Artist: S.A.Tutunov
Once upon a time there lived a shoemaker. He was widowed and left with a young son. And on the eve of the feast of the Nativity of Christ, the boy said to his father:
“The Savior is going to visit us today.”
“You don’t say so! That’s impossible,” the shoemaker did not believe him.
“He’ll come. You’ll see it. He Himself told me about it in a dream.”
The boy was waiting for his dear Guest, looking out of the window, but there was still no one there. And suddenly outside in the courtyard he saw two guys beating up a boy who did not even defend himself. The shoemaker’s son ran out into the street, broke up the offenders, and brought the beaten-up boy into the house. The father and son fed him, washed him, combed his hair, and then the shoemaker’s son said:
“Daddy, I have a pair of boots, while my new friend’s toes are falling out of his worn shoes. Let me give him my felt boots, because there’s a hard frost outside. Besides, it is also a feast today!”
“Well, let’s do what you say,” the father agreed.
They gave the boy the boots, and he went home shining with joy.
Some time passed, but the shoemaker’s son did not move a step from the window, waiting for the Savior. Then a pauper who was passing by begged:
“Good people! Tomorrow is the Nativity of Christ, but I haven’t eaten anything at all for three days. Give me some food, for Christ’s sake!”
“Come in, old man!” the boy called him through the window. “May God bless you with good health!” They gave the old man food and drink, and he left them joyful.
And the boy was still waiting for Christ and already beginning to worry. Night fell, the street lights turned on, and a blizzard was raging. And suddenly the shoemaker’s son shouted:
“Oh, daddy! There is a woman standing by a post with a small child! Look at how cold they must feel, poor things!” The shoemaker’s son ran out into the street and invited the woman with her child into their hut. They gave them both food and drink, and the boy said:
“Where will they go in the cold? What a blizzard has broken out! Daddy, let them stay overnight at our home!”
“But can they sleep here?” the shoemaker asked surprisingly.
“You’ll sleep on the sofa, I’ll sleep on the chest, and they’ll sleep on our bed.”
“Well, let it be so.”
At last, everyone went to bed. And the boy dreamed about the Savior finally coming to him and saying affectionately:
“My dear child! Be happy for the rest of your life!”
“Lord, I waited for You all day long yesterday,” the boy was amazed.
And the Lord said:
“I came to you three times during the day, My dear. And three times you welcomed Me in the best possible way!”
The boy woke up in the morning, looked and saw the boots he had given to the poor boy yesterday evening again standing in the corner and the untouched holiday cake on the table. And in his heart he felt such an inexpressible joy that he had never felt before.
