Page:Hebrew tales; selected and translated from the writings of the ancient Hebrew sages (1917).djvu/85

men, being concealed in a cave, and their scanty stock of provision being exhausted, one said to the other, 'Go forth, and see whether thou canst find anything to support life.' The man went and found the murdered body of his father. After bedewing it with tears, and lamenting his own hard fate, he interred it, and placed a sign on the grave. He then went in search of food, but finding none, he returned to his hiding-place. His companion seeing him come home empty-handed, said, 'Now let me go; perhaps I may be more fortunate.' He went, and wandered about for some time. At last he came to the spot where his companion had been before, and where he had buried his father. The man perceiving a grave, opened it, and took out the dead body, carried it home, dressed it, ate part of it, and gave some to his companion, who, almost perishing with hunger, greedily devoured it. Having satisfied the immediate cravings of nature, he inquired of his companion where he got the body. 'In such and such a place,' answered the latter; describing the sign he found on the grave. The man perceived too late that it was the body of his parent. He rent his garments, tore the hair of his head, and in a fit of despair, cried out, 'Miserable and detested wretch that I am, I have fed on the mangled limbs of my own father!'"

Ekah Rabbati, ch. I, to Lamentations I, 16.