Miguk, the Holy Man

Book excerpt: Miguk, the Holy Man, retires on the small Pacific island of Nevahachi. People are amused when he rails against (unwanted) Western encroachments and the (haphazard) industrialization of the island. Yet when he trades his life for a hostage (the woman he loves), during an aborted robbery, and then induces his captor to give himself up, the island begins to believe he is somehow graced. He later saves the people from a curse that has hung over the island for many years. He appears even to cure a woman of her illness. His untimely death is turned into a miracle. His hand appears to rise in benediction, as if blessing the island - and an industrial project that he once opposed.