Black and White Illustrations of Scenes From Some of My Favorite Books and Stories

Gather 'round, boys and girls!  It's time for another edition of Black and White Illustrations of Scenes From Some of My Favorite Books and Stories!

...so I read this pretty good story but I can't remember what it was called or who wrote it.  I know it was kind of a longish-short story in an anthology of really old stories about love (or truth, maybe..?) and I know it had a lot of (literally) fantastic scenes, but the title and author... I can't recall.  So if any of you can come up with the name of the story and/or the author, you'll receive a Super Amazing Creek Prize!*

Okay, so my favorite scene from the story is this part where a bunch of friends are in a boat on a lake and the wind is picking up and the water is rough and they look out and see a ghost walking on top of the water...

...except that it's not really a ghost at all.  It's their other friend...

..and their other friend is a guy who keeps surprising them, not just by doing strange things (like walking on top of a lake, for example), but by making profound, authoritative statements about the nature of life.

So, again, if any of you want that Super Amazing Creek Prize**, help me out and find out who wrote the story and what the story is called.

Cheers.

*a high-five is the "amazing" prize.  Sorry, but with all of the budget cuts and layoffs here at the Creekification Blog, it's the best we can do.

**seriously, it's just a high-five.  And it might be hard to claim your prize because Creek is six and a half feet tall and you might not be able to reach his hand.