In the darkness, with the Devil at his back, the Fool tried to find his way. Ahead of him it was dark and only the large looming silhouette of the Devil stood at the mouth of the cave behind him. Forward into the unknown was just slightly less scary than going back to that creature.
The Fool began to shiver. It was getting very cold. He could see his breath in the air. His feet started to feel snow and ice.
Some distance ahead he saw a square of light in front of him and he started for it. The snow got deeper and the light lit the whiteness of the drifts. Heavy flakes fell out of the sky in a dense snowfall.
The light was coming from the large stained-glass window of a church. Intricate, ornate, and colorful, the window showed five coins growing on a sacred tree. The church looked small and cozy. The Fool thought about going in to find refuge.
A couple appeared from around the side of the church: an old man with crutches, and an old woman in bare feet, trudging through the snow. He wore a cloak of scraps of cloth over his shoulders and she clutched her shawl tightly around her face. The couple’s clothes were rags, as threadbare as the Fool’s own clothes.
The Fool couldn’t understand why they didn’t go into the church. Here was this giant building, decorated with ornate art, for worship of their gods and all the church’s good deeds – but this poor couple was on the outside, in a foot or more of snow, freezing to death. The woman didn’t have shoes. The man was bald with no hat. The Fool felt infuriated. The world was full of these bloated rich temples and the outside was littered with the poor. The Fool had traveled the world and seen this atrocity everywhere he had gone.
Why don’t you go into the church? the Fool asked the couple.
It isn’t our church, the man said. Besides, we have each other. The man and the woman looked at each other with a moment of joy.
We would have to believe in a different God to go in, the woman said, but we are fine. We will keep each other warm.
Hearing their words, the Fool felt sad. The couple wouldn’t bend their faith, nor would the church allow outside faiths to be helped by them, so now these two would have to suffer. On top of that, they were clutching onto each other in a ‘them-against-the-world’ dynamic, and the Fool knew it was going to make them miserable.
Sometimes a couple has to ask for help, thought the Fool; two is not enough a lot of the time.
The freezing wind blew right into the Fool’s bones. He couldn’t get his arms around himself tight enough to ward off the cold. The snow kept falling to the ground. The flakes looked black as they passed by the stained-glass window.
The Fool could hear the chattering of conversations inside the church. He could sense the warmth. He heard the sounds of silverware scraping against plates. He heard his own stomach growl at the thought of being hungry. Being hungry and cold was the worst combination in the universe.
Something was standing at his back. He just knew. When he looked up he saw the Devil’s slobbering face staring at him, heard the Devil’s deep breathing. The Fool knew he needed to move on.
The couple disappeared into the darkness and the freezing wind. All the Fool could see was the deep footsteps and the crutch holes that trailed behind. They were quickly filling up with fresh snow.
The Fool walked past the church and back into the darkness and soon he was somewhere else. The air got warmer, which was nice. The Fool knew that the couple would keep blindly holding on to faith, and wishing it kept them warm.