JOSEPH AND THE BRETHREN
Potiphar. Typho seize him!—Arouse the household. Have him hither with all homage.
[Exit Joseph. Wakara kindles the hanging lamps]
Potiphar. [To Zuleika, indicating the door at the back] A plague on the marplot! Yet it were well if thou—
Zuleika. Oh, let me bide; I, too, would hear the news.
Potiphar. 'Tis nought. [Anxiously] The gods grant it be nought.
[Meanwhile the hall has filled with Potiphar's household. A trumpet sounds. Enter soldiers as the guard of honor. Joseph appears at the door]
Joseph. The Lord Imhotep, Lord Chief Butler of the Pharaoh, the King of Kings!
[Enter Imhotep: a magnificent apparition. Behind him follow several richly clad Nobles and Officers. All present bow their heads and raise their arms in obeisance. Potiphar advances in the same attitude]
Potiphar. The presence of my lord sheddeth radiance through my halls.
Imhotep. Friend, I come not of mine own will—
Potiphar. Let thy servant hear—
[Imhotep unwinds a piece of rich silk he is carrying, and out of it produces an earthenware case containing an inscribed clay tablet]
Imhotep [With great solemnity] This from Usertesen, the Pharaoh, the King of the North and the South, the King of Kings.
56
