The boy kissed his hand, stooped his head toward him, and said—in a clear voice—
“Many thanks, tall Jan.”
A clap of thunder could not have so startled the traveler as his own name thus pronounced by the innocent child. Tears started involuntarily from his eyes: he lifted the boy upon his knee, and now gazed deeply into his face.
“So, dost thou know me, thou blessed angel! me, whom thou never saw’st before! Who taught thee my name?”
“Blind Rosa,” was the answer.
“But how is it possible that thou hast known me? It must be God himself who has enlightened thy childish mind.”
“O, I know you very well,” said Peterken. “When I lead Rosa about to beg, she always talks of you. She says that you are tall, and have dark, fiery eyes; and that you will come back again, and bring us all such beautiful things. And so I was not afraid of you, good sir; for Rosa had bade me to love you, and you are to give me a bow and arrow.”
The child’s simple confidence made the traveler perfectly happy. He kissed him hastily, and with tenderness, and said in a solemn tone—
“Father—mother—this child is rich! I will bring him up and educate him, and richly endow him. It shall be a blessing to him to have recognized me!”
Joy and amazement overwhelmed the parents. The man stammered forth—