99 Fables

83. The Miracle

83 the miracle THE PEOPLE OF A FARAWAY island worshipped the god of the volcano that lifted itself above them. Each day they took him offerings and left them at a shrine near the crater's edge, a shrine their ancestors had built for their most sacred relic: an image of their god which he had made for them with his own hands and had given them to keep as a sign of his favor. For years the volcano had been quiet, and then without warning it threw out clouds of steam and smoke while a rumbling noise came up from its depths. At once the natives got their belongings together and prepared to go to the mainland, wondering in what way they had offended their god. [ 163 ] On this particular day, as it happened, there was a stranger on the island, a merchant who had come to trade, and when he saw the natives departing, he said, "Are you going to abandon your idol to destruction? After all, you can't value your god as highly as you say , if none of you is willing to rescue his image from the shrine." He learned, then, something he'd not been told before: according to the legends of the islanders, the volcano god, when he gave the image of himself to them, had said that as long as they were his children, and his chosen ones, the image would not be destroyed; but if he turned against them beyond hope of forgiveness, he would burn the idol in his own fire. The destruction of the idol was, then, a thing over which they had no control. Since the merchant was an enlightened man, he didn't believe these foolish things, and he said, "The idol is made of wood, and if you leave it where it is, the lava will burn it up, along with everything else in its path." The natives moved toward their canoes, carrying their poor possessions. "N0," they said. "That cannot happen , unless our god wills it so." The merchant stood watching them, amazed at the childlike simplicity of their faith. A feeling of pity came over him; and he understood deeply at that instant how hard and barren their lives had been. And when the relic that set them apart was destrQyed, they would [ 164 ] be lost indeed, for they would not even have hope to sustain them. It was then the merchant risked his life and ran up the side of the volcano, jumping from rock to rock to avoid the rivulets of lava. When he reached the shrine, it was already in flames, but the image was still unharmed, and he took it from its stone altar and hid it under his coat. Days later, when the volcano was quiet again and the people came back to the island, they went first to the shrine at the edge of the crater; but the merchant had preceded them by a good ten minutes, although they were never to know that, and when the islanders arrived, they saw that a miracle had taken place, for although the burning lava had destroyed everything else, the image rested undamaged on its altar. Instantly they began to pray and sing hymns of thanksgiving; then they ran down the side of the mountain shouting out the joyous news that their god had not turned away from them. The merchant watched them with detached amusement , but it is possible he would not have felt so superior, so apart from them, had he known that, in his own way, he too had shown his trust, or had realized, at that moment, that the performance of a miracle is the only way in which an unbeliever can affirm his faith. [ 165 ] ...