went to the shrine wherein stood all the golden and silver images of
her gods, and took them and threw them out of the window for the
wayfarers to pick up; and she took the supper that had been laid out
for her of all manner of delicate meats, and threw that into the
highway for the dogs to eat. And she emptied the ashes out of the
leather curtain upon the floor; she let down her hair and cast some
of the ashes upon her head; she smote her breast and wept; and thus
she sat in silence and misery till seven days and nights were
accomplished.

And on the morning of the eighth day, when it was just dawning, and
the birds had begun to twitter in the trees of the garden, and the
dogs to bark at the passers-by, Aseneth raised herself a little from
her crouching posture among the ashes and turned herself to the
window that looked towards the east. She was faint and ill and weary
from her long fasting and watching; her tongue was dry as horn, her
eyes were glazed, and her fair face was haggard. She bent her head
down and clasped her hands together, and crouched down again among
the ashes, and said to herself, "It is all over. I have no one to
turn to now. My father and mother will cast me off, for I have
dishonoured their gods; they will say, 'Aseneth is no daughter of
ours.' My kindred will hate me, and all the youths whom I have
despised and rejected will rejoice at my humiliation; and Joseph
will have nothing to say to me because I am a foul worshipper of
idols. Yet," she went on to say, "I have heard that the God of the
Hebrews is a merciful God, long-suffering and compassionate, not hard
upon those that have sinned ignorantly, if they are sorry for what
they have done. Why should I not turn to Him? Who knows if He will
not have pity upon my loneliness and protect me? For they say He is
the Father of the fatherless, and cares for those who are in