Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 6.djvu/350

224 Then said the king, ‘Verily, I see seven fat kine which seven lean kine devoured ; and seven green ears of corn and others dry. O ye chiefs ! Explain to me my vision, if a vision ye can expound !’

Said they, ‘Confused dreams, and naught of the exposition of such dreams know we !’

Then he who had escaped of those twain said, — remembering after a while, — ‘Verily, I will inform you of the interpretation thereof, so send me.’

‘Joseph! O thou truth teller! explain to us the seven fat kine which seven lean devoured ; and the seven green ears of corn and others dry. Haply I may go back to the men, haply they then may know !’

He said, ‘Ye shall sow for seven years, as is your wont ; but what ye reap, let it remain in the ear, except a little whereof ye shall eat. Then there shall come after that seven severe (years) which shall devour what ye have put by before for them, save a little of what ye shall preserve. Then there will come after that a year in which men shall have rain and in which they shall press .’

Then said the king, ‘Bring him to me.’

And when the messenger came to him, he said, ‘Go back to thy lord, and ask him, “What meant the women who cut their hands ? Verily, my lord knows their craftiness !”’

He said, ‘What was your design when ye desired Joseph for his person ?’ They said, ‘God