ours--a long tunic with stripes of red, green, blue, and
yellow, having a coloured fringe at the knee, and a bright shawl to
bind it closely round his waist. Joseph was very proud of this coat,
but the others hated both it and him, believing that he would get the
best of everything from their father--all but Reuben, the eldest, who
loved the lad, and smiled kindly when he saw his gay tunic.

One day at the harvest-time the sons of Jacob were all at home, cutting
down the yellow grain, and taking it away on the backs of asses to the
threshing-place. Joseph, of course, worked with them, but they were
always finding fault with him, and trying to vex him. He knew,
however, that his father loved him, and this made him able to bear
their unkindness with patience. Besides, his mind was filled with
boyish thoughts of how great he would be, and what he would do, when he
grew up to be a man. He was very strong for his years, and joined with
the women in tying the grain into bundles, and loading it on the asses;
and it was very hard work, indeed, out there in the scorching Eastern
sun.

But rest came at night. When Joseph lay down with his little brother
on a heap of straw at the back of the tent, he slept soundly, and
dreamt the golden dreams of youth.

He dreamt one night that they were all binding sheaves once more out in
the sunny field, and his brothers' sheaves rose up and bowed down to
his sheaf. Joseph took it all in earnest, and next day he told the
dream to his brothers, perhaps as they were sitting at their midday
meal in the shade of a spreading tree; but he soon knew from their
angry faces that they saw nothing pleasant in it, and when his story
was told they called out to him,--

"Shalt _thou_, indeed, reign over _us_?"

They were jealous of him, and, of course, this did not make them any
kinder to the young lad. But Joseph remembered what his father had
told him--that dreams were sometimes messages from God; and he believed
that his dream was a message, and that he would one day be greater than
all his brothers. They also believed in dreams, and feared that what
the boy had dreamt might come true, so that they began to hate him all
the more.

In those days people thought that the stars had a great deal to do with
their lives; and certain men said that they could tell what would
happen to a new-born child when he grew up by looking at the stars
which were to be seen in the sky at the time of his birth