Page:Jewish Fairy Book (Gerald Friedlander).djvu/160



HE Holy One gathered the dust for the creation of the first man from the four corners of the earth. The Spirit of Life asked God why did He do this. The Holy One replied: &quot;If a man should chance to come from the East to the West, or from the West to the East or to any place on the face of the earth, and his time comes to depart from this world, then the dust of the earth which is in that place where he dies shall not say to him: The dust of thy body is not mine. Thou wast not born here in this land. Return to the place whence thy dust was gathered at thy birth.' It is for this reason that I have taken the dust to form man from the four corners of the earth. Every place on earth is man's home. Wheresoever he happens to be when he dies there is the resting-place for the dust of his body and there it returns to Mother-Earth.&quot; The Spirit of Life praised the Lord whose mercies are over all His works.

Chapters of Rabbi Eliezer, xi.