Summary

The story then moves ahead several years. Ernest is now a young man. He is generally seen as quiet and unremarkable, except for his tendency to spend much of his free time looking at and contemplating the Great Stone Face. Ernest is described as hard-working and kind. The Great Stone Face becomes a kind of teacher to Ernest, encouraging him to practice kindness, patience, and sympathy. Ernest himself is unaware that he possesses these virtues in greater depth than many other people. Ernest continues to wait for the fulfillment of the prophecy. Gathergold is dead by this time. He lost all of his wealth by the time he died, and when his money was gone, people agreed that he in fact did not look like the Great Stone Face. They stopped honoring him and soon forgot him. The story then describes a man who...