CHAPTER 8

I Am Philothei (2)

Once when I was about eleven I heard that Ibrahim was ill, and we didn’t have any candles to take into the church, so instead I stole some bread from the table, and some figs, and I took them out and went out to find a beggar, but there weren’t any in the vicinity except for the one called the Blasphemer, and he was very abject because he was the most unpopular beggar in the town because he said filthy things whenever he saw a man of religion, and I didn’t want to give him the bread and figs, but finally I couldn’t find another beggar to give it to, and I said to the Blasphemer, “This is because Ibrahim is unwell,” and he was aware that charity cures the sick, and so he was good about it, and he said, “May the sick one get well, little girl, and may God make you strong as well,” and not long afterwards Ibrahim recovered, and after that I always gave alms to the Blasphemer as long as no one was looking.

This happened not long after the day of St. Nicholas, when all the young men who have gone to the cities return for the feast, and so this is the best time of year for the beggars, because the young men get drunk and become generous, and the Blasphemer was the only one who had received nothing until I gave him the bread and figs.