IV + 

That night he dreamt about the beggar who sold matches, and about the child without eyes. And in his dream he thought that they looked different; curiously different, for although they were beggars, there was something noble about them. The face of the child was serene in its suffering, and wise⁠—oh, intensely wise; and the face of his mother was no longer as it had been; now it seemed to Gian-Luca to be full of high courage, a steadfast, enduring face. + 

She said: “This is my little son, Gian-Luca, who must bear so much for the world. Will you not see for my little son who must bear the blindness of the world?” + 

Then Gian-Luca wept afresh, in his sleep, for the eyes that were not there to weep. And hearing him, Maddalena woke him: + 

“You are dreaming, Gian-Luca⁠—wake up, amore, and tell me what you have been dreaming.” + 

He tried to tell her but somehow he could not⁠—he could not remember his dream. + 

“There, there,” she soothed, “it is all right, piccino.” And as though he himself were a child, she rocked him till he fell asleep again in her arms. + 