Answer:
What happened ? What did these events mean to the main character?
They will get thirsty and wither away
"A good man's prayers are golden recompense!" would be a metaphor.
The answer is allusion. It is a literary device that employs an indirect reference of something, it could a place, an animal, or a person that is significant to any field - history, culture, philosophy, literature, etc.
Something that is arguable is opinions in general because people have different point of view.