Page:Folk-lore of the Holy Land.djvu/89

Rh omen that, whereas on all former occasions he was accompanied to the entrance of the Holy of Holies on the solemn yearly fast-day by an angel in the form of an aged man clad in white from head to foot, this year his mysterious companion was clothed in black, and followed him as he went in and came out. His teaching may be judged of by the saying ascribed to him: “There are three foundations of the universe—the Law, Worship, and Almsgiving.”

He greatly disliked receiving the ascetic dedication of the Nazarites. On one occasion, however, he made an exception. A tall, handsome youth of splendid bearing, with beautiful eyes and long locks of hair falling in magnificent clusters on his shoulders, arrived one day from a place in the south of Palestine and presented himself before the high priest as anxious to take the vows. “Why?” inquired Simon. “Would you shave off that glorious growth of hair?” The young man replied: “I was keeping my father’s flocks, when, one day, whilst drawing water from a well, I beheld, with vainglorious feelings, the reflection of my own image in the water, and was, in consequence, tempted to give way to a sinful inclination and be lost. I said to myself, ‘Thou wicked one! wilt thou be proud of that which does not belong to thee, who art but worms and dust? O God, I will cut off these locks for the glory of heaven.’” On that, Simon embraced the youth, exclaiming, “Would there were many such Nazarites in Israel!”

With such a record of his life, it is no wonder that