JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN
as he enters, is accompanied by his own Retinue of three or four Men]
Gad. Yet 'tis a day of rejoicing!
Judah. What day is it, Gad?
Gad [Laughing] Nay, if thou know not, I'll not tell thee.
Judah. [Angrily] Wilt thou mock thine elders, boy?
Gad. Oh, my elders, my elders! What worth is thine elderhood? When thou art hidden in the grave I shall be in the flower of my days.
Judah. [Furious] Accursed seed of a handmaid
Gad [Laughing] Let not Dan hear thee.
Judah. The tents of Shechem are overrun with a base-born brood!
Simeon. Whither lead ye your flocks today?
Dan. What matter to thee, Simeon?
Simeon. Lest we all seek the same pasture.
Dan. Or to tell thee where the best is.
Gad. Whether we seek toward sunrise or sunset, Simeon's flocks have left no blade.
Naphthali. To that I, Naphtali, bear witness. Simeon is as the grasshopper; who cometh after him starveth.
Issachar. He setteth his spies among us—when we hear of new pasture, he is told, and stealeth it.
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