PART 10
The old lady, who had meanwhile entered the room again, looked at the scene with a touched heart, and when she heard how kind and thankful he spoke to his dog, the tears came into her eyes.
“Now, my boy tell me, had you no other friend in the forest than your dog?”
“None other!” said William sadly.
“All alone in the forest?” continued the kind old lady in sympathetic manner; “poor child, but you can tell me tomorrow where your home is, and how it happened you got lost in the forest. O,” she said, in astonishment and fright, when touching the little fellow’s clothes, “you are all wet, how did that happen?”
“I waded through the creek, which, not far from here, crosses the path.”
“Through that swift stream? How is it possible?”
“I heard the wolf behind me, and so there was nothing left for me but to go through it,” responded the boy; “but I would surely have been drowned had not Caesar pulled me toward the shore.”
While the boy was telling her, the old lady got a woolen blanket out of her closet and began to strip the poor lad of his wet clothes. She looked at him so pitifully and lovingly, that the tears came again to William’s eyes.
“Why do you cry, my boy?” she asked him.
“Because you are so kind and loving toward me, and I am so thankful God has led me to you. Alas, I was afraid I would never see anyone again. I was alone and so afraid of the wolves.”
“Dry your tears, my child,” said the old lady with much feeling; “you are now in safety, and the bad wolves cannot harm you.” With that she kissed him several times on his pale cheeks.
After putting the clothes up to dry and rubbing William’s body thoroughly, she wrapped him in a woolen blanket and laid him in her bed. Then she placed a pan of milk on the fire and gave him some, feeding him herself, because his arms were wrapped up in the blanket.
William relished the warm milk very much and soon felt his blood circulate again. Being satisfied, he fell back into his pillows, but said:
“I can’t go to sleep until I have thanked the Lord for His gracious care and protection, and until I have kissed you, dear lady. This I have been doing since my father was sick, and you are just as kind and loving as my father has been to me.”
“But haven’t you a father anymore?” inquired the kind lady.
“Ah, no!” answered William with a deep sigh; “he died a few days ago. I still have five brothers, but they do not love me. When father was dead—he died in the night, while I fell asleep on a chair, close to his bed—they buried him close to our cabin and took me with them on a donkey into the forest. Two days we marched till we came to a place where four paths met. Last night, while I slept, they left me, and have probably gone home again. When I awoke this morning I did not know what to do. Then I asked the Lord Jesus to help me; He has helped me and has brought me here. O, if I only could stay here; it is so nice here, much nicer than in our cabin, at the other side of the forest.
“Yes, you shall stay here, my child,” she replied, very much touched; “I am all alone and have often desired to have some body with me. Since my son left me, I have always been alone; and now I am an old woman, and have nobody in this world. Yes, stay with me, my boy; we will work together, and thank the Lord together for His kindness. You must love the Lord very much since you know how gladly He answers the prayers of the young. Don’t you?”
“Yes, I love Him; my father told me much about Him, how He came from heaven to die for sinners; and how He loved little children so much and pressed them to His bosom. O, it was so nice when father told me such lovely stories, like that of Moses in the little ark, or of Abraham and Isaac, or David and Solon. He said that all this was in a large book that is called the Bible. We had no Bible, but he said his mother had owned a Bible and had often told him all these nice stories, when he was young. But that was many years ago, and for a long time he had not thought of them and did not care for them. My brothers, too, did not care for them, and laughed and mocked when father spoke to them of the Lord Jesus.”
ML 03/12/1939