But one day, Esau came home from hunting, very tired and hungry. And he found Jacob cooking something over the fire. The fire was blazing, and the kettle was boiling away at a great rate, and the most appetizing odors were coming out of it, and in the kettle was a mess of pottage, which was made of lentils, and was something like peas, and something like beans, and something like chicken broth, and very nice to eat. So Esau said, “Give me some of your pottage.” But Jacob said, “I will sell it to you. Give me your birthright, and I will give you my pottage.” Then Esau said to himself, “What is the good of my birthright when I am hungry! I can’t eat it. I can’t even see it. I will not have it for years and years. But here is the pottage now.” And he said, “It is a bargain. Give me the pottage.” Then Jacob emptied the kettle into the dish, and hungry Esau, thinking no more of the birthright, sat down and ate the hot pottage with a big spoon. Then years passed and years passed, and their father Isaac became an old man. His eyes were dim, and he could not see, and he felt that his life was coming to an end. So, one morning, he called Esau and said, “Esau, I wish you would take your bow and arrows, and go out and kill a deer. I think that a taste of your venison will make me strong. And I want to be strong to-day, because I intend to give you my blessing.” So Esau took his bow and arrows, and away he went to find a deer. But Rebekah had heard what Isaac said to Esau, and when Esau, with his red head, had disappeared among the trees, she called Jacob. “Jacob,” she said, “your father is not feeling so well to-day. He thinks that he is about to die, and he means to give Esau the blessing of the birthright. Now you go out into the pasture and bring me two little goats, and kill them, and I will cook the meat of the goats so that your father will think it is the sweetest venison he ever ate, and he will give you the blessing which he has for Esau.” But Jacob said, “Father will know at once that I am not Esau, for Esau’s hands are covered with hair, but mine are smooth. He will find me out, and be very angry with me.” And Rebekah answered, “I will manage that, my son.” Then Jacob went out into the pastures, and killed two kids of the goats, and his mother cooked the meat so that it tasted like the sweetest venison. And she dressed Jacob in Esau’s best clothes, and on his neck and arms and hands she put some of the skin of the goats, and she gave him the meat and bread, and in he went to feed his father. Now Isaac was so old and sick that he lay in bed. So Jacob came into his room, and said, “Sit up, father, and taste the nice venison which I have brought you.” And Isaac said, “How have you come so soon, my son?” And Jacob answered, “God showed me a deer in the first field, and I killed it with the first arrow.”