Jewish Fairy Tales and Legends, by Aunt Naomi (pseud. Gertrude
Landa), , at sacred-texts.com Click to enlarge The gates opened
from within and the Arab stood before them. (P.185). Ibrahim,
the most learned and pious man of the city, whom everybody held
in esteem, fell on troubled days. To none did he speak of his
sufferings, for he was proud and would have been compelled to
refuse the help which he knew would have been offered to him.
His noble wife and five faithful sons suffered in silence, but
Ibrahim was sorely troubled when he saw their clothes wearing
away to rags and their bodies wasting with hunger. One day
Ibrahim was seated in front of the Holy Book, but he saw not the
words on its pages. His eyes were dimmed with tears and his
thoughts were far away. He was day-dreaming of a region where
hunger and thirst and lack of clothes and shelter were unknown.
He sighed heavily and his wife heard. "My dear husband," she
said to him gently, "we are starving. You must go forth to seek
work for the sake of our