Where four roads met at the foot of a great hill, four travellers stopped one evening to share a fire.

The first traveller polished a little brass lamp until it shone. "I am going up the eastern road," she said, "to the temple of the bright gods — Indra of the rains, Agni of the fire, Vayu of the wind. All my life I have made my offerings to them. Tonight they have called me home." And in the morning she took the eastern road, and it led her, step by step, to the high bright halls of the gods, where the lamps never go out.

The second traveller carried a small bundle of rice and sesame. "I am for the southern road," he said quietly, "to the land of the grandfathers. I have remembered my mothers and fathers every season, set out food for them, spoken their names. They are waiting for me." And the southern road carried him gently down to the resting place of the ancestors.

The third traveller wore charms tied at his wrist. "The western road is mine," he said. "I have prayed to the spirits of the river and the grove and the crossroads. They will give me what they have to give." And the western road wound off among the shadowy trees, and he followed it to the dim, flickering world of the spirits.

The fourth traveller carried nothing at all. The others looked at her, puzzled.

"Where is your offering?" they asked. "Which road is yours?"

She smiled and pressed her open hand to her heart. "My offering is here," she said. "I gave it long ago, all of it, to the One who holds the gods and the grandfathers and the spirits and the four roads and the hill itself. I have nothing left to carry, because I have given everything to Him."

"But which road leads to Him?" they asked.

"Every road," she said softly, "for the one whose whole heart is His. I do not have to climb or descend or wander. I have only to walk, and He is already at the end."

In the morning the four travellers parted, each taking the road their love had chosen. Three roads climbed and curved and dipped toward their separate homes. And the fourth traveller stepped onto her road and walked straight, light-footed and unafraid, into the arms of the Lord.