But Isaac was not satisfied. He sat up in bed and said, “Come near, my son, and let me feel you, that I may know whether you are truly my son Esau or not.” And Jacob went near and his father felt him, and the clothes were Esau’s clothes and his hands and neck were rough and hairy like Esau’s. And Isaac said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” And he asked again, “Are you my son Esau?” And Jacob lied again, and said, “I am.” And Isaac said, “Bring me, then, the meat that I may eat it.” And when he had eaten he said, “Come near now and kiss me, my son.” And Jacob kissed him. And Isaac gave Jacob his best blessing, the blessing of the birthright. And Jacob went away. Now Jacob had hardly gone out of the room, when Esau came. “Here I am, father,” he cried, “back from the hunting, and here is the meat which I have cooked just as you always like it. Come, eat it, and bless me.” And Isaac said, “Who are you?” [Illustration: THE BLESSING OF THE SECOND SON] And he answered, “I am your son, your eldest son, Esau.” And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, “Who came, then, in your place? Who brought venison and I ate it, and gave him your blessing?” Then Esau cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, “Bless me, even me also, O my father!” And Isaac said, “It was your brother, Jacob. He lied to me, and stole your blessing. But I have blessed him, and I cannot change it. I have made him the head of the family after my death.” And Esau said to his father, “Have you but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father!” And Esau cried aloud. Then Isaac blessed Esau also, but he could not give him so good a blessing as he had given Jacob. Now Rebekah had been thinking for a good while that it would be well for Jacob to visit his cousins, who lived in the old country, beyond the rivers. For there was a family in the neighborhood named Heth, whom Isaac and Rebekah did not like, and they had a number of daughters, and Jacob used to go to see them. It troubled Rebekah greatly, and more than once she had said to Isaac, “Those Heth girls worry me almost to death. How dreadful it would be if Jacob should marry one of them!” And Isaac had said, “Let him go and see his cousins. A change will do him good.” So now, when Jacob’s behavior had displeased his father and made his brother so angry with him that he threatened to kill him, Rebekah felt that the time had come. She packed up Jacob’s things, and sent him off for a long visit at his Uncle Laban’s. VI JACOB’S VISIT So Jacob mounted a camel, and away he went. And when the sun began to set, he looked about him, and he was in a wild country where nobody lived, and where the only roof in sight was the round roof of the sky. So he lay down on the hard ground and put a smooth stone under his head for a pillow, and went to sleep, for he was tired. And in the night he dreamed a dream.