Once, a rich merchant suffering
from hypertension, diabetes, and
obesity turned to the famous
Russian doctor Sergei
Petrovich Botkin for help.
The
merchant offered a lot of money
for healing from these ailments,
but Botkin replied that he would
undertake the treatment only on
one condition: the merchant must
walk to Odessa (a distance of
more than 2,000 km) as a
wanderer, barefoot, taking only
a knapsack with bread, without
money.
When he gets there, then
the treatment will begin. If the
merchant does not fulfill this
condition, Botkin will not treat
him.
Hearing this, the merchant was
amazed. However, since there was no other hope of getting to Botkin for healing
from fatal ailments, the merchant agreed and set off.
On the way to Odessa, he
asked for alms, stopped for the night where they would let him (usually in
villages), ate what he could get.