There was a man living with his wife and children in a little village. He was called away by the inner voice of his soul, and he renounced his life with his wife and children and went into the wilderness, to a mountain called Sinai, taking with him his eldest son, the only one of his children who was grown up. The children having a faint remembrance of their father wondered at times where he was, and longed to see him; they were then told by their mother that he had gone away long ago, and perhaps had passed from this earth. At times in answer to their longing she would say, "Perhaps he will come or send word, for so he promised before his departure." Sometimes the children grieved at their father's absence, their father's silence; and whenever they felt the need for him to be among them they would comfort themselves with the hope, "perhaps some day he will be with us as he has promised."