Once, at the beginning of the summer holidays, Valya became ill. The condition of the girl quickly deteriorated, the fever did not subside. When Valya, due to a severe sore throat, refused not only to eat, but also to drink, her parents sounded the alarm. The hospital was overcrowded, there were no beds available, and the doctor sent them home with medicine. The night was difficult for the whole family: the girl then lost consciousness, then again came to her senses, it became difficult not only to swallow, but also to breathe.
In the morning, the mother, leaning, with sunken eyes, approached her daughter and said in a deliberately cheerful voice:
Vladyka is here, he has come to visit you!
The eyelids of the patient were heavy, as if poured with lead, and she hardly opened her eyes. At this moment the Lord approached her bed and, blessing her, said affectionately:
— I came to tell you a joke.
And Vladyka John began to tell some funny story, which Valya did not understand or even hear clearly. She was lying silent, and she was so sick, and Vladyka, meanwhile, began to laugh at his story. In the doorway, the faces of the Valin parents appeared – they looked at the bishop with bewilderment, but he seemed not to notice them.
You didn’t like that joke, okay, I’ll tell you another one!
And Vladyka told her several jokes in a row, accompanying each with a loud laugh. None of them seemed funny to the sick girl, and the grimace of suffering never left her pale face. Valya hardly looked into the doorway: her father was not just perplexed, he was angry. But Vladyka did not pay any attention to Vali’s parents and continued:
I’m sure the next joke will make you laugh. Here, listen. Once a bishop like me had a fight between a cell and a subdeacon. We fought and then went to the bishop to explain the situation. The bishop asks the subdeacon, “How did he hit you?” And the subdeacon says, «Not in a way, but in a candlestick.»
Here Vladyka laughed so fervently that the sick girl could not stand it and laughed with him. Their parents looked at them with round eyes, and it made Valais even funnier. As she laughed, something exploded in her throat. As she later learned, she had a severe form of diphtheritis — and when laughing burst boils that prevented her from swallowing and breathing.
The Lord cut off his laughter and said to his parents:
— Clean everything, make sure Valya rinses her mouth and throat. She’ll be all right now.
Then he blessed the girl and left. Valya noticed that Vladyka looked terribly tired, as if it was not him who was laughing so fervently now. When she rinsed her mouth and throat, she felt instant relief and fell asleep. Her sleep was calm and easy, the heat was asleep.
In the afternoon, an alarmed doctor came and carefully asked Valina’s mother if the patient was alive. And my mother said even cheerfully:
— Not only alive, but healthy. She had a fever and was sleeping peacefully.
The doctor couldn’t believe her words. After examining the girl, he said only:
— It’s a miracle. It’s nothing but a miracle.
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