“Master, aren’t you going to reward this man? He is poor but yet has treated us most hospitably.”
Lord Jesus answered Peter:
“The reward of this world is an empty reward. I was thinking to prepare him a place in heaven. However, I will grant him something now.”
Then he turned to the blacksmith and said:
“Ask what you will. Make three wishes and they will be fulfilled.”
The blacksmith was overjoyed. For his first wish he said:
“I should like to live for a hundred years and always be as strong and healthy as I am this moment.”
Lord Jesus said:
“Very well, that will be granted you. What is your second wish?”
The blacksmith thought for a moment. Then he said:
“I wish that I may prosper in this world and always have as much as I need. May work in my shop always be as plentiful as it is today.”
“This, too, will be granted you,” Lord Jesus said. “Now for your third wish.”
Our blacksmith thought and thought, unable at first to decide on a third wish. At last he said:
