canst thou know where thy father is? If thou hadst had a
free man as father, thou wouldst not have been sold twice
for a petty sum." And then their fury against him increased,
they beat him and maltreated him, and he wept
bitter tears.

Now God looked upon the distress of Joseph, and He sent
darkness to enshroud the land once more. A storm raged,
the lightning flashed, and from the thunderbolts the whole
earth trembled, and the Ishmaelites lost their way in their
terror. The beasts and the camels stood still, and, beat them
as their drivers would, they refused to budge from the spot,
but crouched down upon the ground. Then the Ishmaelites
spake to one another, and said: "Why hath God brought
this upon us? What are our sins, what our trespasses, that
such things befall us?" One of them said to the others:
"Peradventure this hath come upon us by reason of the sin
which we have committed against this slave. Let us beg him
earnestly to grant us forgiveness, and if then God will take
pity, and let these storms pass away from us, we shall know
that we suffered harm on account of the injury we inflicted
upon this slave."

The Ishmaelites did according to these words, and they
said unto Joseph: "We have sinned against God and
against thee. Pray to thy God, and entreat Him to take
this death plague from us, for we acknowledge that we have
sinned against Him." Joseph fulfilled their wish, and God
hearkened to his petition, and the storm was assuaged. All
around became calm, the beasts arose from their recumbent