Writings of Porphyry Ivanov. Parables.
About Lie.
A man guilty of nothing was chased by robbers who wanted to deprive him of life. The man runs and feels that the robbers become close to him. He looks round and sees a woman who teds the hay. “Help me, save me,” says the man, “else they’ll kill me without cause.” That woman says to him, “Lie along the road, I’ll cover thee with the hay.” And he did so. The woman covered him with the hay, and started continuing her work. After some time the robbers run and ask her, “Hast thou seen a running man here?” She answers, “Yes, I saw, he ran that way.”
The robbers ran in the direction they pointed out by the woman. It came to pass some time, and the robbers passed out of sight. The woman threw the hay from off the man and said to him, “Get ready quickly and flee in the opposite direction, else they’ll come back and if find thee, then both of us will not be alive.” The man listened to her and ran. Thus he was saved.