THE DEATH AND BURIAL OF SARAH

While Abraham was engaged in the sacrifice, Satan went to Sarah,
and appeared to her in the figure of an old man, very humble and
meek, and said to her: "Dost thou not know all that Abraham has
done unto thine only son this day? He took Isaac, and built an
altar, slaughtered him, and brought him up as a sacrifice. Isaac
cried and wept before his father, but he looked not at him,
neither did he have compassion upon him." After saying these
words to Sarah, Satan went away from her, and she thought him to
be an old man from amongst the sons of men who had been with her
son. Sarah lifted up her voice, and cried bitterly, saying: "O my
son, Isaac, my son, O that I had this day died instead of thee I
It grieves me for thee! After that I have reared thee and have
brought thee up, my joy is turned into mourning over thee. In my