Once upon a time, there has been, and still is, a family of peasants whose village was in the mountains, among huge cliffs and forest. They lived on animal breeding and land cultivation and others, characteristic for that area.
The little village did not hold very rich people, but they had nourishment.
The family whom we are referring to had three children, a set of twins – girl and boy – and a little girl, of only 5 years old. The little girl would go in the woods, so as to gather mushrooms and roots for the sick.
One day, she was so caught in gathering the cures, that night seamlessly fell. The girl looked around, but she had got deep into the forest, and got quite lost. Brave as she was, the tears flowed on her little cheeks. She long soughed for the road, but still could not find a familiar road.
In her searches, she noticed, by starlight, a few caves which knew to be rather far from their village. The same way, she also caught a glimpse of torch light in one of the caves and she headed there.
Entering the cave, she saw a few burning torches, a fire in the middle of the cave and many forest animals which were getting warm, but every animal was patched up and visibly hurting. In a corner, she glimpsed a man who looked at her with a smile and said:
“You’ve got lost, today. Wait there until I put a cure to this deer with an arrow in its paw and I’ll show you the way.”
After he did what was needed, the man came closer and asked:
“Well, today you haven’t done quite well, but still you gathered some roots. Let’s see, what did you pick up?”
After a quick study, the man nodded contentedly, but he also taught the child when to pick the plants and showed her how many other plants existed for a lot of diseases. The girl had opened her eyes wide and asked:
“May I ask you, who are you, as I’m not acquainted with you, and how do you know so much, and how come all forest living creatures make it to you?”
“I am a man who helps animals and who love people. If I meet a man, I befriend him. If he needs me, I help him.”
“Is it with all of them, with all men that you make friends?”
“Yes, provided that they are men and they need me. Let me show you the way now, as your parents are looking for you and worrying a lot. Also take the plants I gifted you, as they are for people, and give them to whoever is sick.”
The little girl started walking after the man and, at a certain time, spotted the village. Her face lip up and she exclaimed:
“We’ve made it, we’ve made it! Can I see you some other time, as well?”
The man looked at her, smiled and answered:
“If you stay the way you are, unless you betray my friendship, I’ll be right where you first found me.”
The girl looked at the village and turned towards the man. She looked in amazement. The man was no longer there, he had vanished.
She walked sadly towards her house. Her parents rejoiced and asked her how come she had got lost and found her way back. The little girl answered she had done fine, but did not bring up the man who helped her, because she wanted to keep that occurrence only to herself, and because she promised she would be friends with the man and, if she told, it might not turn out well. That’s how she thought.
A month went by and the little girl cured many villagers, even of diseases which would otherwise have taken their life.
Along with that, the longing for her new friend grew like bread in the oven. One day, she made up her mind to walk to the area of the caves. She got up early in the morning and set off on the forest paths. She walked and walked, but she could not find the way.
All of a sudden, she noticed that it would soon get dark and, with great sadness, was about to descend. Upon turning around, what do you know! Lo and behold! The man was next to her, with his wide and pervasive smile:
“What are you seeking again, so far away, child? Are you looking again for plants? You ran out of them, and did good in your village, but people from the neighbouring villages also came to you.
The child looked in amazement and asked:
“That’s right, but how do you know all this? As if you were with me.”
The man smiled and didn’t answer. He pulled out of his quiver a beautiful box in walnut tree and uttered:
“Here’s a box! Use it as you deem appropriate. The box is empty. You can put whatever you want inside. This box will be the sign of our friendship. I promise I will maintain the friendship with you, as long as you do the right thing and use the box appropriately. You can come to me, you can look for me, yet no sooner than you, in your turn, have a little boy. I’ll always be with you.”
The girl took the box and the quiver with plants gifted by the man and, upon looking up, the man had disappeared again. The girl returned to the village and kept taking care of everything needed, but the meeting with the man and his gift, namely the box, could not get out of her head. She was musing how to use it, so everything could turn out well.
Thinking deeply, she made up her mind. She would split all her earnings in two; forasmuch, if as she had a friend, that’s how it was right, because he had always been helping her.
She felt as if the man was always with her, protecting her and guiding her. Time was flying. She grew into the most beautiful lass in the whole region. Anyway, they came to her from all over the region to ask for advice and to buy plants. She was known as a rightful and correct woman. A great many lads asked her, but she difficulty settled upon one of them, and that one – the blacksmith’ son – to wit a much poorer boy than many.
The wedding was over, which was attended by all the region’s dwellers, as they all knew the girl.
A year passed and the girl got a good-looking and playful son. When the child was 3 years old, the girl let her husband know she would go with the child in the mountains. Her husband smiled and said:
“You miss Him, don’t you?”
“Whom?”
Her husband smiled again and said:
“See, I married you because, a year before, when I was coming to help you with the household chores, I saw you were polishing a box.”
The woman looked in amazement.
“I saw and I want to show you something in the room.”
They both entered the room and the man showed her a similar box.
“Now can I also come with you, along with my box?”
The woman embraced her husband and happy, she answered:
“Do you know how much I rejoice! Both of us have the same friend, the same path, the same lucidity to decide.”
At the first rays of sun, the three of them set off. They were walking and studying, yet they seemed to find no more path to the caves. They ran into a big waterfall, and no little was their surprise when they found their friend there. They all rejoiced unreservedly.
“We could barely find you! My spouse came, as you are friends with him, too.”
“Yes, that’s right. He is a man, too. Let me see, what have you kept in your boxes?”
The girl opened her box and inside there were braids from her different ages and coins of gold. The man had just the same, and both of them had their child’s braids. They both looked to the man, as if asking whether that was good.
“Yes, it is good what you have kept. The hair evinces maturity. The gold coins show that you have thought of me, as well, and that you have never left me. I have helped you in each and every instant. I have done it at every step of yours, while each of you has thought life as if for two. This has made you mature, judicious, faultless, because you could not steal and hide money, you have lived so far with very few mistakes. That’s why you are my friends.
It is true that you could not see me, and yet you could feel me. You did not see me, because I am a step ahead of you, namely my step will open the way for the next step of yours.
In the old days, a girl opened a box which she was not allowed to open and let go of all the evils. You closed it, capturing many evils, and forsook them. Keep thinking like this, and come when you have pains in your middle back, when you get out of the bed. You will find me.”
As usual, the man disappeared again, but the three were happy, as if they grew wings.
Time went by, and that left traces on the faces of the two. The whole kingdom came to them for plants, and especially for advice. Even the king sent people to ask for the advice of the two
One morning, the women rose with difficulty, got dressed and bade farewell to her husband and children. Her face was nevertheless joyful. She walked through the forest and, as usual the man appeared. The woman looked at him and said:
“Time hasn’t affected you, how comes?”
“Do you see that light? That’s the way you must walk on, go on, courage! Leave the box with me, as it did its job. Walk, I’ll be watching you. I’ll give the box to somebody else, if he deserves it.”
“But I don’t get it. I had middle-back pains, I had barely got up, why do I have no more pains and walk so fast?”
“Look into the water, my child!”
The woman looked into the water and she almost got out of breath. She was young, about 25 years of age, and dressed in a new attire. She looked at the man but, not seeing him, she cried out.
“Thank you, who are you, where am I, why can’t I see you?”
“You are home, you are young because men do not grow old, I am your friend who goes a step ahead of you. Have you forgotten? You will see me one day. Now I go and gift the box, as others need it, too.”

By Master Mavrino
January 12, 2019