This is my story, and now, O son of man, I am in thy hands,
thou canst dispose of me this day as seemeth well in thy
sight, but I swear unto thee by the God that bath created me,
I have not seen thy son, nor have I torn him in pieces, never
hath the flesh of man come into my mouth." Astonished
at the speech of the wolf, Jacob let him go, unhindered,
whithersoever he would, but he mourned his son Joseph as
before.[66]

It is a law of nature that however much one may grieve
over the death of a dear one, at the end of a year consolation
finds its way to the heart of the mourner. But the disappearance
of a living man can never be wiped out of one's
memory. Therefore the fact that he was inconsolable made
Jacob suspect that Joseph was alive, and he did not give
entire credence to the report of his sons. His vague suspicion
was strengthened by something that happened to him.
He went up into the mountains, hewed twelve stones out of
the quarry, and wrote the names of his sons thereon, their
constellations, and the months corresponding to the
constellations,
a stone for a son, thus, "Reuben, Ram, Nisan," and
so for each of his twelve sons. Then he addressed the
stones and bade them bow down before the one marked with
Reuben's name, constellation, and month, and they did not
move. He gave the same order regarding the stone marked
for Simon, and again the stones stood still. And so he did
respecting all his sons, until he reached the stone for Joseph.
When he spoke concerning this one, "I command you to fall
down before Joseph," they all prostrated themselves. He