“But, Rabbi,” said the Boy eagerly, “will He not have mercy on them just because they are ignorant? Will He not pity them as a shepherd pities his sheep when they are silly and go astray?” “He is not only a Shepherd,” answered Hillel firmly, “but a great King. They must all keep the law, even as it is written and as the elders have taught it to us. There is no other way.” The Boy was silent for a time, while the others talked of the law, and of the Torah, and of the Talmud in which Hillel in those days was writing down the traditions of the elders. When there was an opportunity he spoke again. “Rabbi, if most of the people should be both poor and ignorant when the Messiah came, so ignorant that they did not even know Him, wouldn't He save them just because they were poor?” Hillel looked at the Boy with love, and hesitated before he answered. At that moment a man and a woman came through the colonnade with hurried steps. The man stopped at the edge of the circle, astonished at what he saw. But the woman came into the centre and put her arm around the Boy. “My boy,” she cried, “why hast thou done this to us? See how sorrowful thou hast made me and thy father, looking everywhere for thee.” “Mother,” he answered, “why did you look everywhere for me with sorrow? Did you not know that I would be in my Father's house? Must I not begin to think of the things my Father wants me to do?” Thus the lost Boy was found again, and went home with, his parents to Nazareth. The old rabbi blessed him as he left the Temple. But had he really been lost, or was he finding his way? THE END End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Valley of Vision, by Henry Van Dyke