Page:Traditions of Palestine (microform) (IA traditionsofpale00martrich).pdf/142

 precipice of five hundred feet to the valley below. From the windows of the priests’ apartments some looked forth; but they shrank back when they met the glance of Paltiel.

When the girdle which bound him was unloosed, he leaped upon the battlement, and cast one look down the precipice. He turned to the people, and spread his arms over them as the High Priest when he gives the blessing, and, in an instant, lay asleep on the turf of the valley.

In the stillness of noon a voice mingled with the murmurs of Kedron, sighing forth,

“Alas! for the brethren! Alas! for the widow and the fatherless! Alas! for me; for thou art dead, my brother Paltiel!”

When the evening star had risen, the funeral chaunt of the Nazarenes was heard among the tombs of Bethany.