st thou that I, thy mother
and thy brethren, shall worship thee upon the earth? His brethren had
great envy hereat.

The father thought and considered a thing secretly in himself. On a time
when his brethren kept their flocks of sheep in Shechem, Israel said to
Joseph: Thy brethren feed their sheep in Shechem, come and I shall send
thee to them, which answered: I am ready, and he said: Go and see if all
things be well and prosperous at thy brethren and beasts, and come again
and tell me what they do. He went from the vale of Hebron and came unto
Shechem. There a man found him erring in the field, and asked him what
he sought, and he answered: I seek my brethren, tell me where they feed
their flocks. The man said to him: They been departed from this place, I
heard them say Let us go in to Dothan. Which then when his brethren saw
him come from far, tofore he approached to them they thought to slay
him, and spake together saying: Lo! see the dreamer cometh. Come and let
us slay him and put him into this old cistern. And we shall say that
some wild evil beast hath devoured him, and then shall appear what his
dreams shall profit him. Reuben hearing this, thought for to deliver him
from their hands, and said: Let us not slay him ne shed his blood, but
keep your hands undefouled. This he said, willing to keep him from their
hands and render him again to his father. Anon then as he came they
took off his motley coat, and set him into an old cistern that had no
water. As they sat for to eat bread they saw Ishmaelites coming from
Gilead, and their camels bringing spices and raisins into Egypt. Then
said Judah to his brethren: What should it profit us if we slew our
brother and shed his blood? It is better that he be sold to Ishmaelites
and our hands be not defouled, he is our own brother and our flesh. His
brethren agreed to his words, and drew him out of the cistern, and sold
him to the Midianitish merchants passing forth by to Ishmaelites for
thirty pieces of silver, which led him into Egypt. At this time when he
was sold Reuben was not there, but was in another field with his beasts.
And when he returned and came unto the cistern and found not Joseph, he
tare his clothes for sorrow, and came to his brethren and said: The
child is not yonder, whither shall I go to seek him? He had supposed his
brethren had slain him in his absence. They told him what they had done,
and took his coat, and besprinkled it with the blood of a kid wh