it was the sign theyd been waiting for ; within a moment , screaming with joy or sobbing with gratitude , the skeletal women , men and children fell upon the magical tree and its bounty like a swarm of locusts , wolfing down whole apples , devouring oranges complete with their bitter , moist peel , and swallowing apricot pits as if their stomachs were the seed-hungry earth , while others , down on all fours like grazing cattle , pulled pungent onions and blood-fleshed beets and gobbled them up still caked in soil .