kindness of strangers

Reader's Digestに "kindness of strangers" のコラムがありますが、芭蕉の奥の細道（translated by Dorothy Britton）に出た来たエピソードはまさにReader's Digestに投稿したくなる話です。
We came upon a horse grazing. Nearby, a man was cutting grass and we inquired the way. Although he was a country fellow, he was not lacking in kindness.
"Dear me!" he said, concerned. "This moor be all a tangle of paths, and a stranger could easily go astray. Take my horse and when he will go no father, send him back."
...
Before long we reached a small hamlet of a few dwellings, and so, tying some money to the saddle, we let the horse find his own way back.
江戸時代の田舎のお百姓さんには本当に親切な人がいたのですね。