I
There was once a great man named Potipherah, who was high priest of
the city of On in Egypt; and he and his wife had no children. One day
he went into the temple to offer sacrifice, as was his custom. He went
alone, and when he entered the great courtyard of the temple, in the
middle of which stood the altar, he was astonished to see a little
child lying upon the altar. Without waiting to offer his sacrifice, he
hurried back to his wife. "What is the matter," said she, "that you
come back so hastily?" "I have seen a wonderful thing," he said; "the
gods have given us a child. The gates of the temple were locked, so
that no one could get into the court; yet there is a child there, lying
on the altar!" "What say you?" said his wife; "what can be the meaning
of it?" So they both hastened to the temple, and when Potipherah
opened the door of the courtyard, they saw, partly at least, how the
wonder had happened; for now there was an eagle perched upon the altar
with its wings spread out over the child--it was a little girl, quite
newly born--to protect it. They guessed that it was the eagle that had
brought the child, but, of course, they could not tell whose it was.
It was wrapped in swaddling-clothes, and these Potipherah's wife kept
carefully by her; for she thought the time might come when they might
be recognised by the parents of the little child; and indeed, years
afterwards, this proved to be the case.
In the meantime Potipherah and his wife kept the child and brought her
up, and treated her as their daughter; and they called her Aseneth.
She grew up to be very beautiful; she was quite unlike an Egyptian
girl, and might have been taken for a Hebrew maiden: tall as Sarah
and lovely as Rebekah or Rachel; so beautiful, in fact, that all the
sons of the princes and nobles of Egypt were in love with her, and
even the son of King Pharaoh himself said to his father, "Give me
Aseneth, the daughter of Potipherah, to wife." But Pharaoh said,
"Nay, my son, she is not of your rank; you must marry a queen;
remember, the daughter of the King of Moab is affianced to you."
But besides being very beautiful, Aseneth was exceedingly proud.
There was not a man of all the young nobles whom she would hear of,
much less look at. Indeed, hardly any man in Egypt except her own
father had ever seen her face; for she lived apart with the maidens
who waited on her, in a lofty tower which her father had built
specially for her. It was really a noble palace, with ten great
rooms, one over the other. The first room was paved with porphyry and
lined with slabs of coloured marbles, and the roof was of gold: and
it was a kind of chapel for Aseneth. It had golden and silver images
of all the gods of Egypt, and Aseneth worshipped them and burnt
incense to them every day. The second chamber was Aseneth's own. In
it were all her jewels and rich robes and fine linen. In the third
were stored the provisions of the house and every delicious fruit or
sweetmeat that could be got from any part of the world. The other
seven chambers belonged to the seven maidens who lived with Aseneth
and tended her. They were all of one age, and as fair as the stars of
heaven, and Aseneth loved them dearly.
But to come back to Aseneth's own chamber, which was the most
splendid of all. It had three windows, one looking out upon the
garden of the tower towards the east, and another towards the south,
and the third towards the high-road. Opposite the eastern window
stood a golden bed, with a coverlet woven of gold and purple and fine
linen.
And no one but Aseneth herself had ever even sat upon that bed, so
magnificent and so sacred was it.
Besides all this, the tower had all around it a garden with a high
wall of squared blocks of stone. The gates (there were four of them)
were of iron, and each was guarded by eighteen stalwart men in
armour. The garden itself was full of shady trees, bearing splendid
fruit; and there was a springing fountain at one side of it, whose
water ran first into a marble trough, and then out of that into a
stream which watered all the garden and kept it fresh and green.
Here Aseneth lived until she was eighteen years old, beautiful and
proud and caring for no one except her father and mother and her
seven maidens. Now the year in which she became eighteen was the
first of the seven years of plenty, of which King Pharaoh had dreamt
in the dream of the seven cows and the seven ears of corn, which is
written in the Bible. And Joseph was now travelling over all the land
of Egypt to gather together corn to store up against the seven years
of famine which were to follow the seven of plenty. And upon a
certain day in harvest-time, Potipherah and his wife, who had been
away at an estate which they possessed in the country, returned to
the city of On; and no sooner had they done so than they received a
message from Joseph, saying, "Let me come and rest at your house
during the heat of the day." Whereupon Potipherah was greatly
rejoiced, and thanked the gods for the honour which Joseph did him by
visiting him, and ordered a great banquet to be prepared.
Just at this time, Aseneth, who had heard that her father and mother
were returned, came to meet them. She had put on her most beautiful
robe, of linen woven with gold, and a golden girdle, and necklace and
bracelets of precious stones upon which were engraved the names of
the gods of Egypt. And she had a golden diadem on her head, and over
it a delicate veil. She hastened to meet her father and mother, and
they rejoiced at her wonderful beauty, and made her sit by them, and
showed her the gifts they had brought to her from the country--grapes
and figs, pomegranates and fresh dates, and young doves and quails
for her to tame, to her great delight. Then her father said to her,
"My child, sit here with us: I want to speak to you." So she sat down
between her father and mother, and her father took her hand and
kissed her, and said, "My darling child, do you know that Joseph, the
lord of all this land, the man who is going to save the country from
the famine that is coming the man whom Pharaoh trusts and honours
above all others, is coming to this house to-day? What would you say
if I were to offer to give you in marriage to him, to live happily
with him for the rest of your life?"
Then Aseneth was very angry; she blushed as red as fire, and darted
an ugly glance at her father sideways, and said, "How can you talk to
me so, father? Would you give me to a creature like that, the son of
a Canaanitish labourer, who has been in prison--yes, and sold as a
slave--and only got out of prison because he contrived to explain a
dream of Pharaoh's, for all the world like the old women? Certainly
not! If I marry any one it will be Pharaoh's eldest son." So
Potipherah, disappointed as he was, said no more; and Aseneth
hurried away to her own chamber. But she looked out of the window.
As she went out, there ran in a young man, one of Potipherah's
servants, and said, "My lord, Joseph is just stopping before our
gates." So Potipherah and his wife and all their retinue rose and
went forth to meet Joseph; and the gates of the court towards the
east were thrown open, and the chariot drove in, drawn by four
milk-white horses with harness of gold; and in the chariot stood
Joseph, clad in a tunic of white linen and a blood-red mantle shot
with gold. On his head was a crown with twelve great gems, and above
each gem was a ray of gold; in his hand was an olive branch with
leaves and fruit. But fairer than all his equipment was his face, for
he was more beautiful than any of the sons of men. And just as all
the young nobles of Egypt were mad about Aseneth, so all the ladies
of Egypt were in love with Joseph; but he had not a word to say to
any of them, for they were all worshippers of idols, and Joseph
worshipped the true God--the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
So the chariot entered the courtyard of Poti-pherah's palace, and the
gates were shut. Now Aseneth stood at her window, and when she saw
Joseph and the beauty of his countenance, she was smitten to the
heart, her knees trembled, and she almost swooned. A great fear came
upon her, and she heaved a deep sigh and said, "Alas, alas, what have
I said? what have I done? Pity me, O God of Joseph, for it was in
ignorance that I spoke against him. Did I not call him a Canaanitish
labourer's son? and lo, now he has come into our house like the sun
out of heaven. Fool that I was to rail against him as I did! If only
my father would give me to him as his slave and drudge, I would serve
him till I dropped dead at his feet."
Meanwhile Joseph, who had caught sight of Aseneth standing at her
window, had come into the house, and they had washed his feet and set
a table for him by himself (for Joseph would not eat with the
Egyptians). And he said to Potipherah, "Who was the woman whom I saw
looking out of the window when I came in? Some stranger? If so, she
must leave this house." "Nay, my lord," said Potipherah, "she is our
daughter." And he went on to tell how Aseneth disliked the company of
men, and indeed had hardly seen a strange man before that day; and
Joseph was glad to hear that she hated strange men, and said, "If she
be your daughter, I will love her from this day forth as a sister."
Accordingly, Aseneth's mother went and fetched Aseneth, and she
greeted Joseph, and he her. Then said Potipherah, "Come near, my
child, and kiss your brother." But when she drew near, Joseph put out
his hand and thrust her away, and spoke thus: "It is not right for
one who worships the living God, and eats the bread of life and
drinks the cup of immortality, to kiss one that praises with her lips
dead idols, and eats the bread of death from their tables and drinks
the cup of deceit." At these harsh words Aseneth was bitterly grieved:
she shrank back and looked piteously at Joseph, and her eyes filled
with tears; and when he saw how hurt she was, Joseph, who was full of
kindness raised his hand over her head and blessed her, praying that
God, who gives life to all and brings us out of darkness into light,
might give life and light to her soul, and number her among His
chosen people, and bring her into the everlasting rest which He has
promised to them. So Aseneth went back to her chamber, full of
mingled joy and sorrow; and she cast herself down on her bed and
wept. And that same evening Joseph left the house of Potipherah and
set forth on his journey again. "But," said he, "I will come back to
you in eight days' time." Potipherah also and his wife and their
servants went back to their country house; and Aseneth and her seven
maidens were left alone. And the sun went down and all was quiet.