Seize it and bring it to me. It may be that God will have
pity upon my sorrow, and put the beast between your hands
that hath torn my child in pieces, and I will take my revenge
upon it."

The sons of Jacob set out on the morrow to do the bidding
of their father, while he remained at home and wept and
lamented for Joseph. In the wilderness they found a wolf,
which they caught and brought to Jacob alive, saying:
"Here is the first wild beast we encountered, and we have
brought it to thee. But of thy son's corpse we saw not a
trace." Jacob seized the wolf, and, amid loud weeping, he
addressed these words to him: "Why didst thou devour my
son Joseph, without any fear of the God of the earth, and
without taking any thought of the grief thou wouldst bring
down upon me? Thou didst devour my son without reason,
he was guilty of no manner of transgression, and thou didst
roll the responsibility for his death upon me. But God
avengeth him that is persecuted."

To grant consolation to Jacob, God opened the mouth of
the beast, and he spake: "As the Lord liveth, who hath
created me, and as thy soul liveth, my lord, I have not seen
thy son, and I did not rend him in pieces. From a land afar
off I came to seek mine own son, who suffered a like fate
with thine. He hath disappeared, and I know not whether
he be dead or alive, and therefore I came hither ten days ago
to find him. This day, while I was searching for him, thy
sons met me, and they seized me, and, adding more grief to
my grief over my lost son, they brought me hither to thee.