Then I went out of the house, and after a while my father called me and said, “Gather up the chips of the fig-wood wherewith I was making gods before you came in, and see about preparing dinner.”

And as I was doing so, I found a little god lying among the straw and the rubbish, and on his forehead was written:  “The god Barisat.”  So I kept him, and did not tell my father; and when I had kindled the fire to cook the dinner, and was going out to fetch the food, I set Barisat down in front of the fire and said to him, “Barisat, take care that the fire does not go out before I come back; and if it does, blow upon it and revive it.”  Then I went out and did my errand, and when I returned I found Barisat fallen over backwards, and his feet were in the fire and were badly burnt; and I laughed to myself and said, “You are in truth a good fireman and cook, Barisat.”  Just then the fire caught upon his body and burnt him all up.

When the time was come, I brought food to my father and he ate, and I gave him wine and milk and he drank, and rejoiced and praised his god Marumath; and I said, “Father, you should not praise Marumath, but rather Barisat, for he has done more for you:  he has thrown himself into the fire to cook your dinner.”  “And where is he now?” said my father.  “He has been burnt to ashes,” I said, “in the heat of the fire, and nothing but dust is left of him.”  And my father said, “Great is the strength of Barisat!  I will make another one to-day, and he shall prepare my food for me to-morrow.”  Now when I heard my father say these words, I laughed in myself, and yet I was troubled and angry in my soul.  And at last I answered and said, “Whichever of these things you honour as a god, it is folly.  The god Zucheus, who is the god of my brother Nahor, is more honourable than your god Marumath, for he is adorned with gold finely wrought, and when he is old he will be fashioned over again; but if Marumath is broken or injured he will not be renewed, for he is only of stone.  And again the god Joauv, who stands next to Zucheus, is more honourable than Barisat, for he is covered with silver; but as for Barisat, you made him yourself with your axe, and, look, he is fallen upon the earth, and the fashion of his likeness is destroyed, and he is burnt to ashes, and you say, ’To-day I will make another, and he shall prepare my food to-morrow.’

“But I say to you, my father, the fire is mightier than all your gods of gold and silver and stone and wood, for it can devour them all.  Yet I call not the fire god, for it is weaker than the water which can subdue it.  Yet again I call not the water god, for the earth swallows it up.  Neither call I the earth god, for it is subject to men that till it, and to the sun that gives light to it.  Neither call I the sun god, for it is overcome by the darkness of night.  But I say that there is one true God who hath made all these things; who hath made the heavens blue, and the sun golden, and the moon and stars white and shining, and hath raised up the earth from among the waters, and breathed into thee the breath of life, and hath sought me out in the trouble of my soul; and would that He might reveal Himself unto us!”