This article analyses a passage in The Foundation Book of the Henryków Monastery which refers to the acquisition of the village Rączyce by the Henryków monks. It is both a realistic account of the sequence of events which led to the incorporation of Rączyce into the Cistercian estates as well as a moral allegory illustrating the beneficial effects of an act of hospitality extended to a rather disagreeable stranger. Yet in reality the events that result in the monastery getting rid of its unruly neighbours and taking over their estates are caused by God. God, we are told by the chronicler, watches all the time over human affairs and intervenes on behalf of the monks.