things,’ said Jesus Christ, ‘are stiff with cold and weariness; they must have a fire.’
Then Jesus Christ stood on the hearth, and blessed it, and there came a great blazing fire of heaped-up wood. When the beggar saw it, he fell on his knees in astonishment.
‘Have you no food to set before us?’ asked Jesus Christ.
‘I have one loaf of Indian corn,[5] which is at your service,’ answered the beggar.
‘One loaf is not enough,’ answered Jesus Christ; ‘have you nothing else at all?’
‘Nothing at all about the place that can be eaten,’ answered the beggar. ‘Leastwise, I have one ewe, which is at your service.’