along that trail to offer it to a monk. How had he known in
the first place that there would be a monk coming to receive it?
The gentleman smiled slightly, but didn’t speak. Ãcariya Chob
gave him a blessing, after which the gentleman told him that
he would have to leave since his house was some distance away.
He appeared to be quite different from the average person in
that he was remarkably dignified while speaking very little. He
looked to be a middle-aged man of medium height with a radiant
complexion and behavior that was impeccably self-composed.
Having taken his leave, he stood up and began to walk away.
As he was obviously an unusual man, Ãcariya Chob observed
him carefully. He walked about twenty-five feet, stepped behind
a tree, and disappeared from sight. Ãcariya Chob stared at the
tree waiting for him to reappear on the other side, but he never
did. This was even more puzzling; so he stood up and walked
over to the tree to have a closer look – but no one was there.
Had someone been in that area, he would definitely have seen
him. But looking around in all directions he saw no one. The
strange circumstances of the man’s disappearance surprised him
all the more.
Still puzzled, Ãcariya Chob walked back and began to eat
his food. Tasting the various foods he had been given, he found
them to be unlike the human cuisine that he was used to eating.
All the food was wonderfully fragrant and flavorful, and per-
fectly suited to his bodily needs in every possible way. He had
never eaten anything like it. The food’s exquisite taste perme-
ated throughout every pore in his body which had so long been
oppressed by hunger and fatigue. In the end, he wasn’t sure if it
was his extreme hunger that made it taste so good or the celes-
jacob rumans
(Jacob Rumans)
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