"And I fell asleep again, and dreamed again. In my second dream, I saw seven heads of grain growing upon one stalk, large, and strong, and good. And then seven heads came up after them, that were thin, and poor, and withered. And the seven thin heads swallowed up the seven good heads, and afterward were as poor and withered as before.

"And I told these two dreams to all the wise men, and there is no one who can tell me their meaning. Can you tell me what these dreams mean?"

And Jo'şeph said to the king:

"The two dreams have the same meaning. God has been showing to King Phā'raōh what he will do in this land. The seven good cows mean seven years, and the seven good heads of grain mean the same seven years. The seven lean cows, and the seven thin heads of grain also mean seven years. The good cows and the good grain mean seven years of plenty, and the seven thin cows and thin heads of grain mean seven poor years. There are coming upon the land of Egypt seven years of such plenty as have never been seen; when the fields shall bring greater crops than ever before; and after those years shall come seven years when the fields shall bring no crops at all. And then for seven years there shall be such need, that the years of plenty will be forgotten, for the people will have nothing to eat.

"Now, let King Phā'raōh find some man who is able and wise, and let him set this man to rule over the land. And during the seven years of plenty, let a part of the crops be put away for the years of need. If this shall be done, then when the years of need come there will be plenty of food for all the people, and no one will suffer, for all will have enough."

And King Pha'raōh said to Jo'şeph:

"Since God has shown you all this; there is no other man as wise as you. I will appoint you to do this work, and to rule over the land of Egypt. All the people shall be under you; only on the throne of E'gypt, I will be above you."

And Pha'raoh took from his own hand the ring which held his seal, and put it on Jo'şeph's hand, so that he could sign for the king, and seal in the king's place. And he dressed Jō'şeph in robes of fine linen, and put around his neck a gold chain. And he made Jo'şeph ride in a chariot which was next in rank to his

own. And they cried out before Jō'şeph, "Bow the knee." And thus Jō'şeph was ruler over all the land of E'gypt.

So the slave boy, who was sent to prison without deserving it, came out of prison to be a prince and a master over all the land. You see that God had not forgotten Jo'şeph, even when he seemed to have left him to suffer.

Story Seventeen

HOW JOSEPH'S DREAM CAME TRUE
Genesis xli 46, to xlii: 38.

HEN Jō'şeph was made ruler over the land of Egypt, he did just as he had always done. It was not Jō'şeph's way to sit down and rest, and enjoy himself, and make others wait on him. He found his work at once, and began to do it faithfully and thoroughly. He went out over all the land of E'gypt, and saw how rich and abundant were the fields of grain, giving much more than the people could use for their own needs. He told the people not to waste it, but to save it for the coming time of need.

And he called upon the people to give him for the king, one bushel of grain out of every five, to be stored up. The people brought their grain, after taking for themselves as much as they needed; and Jō'şeph stored it up in great store-houses in the cities; so much at last that no one could keep account of it.

The king of Egypt gave a wife to Jō'şeph from the noble young women of his kingdom. Her name was As'e-năth; and to Jo'şeph and his wife God gave two sons. The oldest son he named Manǎs'seh, a word which means "making to forget."

The Seven Years of Need

103

"For," said Jo'şeph, "God has made me forget all my troubles, and my toil as a slave."

The second son he named E'phră-im, a word that means "fruitful."

"Because," said Jo'şeph, "God has not only made the land fruitful, but he has made me fruitful in the land of my troubles."

The seven years of plenty soon passed by, and then came the years of need. In all the lands around people were hungry, and there was no food for them to eat; but in the land of E'gypt everybody had enough. Most of the people soon used up the grain that they had

saved: many had

saved none at all, and they all cried to the king to help them.

"Go to Jo'

şeph," said King Pha'raōh," and do whatever he tells

you to do."

Then the people came to Jō'şeph, and Jō'şeph opened the storehouses, and sold to the people all the grain that

they wished to buy.

And not only the people of E'gypt came to buy grain, but people of all the lands around as well, for there was great need and famine everywhere.

And the need was as great in the land of Ca'năan, where Ja'cob lived, as in other lands. Ja'cob was rich in flocks and cattle, and gold and silver; but his fields gave no grain, and there was danger that his family and his people would starve. And Ja'cob,-who was now called Iş'ra-el also,-heard that there was food in E'gypt, and he said to his sons:

"Why do you look at each other, asking what to do to find food? I have been told that there is grain in Egypt. Go down

to that land, and take money with you, and buy grain, so that we may have bread, and may live."

Then the ten older brothers of Jo'şeph went down to the land of Egypt. They rode upon asses, for horses were not much used in those times, and they brought money with them. But Ja'cob would not let Ben'ja-min, Jo'şeph's younger brother, go with them, for he was all the more dear to his father, now that Jo'şeph was no longer with him; and Ja'cob feared that harm might come to him.

Then Jo'seph's brothers came to Jo'şeph to buy food. They did not know him, grown up to be a man, dressed as a prince, and seated on a throne. Jo'şeph was now nearly forty years old, and it had been almost twenty-three years since they had sold him. But Jo'şeph knew them all, as soon as he saw them. He resolved to be sharp and stern with them, not because he hated them, but because he wished to see what their spirit was, and whether they were as selfish, and cruel, and wicked as they had been in other days.

They came before him, and bowed, with their faces to the ground. Then, no doubt, Jo'şeph thought of the dream that had come to him while he was a boy, of his brothers' sheaves bending down around his sheaf. He spoke to them as a stranger, as if he did not understand their language, and he had their words explained to him in the language of E'gypt.

"Who are you? And from what place do you come?" said Jō'şeph, in a harsh, stern manner.

They answered him, very meekly, "We have come from the land of Ca'nǎan to buy food."

"No," said Jo'şeph, “I know what you have come for. You have come as spies, to see how helpless the land is, so that you can bring an army against us, and make war on us."

"No, no," said Jo'şeph's ten brothers, "we are no spies, we are the sons of one man, who lives in the land of Ca'nǎan; and we have come for food, because we have none at home."

"You say you are the sons of one man, who is your father? Is he living? Have you any more brothers? Tell me all about yourselves."

And they said, "Our father is an old man in Ca'năan. We did have a younger brother, but he was lost; and we have one