In a time of war a troop of soldiers came to a village. They asked for a guide to show them the way through the territory. A poor day-worker agreed to be their guide. As the weather was very cold, he tried to borrow a cloak. But all the villagers, one after another, refused to lend him one. At last an old man came forward. He had been driven out of house and home by the war, and now earned a small income by working on a nearby farm. This poor man, with barely enough to survive the bitter winter agreed to lend the guide his old cloak.

That same evening a dashing officer, who had earned many medals of honor, arrived in the village and asked for the old man who had lent his cloak to the guide. The old man was called for. How delighted he was when he saw the officer. It was his own son!

For a long time he had heard nothing from his son, for the young man did not know where his father was living. That morning he had heard of his father in an unusual way: he had recognized the old cloak that his father used to wear. By questioning the guide, he learned where his father was to be found.

Both father and son wept tears of joy as they embraced. The bystanders who witnessed their reunion said that because the old man performed that act of kindness, God rewarded him by bringing his son back to him. The officer gave money to his father and promised to provide for him from that time forth.