Legends of Old Testament characters, from the Talmud and other sourcesBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Religion
Legends of Old Testament characters, from the Talmud and other sources
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Bible. Old Testament -- Legends; Jewish legends
Now one of the neighbours had seen all that took place, for she was
sick, and had not attended the feast, so the whole affair was soon a
matter of gossip throughout the town. Then Zuleika invited all the
ladies who had blamed her to a great feast in her house; and towards the
close of the banquet, when the fruit and wine were brought in, an orange
and a knife were placed before each lady; and at the same moment Joseph
was brought into the room. The ladies, in their astonishment, cut their
fingers in mistake for the oranges, for their eyes were fixed upon him,
and they were amazed at his beauty; and the table was deluged with
blood.
“This,” said Zuleika, “is the youth on whose account you blame me. It is
true that I loved him, but his virtue has opposed me; and now love is
turned to hate, and I shall cast him into prison.”[417]
She was as good as her word, and thus it fell out that Joseph was placed
in the king’s prison. But God would not suffer the innocent to be
punished. He illumined his cell with a celestial light, made a fountain
spring up in the midst of it, and a fruit-bearing tree to grow before
the door.[418]
Joseph was five years in prison, and then the King of the Greeks, who
was warring against Egypt, sent an ambassador to Rajjan desiring peace.
But his true purpose was to throw him off his guard, that he might with
treachery destroy him. The ambassador sought the advice of an old Greek
woman who had long lived in Egypt. She said, “I know of only one way of
accomplishing what you desire, and that is to bribe the butler or the
baker of the king to poison him; but it would be better to put the drug
in the wine than in the bread.”
The ambassador then bribed the chief baker with much gold, and he
promised to put poison in Pharaoh’s meat. After that he told the old
woman that one of the two she had named to him had been persuaded to
destroy the king.
Then the ambassador returned, and when he was gone, the woman disclosed
all to Pharaoh, and she said, “Either the butler or the baker has taken
a bribe to poison thee, O king.” Thereupon the king cast both into
prison, till it should be made manifest which was guilty. Now the name
of the baker was Mohlib, and that of the butler was Kamra.
After they had been in prison some time, they had dreams; and they told
their dreams to Joseph.
The chief butler said, “I saw in my dream, and, behold, a vine was
before me. And in the vine were three branches; and as it sprouted it
brought forth buds, and immediately they ripened into clusters, and
became grapes. And I saw till they gave the cup of Pharaoh into my hand,
and I took the grapes and squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and I gave
the cup into Pharaoh’s hand.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account