God and the Cobbler Summary

A hippie from somewhere is watching a cobbler sitting outside of a temple, somewhere in India. The cobbler is also looking at the hippie, and the hippie comes over to ask the cobbler to repair his sandals. The hippie feels that there is a tremendous amount of peacefulness about the cobbler, as if he only exists to fix shoes, and does not care about money. The cobbler feels nervous that somehow this could be an apparition of the God Shiva coming to test him. The hippie gives the cobbler a home-rolled cigarette and gets him to talk. The hippie asks if the cobbler believes in God. The cobbler is careful, and talks about God's eternal watchfulness. The cobbler describes his struggle to provide for his family. The cobbler alludes to committing violence and burning a house with...