A brother came to an elder and said: „Father, I wish to go to the Holy Places. Here I cannot find peace.”

The elder asked: „And the one you are fleeing from, will you leave him in the cell?”

„How could I leave him, Father?”

„Then you will travel as two, and the second one pays no fare. He eats from your bag, sleeps in your cell, and complains about the road louder than you.”

The brother went anyway. After a year he returned, sunburnt, and said: „Father, I saw Jerusalem, the Jordan and Mount Sinai. But he came with me the whole way.”

The elder smiled: „Good. At least now you know him better, since you made the journey together. And now, if you like, sit down. The longest road is walked in a cell, and there you do not even need shoes.”