The walker

Mitevma of Sammajer

ENON I

My father was a revered man in the village, had flocks and fields, and utensils of metal. And my mother was from an honourable family; and I also had a brother and a sister. There was a man in our village who had come to the village and taken a local woman as his wife. Later she died; he was a grey-haired man and did not take another wife. I was fond of talking to him, and as a boy, I used to come to his house to hear him speak and talk to him. There were times when my father would get angry and send my brother after me; and there were times when my brother would beat me, saying, “I am older than you, why should I come after?” My father scolded me, and my mother scolded me; I did not go to that man for a while, and then I went again. His name was Eszowomo; and one day he said to me, “I see in you a field waiting for a hoe.” And he said, “There is some wisdom that is good for you to understand. ” And I answered, “What wisdom can I understand when I have not yet a bed of my own at home?” Eszowomo said: “The soul matures faster than the body; the mind is sharpened in its work. Listen to what I say, and understand what you want and what you do not want.” And I returned home, and began to think; and it was as if the sun had shone upon my soul. Then I went to Eszowomo and asked him to reveal to me what he wished to reveal. And he told me to call him a teacher and to come to him every day. And he taught me many things about the world and people; and it was as if light and warmth came from every word he spoke. The day came when my father forbade me to go to him; I disobeyed him. Then he got angry and beat me up; he threatened the teacher in every way. But I disobeyed him again and went to see the teacher. I asked the teacher: “What should I do?”; he replied: “For the sake of small things there are small hardships, for the sake of great things – great hardships. I have taught you the small things; the time to teach the great things has not come.” I asked him, “When will the time come?”; he replied, “You should worry about that.” Soon my father came, and some men with him; they took my teacher and threw him into a pit, as villains are thrown into; and no one in the village stood up for him. There was corporal punishment for me and my father told me to take care of the household with my brother. And I used to go to the pit every night and talk to the teacher, and I wanted to bring him food, for he was poorly fed, but he would not let me do it. My father found out about my visits and forbade me to go there, threatening me with severe punishment. So, I went to the pit and went down into it. I was in it with the teacher for a day, then two days; and my mother and sister came to the pit, and asked me to come out of it; but I did not come out. Then they went to my father, and asked him to take me out of the pit; but he was angry with me, and would not do it. So, the teacher and I were in the pit, and he taught me as before. Time passed, and I became weak with meagre food, and my spirit became dull. And I thought, “What for am I in this pit? Soon I felt sad, and cried out, asking my father to forgive me and take me out of the pit. My teacher was no longer teaching me, but only watching what I was doing. Then some people, as they passed by the pit, heard my cries, and told my father; and then others did the same. Then my father ordered them to take me out of the pit and they brought me home. At home I was washed and fed; and my father only scolded me and did not raise his hand against me. From then on, I went about the farm again; but I did not go near the pit where the teacher was. Time passed and I wanted to see and hear what the teacher had to say. Then I gazed into my soul, and saw a great thirst in it and a great hunger; even my breath had become bitter to me. And then I faced misery and saw darkness. And I could not eat, for I had no desire, and soon I was weak. No one knew what ailment had befallen me, and my family prayed to the gods for me. One day I came to the pit where the teacher was sitting and jumped into it. And the teacher embraced me, and my soul was at peace. And I sat with him for a year, and he taught me nothing; and I was better there than at home. After a year he said: “Now I see a readiness for great things in you.” After that, he began to teach me great things. I was in the pit with him for another four years; and then my father sent men and they took me out of the pit. And my father said to me, “No one takes your sister as a wife. They say: “This one is the sister of the madman in the pit.” At least take pity on her: leave your madness.” So, he told me; I did not listen to him and returned to the pit, though my heart trembled. Two more years passed and my sister died. Then men came from my father, took my teacher out of the pit and strangled him. I was left alone in my grief. My brother came and called me to come out, but I did not come out. I said to him, “What shall I do with you? What have you to do with me? Death is a kinsman for you, but not to me; so leave me alone.” And another two years and some more time passed, and my father died. Soon after, my mother and brother came to the pit, and called for me; but I did not come out. Then my brother sent men, and they forcibly took me out of the pit, and filled the pit up. They brought me home, and my brother said to me, “Till this day you have not worked; now work for food. ” So I worked with him; and he told me to supervise the workers in the fields and pastures. Soon my brother took a wife; and I wanted to take a certain girl from the village. Her name was Yono, and she was kind and clever. But her father would not give her to me, saying, “You are insane. So, I went to my brother and said to him, “Brother, give me a share of my father’s inheritance.” He said: “I have worked for years, but you have sat in the pit; what shall I give you?” I said: “At least give me something, not for kinship’s sake, but for humanity’s sake.” And he gave me the fortieth part of the herds and lands. And then I took everything I owned and gave it to Father Yoyno, and he gave his daughter to me. We had nothing, lived with my brother, and worked for him, like the other workers. The time came, and Yono gave birth and died in childbirth; two children were born, and one of them also died. The brother’s wife took the other and nursed him as her own. Soon his brother died, followed by his mother. My brother’s wife and everyone in the village was afraid of me because they thought I was evil. My brother’s wife said to me, “Go away, lest something bad happen to my children.” I said, “If I leave the village, how will I feed my child?” She said: “Leave her to me: I will feed him. When you find means of livelihood, come back and take her away.” And I kissed her palms in gratitude; then I took the food and clothing that she had given me and left the village.

ENON II

Leaving the village, I walked across the steppe and went through other villages. Everywhere I asked if a worker was needed; but no one wanted to take a stranger. Some gave me food, and one man gave me shoes and an old axe. In one house an old woman let me in, fed me, and said: “Here, stay here. We’ll live as husband and wife, and you won’t have to wander anymore.” I said to her: “Better buy yourself a goat,” and I left her house. Elsewhere, a man took me on as a worker; but he wanted to know first who I was and why I was wandering. I told him truthfully, and he said: “What kind of a man are you if you don’t hide your madness? You will be of no use to me, and I will not take you.” Then I wandered among the villages and met those who were selling people into slavery. They tied my elbows and put me in a line of slaves. I told them about myself and cried out to them and asked them to release me for the sake of my daughter, whom I must return to. They said, “Why should we care about your daughter? Even if you had twenty of them, we don’t care; but you keep quiet.” Then I lay down on the ground and refused to go; and the slaves dragged me with ropes on the ground as they went. And those men kicked me and beat me mercilessly; I did not walk. They smashed my forehead, beat out my eye, and tore my cheek and nose; and then they left me. I was laying in the steppe for an evening and a night; then I got up and barely made it to the nearest village. There were some people there who took pity on me and let me into their homes. I stayed with them for some time and I did not know how to repay them for their kindness. Afterwards, they asked me to leave, so I did. I could not find shelter anywhere. And that’s what happened one day. A man fed me in his house and I told him about myself. Then he said: “Behold, I have five sons. If you wish, I will send two to your village and they will secretly kill your brother’s wife and her children. And you, having obtained her property, will give half of it to me.” That is what he said; and I immediately left his house. Time passed and I did not know what to look for. I came to a village and I lay down in the middle of it, and I did not move. People walked around shying away and looking at me; eventually, some of them came up and asked me why I was lying there. I told them of myself, and said: “What shall I do, I do not know; so at least I shall die here.” Some of them were silent, and others said, “Why did you have to come to die in our village: or is there no other? One of the revered men in the village came; and he said to me, “Go away from here; what joy is it to you to embarrass the people?” I answered him, “In the pit, I have lived, but how will I live among the people?” He said: “Come, I will feed you, and you will leave this place.” I replied, “There is no point in eating if my child is not with me. I will soon be gone anyway; do as you wish with my body.” When he heard me out, he went away; but he returned soon. And he said: “Let’s go to my house, for I need a worker.” Then I got up and went with him. He said to me, “I have seen many things, and I know how great grief is when life is no longer valued.” And I worked for him and honoured him like a father. It was like that for three years and more; and he was pleased with me. Out of kindness, he gave me some land, grain for sowing, and two more heads of cattle. But I promised to return everything to him in abundance when I had profited. And one day I left everything to him and went to my village to take my daughter. When I arrived, some of my fellow countrymen did not recognise me; and I came to my former home. My brother’s wife spoke to me weeping, and she said to me: “It is two years since your child died. Do not punish me, but take some from the land and the herds.” But I took nothing and went away. I sat down outside the village and was sitting there, losing myself in grief. Then I went back to where I was before. And I gave everything back to the man for whom I was working; I kept nothing for myself. I said to him, “What I was doing for my daughter, I was not doing for myself. And I left, taking only the food he had given me.

ENON III

For a long time, I was wandering among the villages, feeding on what the people spared for me, and at times starving. One day I came across a dead man in the steppe. I sat beside him and said to myself: “Am I not like him? I am even worse than him because I do not live and eat people’s food”. I fell on the ground beside the dead man and wept, unable to calm myself. Then I slept beside him. The next day I left him and went to look for a place to stay. I soon came back to the man where I had worked, and he took me in again. And he wanted to give me what he had given me before; but I did not take it. I worked for him, and he fed me. And I repeated to myself what my teacher had once taught me, and I thought about it, so I gained much that I did not know before. The other workers did not like me, because I had accused one of them of stealing in front of the master. They threatened me, but I did not scold them for it. One day I gave them my food to let them know that I had no ill will in me. I gave them food the next day and the third; it was as if something was feeding me. They were astonished that I gave my food and that I did not eat but worked. And they started to look at me with apprehension, and they were afraid to threaten me. Eleven days passed; on the twelfth day I went out and lay down, I had no more strength. From that day on, I was laying and did not eat, and I saw that life was going away from me. My master said to me, “Why do you want to die? Do not die, but live, for you are still young, and there is a lot of strength in you.” Then the workers also began to ask me, “Why don’t you want to live?” I answered them, “There is more life in death than in your enmity.” Then they began to speak among themselves, and then they said to me, “Give up death, for you will see no more enmity from us.” From that day I began to eat again, and soon I was working again. They did not lie to me: there was no more evil coming from them. I put an end to quarrels among them with one word, or even with one look. One day one of them asked me about death and I spoke about it, and they listened to my words. Two days later one of them said to me, “We marvel at you. What kind of a man are you, if you speak of death as one speaks of rain?” I replied, “And I marvel at you. You ask about death, but you don’t want to know about life?” And he did not know what to answer me; so he went to pass on my words to others. In the evening he said to me, “Behold, all sorts of things are said about you. Tell us not of life itself, but how you have lived; and is it true that you are a hundred years old, and that you were not born of a woman, but came out of the earth?” Then I told them everything about myself, withholding nothing except what my teacher had taught me. They listened and one said: “I believe that you are not lying. But where are the people like your teacher, for whose sake you have spent half your life in the pit?” The other said: “The one like that is in front of us. Yes, – for the one for whose sake you do not pity to condemn yourself to the pit, is worthy only of the one who has done so.” From that day on, they showed me reverence; and one even left the master, intimidated by me. One of them, called Ozted, was always near me, and listened to every word I said. One day I asked him, “What do you want from me?” He replied, “Will you be my teacher?” I replied to him, “Where shall I get a pit to test you?” He said: “Test me somehow.” I said, “Leave me alone, for I do not know what you are like.” And he walked for three days in silence, but on the fourth day, he would not eat. And soon he lay down and asked me to be his teacher. I did not agree and he did not eat; I did my work and his. The days passed, and he felt death was close; then he was very scared and asked for food. After a while, he recovered from his hunger, and then he left, ashamed; and the master took another worker in his place. After a while, he came back and met me at the clay pit and asked for the same thing. I did not want to hear him, so he lay down in the same place and did not eat. He lay there for many days and did not ask for food. And he began to die; then the master, out of pity, gave the healer a fee to get him out. But when the healer saw him, he said, “This one will not be helped, for there is more death in him than life. He left without taking any payment. Then I said to myself, “Behold, through me a man is dying.” And I sat down beside him and touched him; it was as if something poured out of me in an invisible stream, and went into him. And he looked at me; then I was astonished at my own words, and said to him, “I will be your teacher.” Then I brought soft food and fed him; and he did not die. After this, the man, Ozted, became my apprentice; and the master took him back to be his worker. Soon another worker wanted me as his teacher; he did not eat for two days, and then he changed his mind. All the workers respected me; the master respected me too a lot. And people in the village started to respect me, but more for the sake of fear than out of sympathy. I lived like this for five years. The time came when my master started dying. One night he called me to him and spoke to me. He said: “Behold, I am dying and have no kin. Tell me whom I shall leave all that I possess?” Then I pondered and said, “Divide your possessions into three parts. One third to your friend; one third to your countrymen; one third to your workers.” He said: “Good judgement. But see that you also take your share, for you are as good as any of the others. Take this house in addition to it, for that is what I want.” And I said: “So be it.” And in the morning the master summoned all his workers and some of his countrymen to him, and ordered to do everything as it was said. And when he died, it was done. I, therefore, had a house and other possessions and was no longer poor. I took Ozted to live in my house, and in the household, we took two workers. The dead master was highly revered in the village and so I was also highly revered, for they said that he would not have given his house to a bad man.

ENON IV

A year passed. One day the villagers came to my house and said to me, “Why do you not worship the gods? Behold, you will bring misfortune upon us. What evil have you seen from us; why do you want to throw us into misery?” I answered them: “I had rather put myself in misery than you. But I will not worship the gods, for this is how I live and it will not live otherwise.” They said: “You have done us no harm, and don’t do further. Worship the gods, and let your apprentice also worship them, for he has forsaken them for your sake. Why are you exalted above the gods?” I replied, “To you one thing and to us another. And if any misfortune befalls you, may your gods bestow it upon me.” And they left my house. Sometime later one of these men set out to curse me, that the gods might kill me and thereby rid the village of misfortune. He came and cursed me, sitting in front of my house. I was not at home at the time, but Ozted was; and he came out and chased the curser away. But he would not go away, so they fought and beat each other. And I came and said to Ozted, “Can a curse be controlled with your fist? Why did you persecute him; or do you not know that their gods cannot hurt me?” On the next day I went to the curser and said to him, “If you wish, you may come to curse me again. It will not be a hindrance to you; just do not raise your hand against us. But he was astonished, and could not think of anything to say to me. Two days he did not come, but on the third, he came and began to curse me. Some of the people stood by him and waited to see what would happen. He cursed me until evening and then left, tired. The next day he came again; and he came every day thereafter. Nothing happened to me. Then another came to the first one; but even the two of them could not do anything to me, – only one of the workers left me, being afraid of the curses. They cursed me for a long, long day; then they saw that they were not strong enough. Then they went to the nearest villages, saying about me that I was an enemy to the gods. And then others also came to them; and they all came to curse me afresh. Then more also came; and as many as seven of them were gathered together, sitting in front of my house and uttering curses. The news of this spread around; and people began to come from other villages, they wanted to see such an outstanding event. And when a trader with a small caravan came through the village, he stood in front of my house and watched. I went out to welcome him, but he got scared and ran away, leaving his caravan behind as well. After a while, the villagers began to say among themselves, “Why are these people sitting there for no reason, while we feed them? They came to my house and drove them away. They came to me from the village and brought me some gifts because they were afraid to have enmity from me, from which even gods would not defend. I took gifts and divided them in two and gave them to two houses, the poorest in the village. Then I went to the houses, asking everyone to join me for a feast, but no one wanted to come out of fear. Then Ozted said to me: “Teacher, let us do something as a treat and I will take some of it to every house.” I replied, “We should not do this, for such a treat will not be a joy to them, but a great fright to them.” From then on, the village respected me more, though with great fear. One day a man came to me and said: “Teach me how to defend myself against the wrath of the gods. And I spoke to him and saw that it was not my knowledge he wanted, but only to do as he wished without fear of the wrath of the gods. I told him to leave my house and not to bother me again. One day Ozted wished to take a girl from the village as his wife; and she was glad to go to him. She had no father, for he was dead, but had two brothers and an uncle; and none of them wanted to give her to Ozted. I gave them a ransom for her, but all in vain. Then one day she ran to my house, and her relatives came after her, shouting and threatening. I went out to them and said: “I will not chase her out of my house; unless she goes away on her own. They said to me, “Give us your apprentice.” I said, “Neither her nor him; if you want me, here I am.” But they did not dare to raise their hand against me, nor did they leave, but stood outside my house, scolding and threatening. Then came a friend of my dead master, a man of reason and respect, and said to them, “Don’t you want peace? Take what he gives you, or take twice as much, and whip her for disobedience and give her to whomever she wishes.” And they obeyed him, and I gave them double the ransom. And she went out to them, and they whipped her mercilessly. And Ozted, when he saw it, went out, too, and let himself be whipped as well. Then he took her as his wife and they lived in my house. From that time on, we were no longer feared, for she entered my house, and nothing bad happened to her. When the whole village came together for a council, they called both me and Ozted. I did not go, saying: “Although I live in this village, my core is not in it: how can I decide something for it?” Neither did I let Ozted go. One day a man came to me for advice, and I did not refuse him. The next time people came together, they called us again, saying, “Come; or do you not live here?” And we came; but in the council we said nothing, but listened. After a certain time, two brothers came to me as apprentices, one with his wife; and I accepted them, for I found them suitable. And Ozted’s wife was also an apprentice, but the other turned out to be a fool. And one of the workers also began to learn from me. Thus, we lived; I rejoiced greatly, for never before had I lived in peace and good emotional contentment. I rejoiced also over those who were with me; and I rejoiced also over the fact that my teacher’s work and travails had borne fruit.

ENON V

Far away the rumour went about me, – that here, there was a man who was not afraid of curses. And one day there came into the village a man of the Viriyegs, leading with him a hundred lancers. They took me and my apprentices and their families and set me before the Viriyegan. He asked me why I was not afraid of curses; and I told him that true knowledge gave immeasurable power. Then he said: “If you have such great power, then level this hill with your hand.” I replied, “The flesh is strong only in the flesh – therefore its power is insignificant. But the Spirit is indeed strong; but it doesn’t care about this hill” Then he said: “And over your spirit there is power. Behold, if you do not forsake what you believe, and do not worship the gods, I will kill these who are with you, and their children.” I was filled with grief, and I said to him, “You had better tell me to take the skies down to the earth. It is not in the power of man to deny himself, and it is not in the power of truth to lie. Kill me along with them.” He was horrified at my words and said: “Truly, you are terrible. Everything that matters to you cannot be touched with your hands! Only a true madman will not flee from you, – for you are worse than a curse.” Having said that, he went away with his lances without killing anyone. But I was afflicted with sickness; and for four days I lay in a fever, without memory. But my men followed me and did what they could. And when I came back to my senses, I could not rise from my bed for many days; they fed me and cleansed me. Afterwards, I asked them: “What did you see in me, when you and your children were almost killed?” Ozted answered, “It seemed to us that a hurricane was coming on a hurricane; and who should we blame for the people who were caught between them? But now we see in you a solid rock, stronger than that on which our feet tread.” I said to them, “You too must be that strong.” Ozted asked me, “What if one of us were to deny his own?” I replied, “You cannot deny your own. What you were able to deny was not yours, and you lied to yourself that it was yours. And you cannot lie about denying, for lying is against that which is in us. By lying, you would be going against your own, and if so, it was not yours. Thus, if you lied to another, it means that you lied to yourself.” After this, we were able to live peacefully again, as before. The people of the village did not know what to think of me; some were afraid of me again. One day a man came to the village who was regarded as a wise man in the area. He came to me, and I received him respectfully; and he spoke to me. For a day we talked, and for two days; then he went away; and he went away without enmity, though without agreement. And Ozted said to me, “Behold, here was a wise man, and the right word did not touch his soul. What is this, teacher: I am not a wise man, but I have heard the right word, – and he is a wise man, and he has not heard?” I answered him, “It is not he who hears the right word who is wise, but he who desires to hear it. Wisdom is like a burden – the one who is carrying it has nowhere to get the right word. The other has nothing and he takes the right word as his burden. But the right word and the outside wisdom cannot get along in one hand, for they are like fire and water. Few will leave the burden of supposed wisdom for the sake of the right word; but he who does is a true sage.” Ozted said: “Are people deaf?! For here is the right word – in your mouth: and they do not hear.” I said to him: “The true word is like a strong seed which sprouts even through a stone. It does not wither in time but reappears and breaks the stones. It doesn’t matter if today few have heard and few who have listened. The bad things decay, but the good things do not; one day the stone will crumble into ashes, and where there was a wasteland, there will be a field.” Soon I decided to go to the land where my teacher was from to see if there were others like him and me. I got ready and went; I left Ozted at home as a leader. I walked for a long time, and I saw many things on my way; but I came to that place. I searched for a long time; I walked from village to village; however, I did not find even a trace of what I was looking for. I fed as much as I could; sometimes I did not eat for two days or more. I saw large villages, such as there were in my land, surrounded by stakes and stones. And I saw that there were more slaves there than in my land and that people were walking about with weapons. After I had been there some time, I went back; and when I returned to my house, I found it prosperous. After a while, I found another apprentice, of the vagabonds, to whom we did not deny food as much as we could. Two years passed. One day it was as if a wind blew through my soul; and as if a heaviness weighed me down. Soon it was as if a strong force came from some unknown place; and it enveloped me like a swaddling cloth and clutched my breath. And I could not work at first, then I could not walk, and after that, I could not lift my head. And I was lying on my bed motionless, and I did not look, nor eat, nor die. And I cried with my soul to the One who was watching, and he spoke to me. He said to me: “Behold, a hostile thing has come from the second world. A great power I have taken upon me; a power not so great has grasped you. If the power of the spirit in you is sufficient, defeat it; and I will give you aid in that. If you do not resist, you will die and your apprentices will be crushed by this power. But I cannot protect you, for how can I protect him who is not his support? And I was horrified in my heart, for I thought, “How great is the storm that has come upon this fire in the night! Behold, there is little of us, -and great opposition has come upon us.” And I lay there, unable to move or open my eyes; I had one eye, and it was not mine. And mine were in sorrow and did not know what had happened to me, and I could not tell them. They could not feed me, but they only poured water through my teeth. And so I was laying there; and there was great fear in the village. People said: “Gods’ anger did not scare him, but now he is under attack. What is it that he is weak against? If it will crush it and pass on us, none of us will live”. So, they said, and they walked in fear. Some of them even thought of fleeing the village; they wanted to escape. People at all times stood in front of my house, waiting to see if I would die. But I lay there, unable to move. And I erected a wall in myself, a barrier to hostile forces, and expelled from myself the smallest grain of fear. And I cried with my soul to all that exists and saw myself in the union of the Spirit with all that exists. But there were those in the village who said: “They only say that he is alive: in fact, he is already dead. It is necessary to take him and bury him so that all bad things can go with him. And they came and wanted to enter my house to take me and bury me. But Ozted, and my other apprentices, and all the workers and the women who were in the house stood in their way and prevented them from reaching me. They protected me from them, even by force; and one of the apprentices was broken in the rib. After this, two of the men and their families left the village, for they feared staying there. And I lay there – and I lay there for over forty days. When the said time elapsed, the power which had burdened me ceased, like a flame goes out. And I fell asleep and slept for a long time. Then I awoke and spoke to my people; they were shouting for joy. The people in the village knew and came to my house to see me. But I was weak and could not come out to them. So I commanded two or three to let in, that they might see me; and it was done. They saw me; and there was no meat left in my body, only bones. And I could only sleep, and spoke little; and I was not yet soon on my feet. But the people of the village rejoiced; and they brought all kinds of gifts to my house. I told them to take the gifts, not to refuse anyone. And three more came to me as apprentices: two men and a woman, as her husband dared not forbid it. When I had recovered from my weakness and was on my feet, I left her and one of those two and chased the other away. I chased him away, for I saw that he neglected the men of the village, saying to them, “I am his apprentice, and who are you?” I had plenty of cattle; and when I got on my feet, I took as many pairs as there were houses in the village, and gifted them all. And I gifted those who did not gift me and those who wanted to bury me. Afterwards, I prepared a treat; and went to every house to call the people. I said to them, “Come; if anything bad happens to you, it will not happen in my house.” And the people came to me; there was not enough room in the house – so they sat on the cloth that we had laid out for them outside the house.

ENON VI

I lived in a village, was well respected, and had no enemies. One day an apprentice of mine, called Lek, stole a beautiful robe from a man in the village. That man found out who the thief was; then he came to me and said: “Do you know that your apprentice has stolen from me?” Then I called the said apprentice and he confessed. I commanded him to give back what he had stolen, and he did so, saying to me, “Punish me,” but do not persecute me. So I told him to go to that man and work for him for a year, and to come to my house for food. So he went and worked for a year, and then came back to me as an apprentice. As time passed, one of my apprentices died and three new apprentices came. One day some men came to the village bringing eight slaves for sale. So I bought them all and set them free. It happened again. People from other villages came to see me and talk to me. I told them, “There is no me without what I belong to. If you don’t want the right life, why do you care about me?” They said, “Why do we need someone else’s field when we have our own?” I said, “Why do you leave your field and wander around someone else’s?” One of the Viriyegs was passing through the village; and he sent his men after me, wishing to speak to me. I came and asked him, “What do you want to tell me?” He replied, “I do not want to say, but to hear your words.” Then I said: “What is it to you that you are a Viriyegan, if you beg reasonable words from others, like a vagabond for food?” He was angry – yet he dared not punish me; and he left the village. Time passed, and I grew old. And when I grew old, I became blind and could no longer work, but I could and did teach. And every day I exercised my soul and contemplated within myself the depths of what exists. And on a certain day, I saw without eyes. Then I began to work again, and people were astonished to see it. I lived long, and lived longer than Ozted; and behold, I saw that I was dying. Then I went through the village, and said goodbye, entering every house. The people said goodbye to me as to a kinsman; and some said, “Behold, he goes to the gods to have his place there.” But the apprentices asked me, “What shall we do without you, teacher?” I chose one among them, and called him first among the others, and left him to them for a leader. And I said to them, “Truly, the way of man is marvellous. I have sat in the pit for years; I did not know that I had the strength for it, but I have found it. For others it was death, but for me it was life. I lost everything, my teacher and my family. I have lost my home too, and I have wandered and suffered – but I have never once thought, “What for?” I have lost my child, and I have poured out all her blood from my soul. I had nothing but what was in me. And now, when I die, I am rich, I have apprentices, I am honoured; and what was in me remains in me, and is multiplied many times over. That is the way. If I had lost everything and died, I would have died with light in me. If I were to wander about like a beast, I would not complain, for I would live by what I have in me. Remember this: what you have in you is your life. Whatever happens to you, the essence of your life is what you have in yourself. Be faithful to this, for you cannot find better; so in the darkness of adversity, you will find the light. Fear nothing: indeed, nothing is stronger than what you have within you. Let he who most treasures his possessions or his life fear. And you shall not lose what is yours; none shall take it from you. The best you have and you shall not lose it, therefore, neither greed nor fear shall be in you. Live worthily, as I have taught you. Do not be exalted above others, for it is not worthy of a good man, and do not humiliate yourself, for it is vile. Live as if you were holding the whole world in the palms of your hands like a handful of water; do not spill it out. And remember: let the limits of this world be no limits to you. Spirit has no limits: it is all, merging with all in all. Remember that you are the Spirit; the flesh has gone out of it and will return to it. Thus, I spoke to them; and gave instructions as to how to teach others, and how to discern who should be taught and who should not. Then I went and gathered together what to make a fire of, and I made it myself. I ordered my people to give a gift to every home in the village after my death. Then I lay down on the material I had prepared for the fire, and the apprentices and the men of the village were standing around. And I bid them all farewell and lay thereafter in silence. So, I lay down for a quarter of the sun’s course and died at sunset. And he whom I left behind me saw that I had died, and then he lit a fire. What was left behind was taken to the steppe and scattered there as I had commanded. They planted a tree in the same place where the fire had been.

Translated by Amradkhari