JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN
Atha. [With increasing violence] Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our land!
Dedefre. Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be the servants unto the Pharaoh!
Sebni. Give us seed, that we may live and not die!
Atha. That the land be not desolate!
Tehuti. Lo! We will sell our ancient freedom for food, so that our little ones may live.
Joseph [Gravely] It shall be as you say. Yourselves and your lands ye shall bind to Pharaoh, and food shall be given you, and seed to sow your land. Go within. Let each man write out his account.
Tehuti. My lord is very merciful!
Sebni. He holdeth us in the hollow of his hand!
Atha. What care I? Shall I see my children starve?
Joseph. Well, Simeon, my—guest—what thinkest thou of what thou seest in Egypt?
Simeon [With sincere admiration] I thought I was a hard man at bartering, but in thy presence!
Joseph. I grieve to hear thy search for thy brother hath been fruitless.
Simeon [Startled] How knewest thou?
Joseph [Smiling] Am I not the Revealer of Secrets? [Blandly] How was thy brother lost?
Simeon [Sullenly] If my lord knoweth all things, he knoweth that also.
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