Page:Joseph and His Brethren A Pageant Play.djvu/187

[All the enclosure at the back is removed. The gardens are full of an excited throng. Through the crowd comes a procession of Canaanites, Men, Women and Children, with, in their midst, Jacob, borne on a litter high on the shoulders of the eight bearers]

[Joseph awaits the entrance of the litter, with Manasseh on his left hand and Ephrain on his right hand. Asenath stands a little behind, all with their backs to the audience]

[The Brethren, at the sight of Jacob, have cried: "Jacob! Our father! Israel!" and have made room for Joseph and his group to stand alone]

[The litter is set down, and is so built that when it is on the ground Jacob is very nearly upright]

[The Crowd formed a great semi-circle round the central group]

Joseph. Great Israel! Behold thy son! [He rushes to his father's arms]

Jacob. Now let me die, since I have seen thy face! [He rises, with his outstretched arms, inspired] Joseph is a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall; the archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and persecuted him; but his bough abode in strength and the arms of his hands were made strong, by the Hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee, and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that coucheth beneath, blessings of the breast and of the womb. The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting