"Why?"

"I left my regiment without leave. I ran away. I'm a deserter. If they found me, I'd be shot or hanged."

We ask:

"Like a murderer?"

"Yes, exactly like a murderer."

"And yet you don't want to kill anyone. You just want to go home."

"Yes, I just want to go home."

We ask:

"What do you want us to bring you to eat?"

"Anything."

"Goat's milk, hard-boiled eggs, bread, fruit?"

"Yes, yes, anything."

We ask:

"And a blanket? The nights are cold, and it often rains."

He says:

"Yes, but you mustn't be seen. And you won't say anything to anybody, will you? Not even to your mother."

We answer:

"No one will see us, we never say anything to anybody, and we have no mother."

When we come back with the food and blanket, he says:

"You're very kind."

We say:

"We weren't trying to be kind. We've brought you these things because you absolutely need them. That's all."

He says again:

"I don't know how to thank you. I'll never forget you."

His eyes fill with tears.

We say:

"Crying is no use, you know. We never cry, even though we aren't men yet, like you."

He smiles and says:

"You're right. Excuse me, I won't do it anymore. It's just because of the exhaustion."

Exercise in Fasting

We announce to Grandmother:

"Today and tomorrow we won't eat. We'll only drink water."

She shrugs her shoulders:

"I couldn't care less. But you'll work as usual."

"Of course, Grandmother."

The first day, she kills a chicken and roasts it in the oven. At midday, she calls us:

"Come and eat!"

We go to the kitchen, it smells very good. We're a bit hungry, but not too much. We watch Grandmother carve up the chicken.

She says:

"It smells good. Can you smell how good it smells? Do you want a leg each?"