Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 6.djvu/356

230 They said, ‘By God ! thou art in thy old error.’ And when the herald of glad tidings came he threw it on his face, and he was restored to sight.

Said he, ‘Did I not tell you that I know from God that of which ye know not ?’

They said, ‘O our father ! ask pardon for us of our sins ; — verily, we were sinners !’

He said, ‘I will ask pardon for you from my Lord ; verily, He is the pardoning and merciful.’

And when they entered in unto Joseph, he took his father to stay with him, and said, ‘Enter ye into Egypt, if it please God, safe.’ And he raised his father upon the throne, and they fell down before him adoring.

And he said, ‘O my sire ! This is the inter- pretation of my vision aforetime ; my Lord has made it come true, and He has been good to me, in bringing me forth out of prison, and bringing you from the desert, after Satan had made a breach between me and my brethren ; — verily, my Lord is kind to whomsoever He will ; — verily, He is the knowing, the wise !

‘O my Lord ! thou hast given me dominion, and hast taught me the interpretation of sayings; O originator of the heavens and the earth! Thou art my patron in this world and the next ; take me to Thyself resigned, and let me reach the righteous !’

That is one of the stories of the unseen which we inspire thee with, though thou wert not with them when they agreed in their affair, when they were so crafty. — And yet most men, though thou shouldst be urgent, will not believe.

Thou dost not ask them for it a hire ; it is naught but a reminder to the world.