Page 50 - Unseen Hands by Nona Freeman

Unseen Hands
on end. Her husband told her in Swedish to throw him a bit of food. She tossed him three small pieces of a biscuit—all three less than a mouthful. When he dared to ask for more, she stormed out the room.
Disappointed, Tekle decided to go to the villages. A twelve-kilometer walk brought him to Wando-Ghennet, where he found a friendly preacher.
"How did you dare come here alone?" his host asked. "You might have fallen into the hands of the castraters." "I felt confident the Lord would take care of me," Tekle answered. "Would youinterpret for me? I want to preach to the people gathered at the evening market."
His new friend agreed, and over four hundred peo ple responded to the message. Tekle and his friend walked through the market.
"What is that awful smell?" Tbkle asked, wrinkling his nose as his empty stomach rolled in protest.
"Oh, that is inset, our food," the man answered as he looked at Tekle closely. "But you are ill. Let us return to my home."
For fourlong, miserabledays Tekle retched and suf fered, unable to think of eating or drinking anything.
"What kind of food did you eat in the place where you grew up?" his concerned host asked.
"Peas, beans, barley and other grains," the sick man whispered, longing to taste again the food of his childhood. With difficultythe preacher found some barley, had
it groundinhispresence, and put it in boilingwater. Slow ly, Tekle's strength returned as he sipped the barley water.
"I must pray about this matter of food," he thought. "0 Lord, please give me a stomach ready to eat whatever
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