The Strangers In The Barn

This is a fable about being kind to strangers, told to the children of Uclandia so they might learn to be generous instead of selfish.
Thozmas was a woodcutter. He was so strong and so fast that he could chop wood for three homes in one day. But one day his axe was stolen. He could not afford another, so he lost his job. He, and his wife and son got hungrier and hungrier. Finally, his wife took his son and returned to the village of her birth in Luingern to live with her parents. She told him she would not be married to a man who could not keep a job.
Thozmas was kicked out of the house he rented when he could not pay the rent, and so he went to live in the forest. But he knew nothing about living off the land and grew hungrier, and thinner and more tired as he tried to sleep in a tree each night to avoid the wild animals. It was not an easy life.
Not knowing any other God who might listen to him, he prayed to Seatia, the Goddess of hearth and home, to help him find food and somewhere warm to sleep. He walked to the next village, surviving on the scraps he begged from other travelers and drinking the water in creeks he passed along the way. Every night he prayed to Seatia.
One day, when he was certain he could walk no farther, he spotted a barn and saw a few cows in a field nearby. He stayed in the trees and watched as a figure made its way down the road on the opposite side of the field. When this stranger and the farmer spoke, the wind brought their voices to his ears.
The wanderer was only passing through and asked permission to sleep in the farmer's barn. He did not need food or blankets, just somewhere to get out of the wind. The farmer gave his permission and went back into his home. Thozmas bolted from his hiding place and ran as fast as he could into the barn. The wanderer was surprised to see him. Thozmas told him he too, needed somewhere warm to spend the night and begged him not to turn him in to the farmer.
But no sooner had the words left his mouth than the farmer returned to the barn.
Farmer Diggle was not happy and accused the Wanderer of trying to con him. The Wanderer and Thozmas both tried to convince him they did not know one another. Diggle merely grunted, turned and left the barn. Thozmas stayed as long as he could, trying to get warm. When the farmer returned a short while later, Thozmas jumped up and offered to leave, and insisted again the Wanderer was not to blame.
The farmer shook his head and said that would not be necessary. He stepped aside and waved his children forward. One of them carried two steaming bowls of soup, another child carried two wool blankets and the youngest child carried a loaf of bread.
The children gave the two men the food and blankets while Farmer Diggle told them they were both welcome to sleep in the barn. And, he said with a kind smile, if they were able to work, he had a long list of things around the farm he needed help with, and could feed them and pay them.
The Wanderer shimmered and transformed into the Goddess Seatia before everyone's eyes. The children goggled to see such a thing.
Seatia told them all that she was pleased to see such generosity for complete strangers. She told Farmer Diggle that for his kindness, he would be rewarded with cows that would never go dry, even without calves, and that his crops would be the best in all the land. Then she looked upon the children, smiled and told them to remember this day for as long as they lived. Generosity without expected payment would always mark them as good people in the eyes of the Gods. Then she turned to Thozmas and told him to always remember this day, and to demonstrate his appreciation by helping others in the future. He swore he would.
Then she shimmered into a pinprick of light and disappeared.