The shepherd boys saw him while he was still a long way off, and they said, "Here comes { 178} the dreamer. Let us kill him and put him into some pit, and say to father, 'Some wild beast has killed him,' and then see what will become of his dreams!" They were very bad boys indeed.
They all agreed but Reuben, who was the only one who had any pity for Joseph. He really wanted to save his brother, but in order to deceive the others he said, "Do not kill him, but put him alive into some pit, in an out-off the-way place." He said this hoping to come back and rescue Joseph when the others had gone.
They finally consented; so, when Joseph came up, they took off his coat of many colors and put him into a pit. Probably they did not handle him at all gently!
Then Reuben went away and the others calmly sat down to eat their dinner. While they were eating, they looked up and saw a long caravan with camels loaded with spices and balm and myrrh going from the East down to Egypt.
Then an idea came to Judah, one of the brothers. "Let us sell Joseph," he said, "so we shall get rid of him and no guilt of his blood will be on our hands."
From an old photograph in the possession of the Springfield Public Library, and used by kind permission.
Another one of the great pyramids which rise above the level country of Egypt, monuments to the departed greatness of her rulers. Recent explorations show that the civilization of Egypt goes back more than four thousand years before the time of Christ. [End illustration]
They drew Joseph, who must have been well frightened by this time, out of the pit, and sold him to the traders for twenty pieces of silver.
When Reuben came back he was very much distressed, but he did not dare to tell his father the truth. They agreed to dip Joseph's coat of many colors in blood and say that a wild beast had eaten him. Then they went home and pretended to be very sorry and told their poor old father this lie which they had made up. The father believed it because they showed him the coat of many colors which they had dipped in blood. Jacob was very sad and mourned a long time for his boy.
The traders carried Joseph to Egypt and sold him as a slave. He was treated badly and at last put into prison. While he was there the Pharaoh, the king of the country, had a dream. He dreamed that he saw seven fat oxen come up out of a river and feed in a meadow. Then seven lean and hungry oxen came out of the river and ate up the fat oxen. Then he saw seven fine full ears of corn on one stalk, but there grew also seven poor thin ears, which destroyed the good ears.