534 ASCH
Awe fell on the travellers behind the stove, and they cried out. He started and approached them, and they had to close their eyes against the brightness of his face, the light that shone out of his eyes ! And he stood there quite quietly and simply, and asked in a gentle voice why they had called out. Were they cold?
And 'he took off his cloak and spread it over them.
Next morning the travellers told all this, and declared that no sooner had the cloak touched them than they had fallen asleep, and they had seen and heard nothing more that night. After this, when the whole town had got wind of it, and they found out who it was that night in the house-of-study, the people began to believe that he was a Tzaddik, and they came to him with Petitions, as Chassidim to their Rebbes, asking 'him to pray for their health and other wants. But when they brought him such a petition, he would smile and say: "Believe me, a little boy who says grace over a piece of bread which his mother has given him, he can help you more than twenty such as I."
Of course, his words made no impression, except that they brought more petitions than ever, upon which he said:
"You insist on a man of flesh and blood such as I be- ing your advocate with God, blessed is He. Hear a par- able : To what shall we liken the thing ? To the light of the sun and the light of a small lamp. You can rejoice in the sunlight as much as you please, and no one can take your joy from you; the poorest and most humble may revive himself with it, so long as his eyes can behold it, and even though a man should sit, which God forbid,
