active.”[1] He begged for three days’ grace in which to find a person willing to undertake so desperate an adventure. On the third day a Jew volunteered for the task, in hopes to save the community. Having purified his soul and body he was lowered into the vault in the presence of all the leading Moslems of the city. Almost immediately he asked to be drawn up again, and appeared alive and well, with the dagger in his hand. On reaching the ground he had found himself face to face with a noble-looking old man, clad in robes like shining lead, who had handed him the dagger the instant his feet touched earth and, with a gesture, bidden him be gone.
An old Jewess, a widow, pious and industrious, used
to wash for one of the sheykhs of En Nebi Daûd.
One day, when she had brought some clean clothes
to his house, he offered to show her the sepulchre of
David, and she followed him in great delight. Opening the door of a room, he made her enter, and then,
locking the door, went straight to the kadi and told
him that a Jewess had slipped into the sanctuary,
left open for a few minutes for the sake of ventilation,
and he, discovering the sacrilege, had locked her in
that she might be punished formally, for a public
example.
- ↑ In the special prayer for the monthly blessing of the moon, these words occur: “David Melekh Israel khai va kayam” (David, King of Israel, is alive and active).
