The Brook Kerith | Page 2

child's asleep, she said, and on the instant he awoke crying: no,
Granny, I wasn't asleep. I heard all you said and would like to be a
prophet. A prophet, Joseph, and to anoint a king? But there are no more
prophets or kings in Israel. And now, Joseph, my little prophet, 'tis
bedtime and past it. Come. I didn't say I wanted to anoint kings, he
answered, and refused to go to bed, though manifestly he could hardly
keep awake. I'll wait up for Father.

Now what can the child want his father for at this hour? she muttered as
she went about the room, not guessing that he was angry and resentful,
that her words had wounded him deeply and that he was asking himself,
in his corner, if she thought him too stupid to be a prophet.
I'll tell thee no more stories, she said to him, but he answered that he
did not want to hear her stories, and betwixt feelings of anger and
shame his head drooped, and he slept in his chair till the door opened
and his father's footsteps crossed the threshold.
Now, he said to himself, Granny will tell Father that I said I'd like to be
a prophet. And feigning sleep he listened, determined to hear the worst
that could be said of him. But they did not speak about him but of the
barrels of salt fish that were to go to Beth-Shemish on the morrow;
which was their usual talk. So he slipped from his chair and bade his
father good-night. A resentful good-night it was; and his good-night to
his grandmother was still more resentful. But she found an excuse for
his rudeness, saying that his head was full of sleep--a remark that
annoyed him considerably and sent him upstairs wishing that women
would not talk about things they do not understand. I'll ask Father in the
morning why Granny laughed at me for saying I'd like to be a prophet.
But as morning seemed still a long way ahead he tried to find a reason,
but could find no better one than that prophets were usually old men.
But I shall be old in time to come and have a beard. Father has a beard
and they can't tell that I won't have a beard, and a white one too, so why
should they--
His senses were numbing, and he must have fallen asleep soon after,
for when he awoke it seemed to him that he had been asleep a long time,
several hours at least, so many things had happened or seemed to have
happened; but as he recovered his mind all the dream happenings
melted away, and he could remember only his mother. She had been
dead four years, but in his dream she looked as she had always looked,
and had scolded Granny for laughing at him. He tried to remember
what else she had said but her words faded out of his mind and he fell
asleep again. In this second sleep an old man rose up by his bedside
and told him that he was the prophet Samuel, who though he had been

dead a thousand years had heard him say he would like to be a prophet.
But shall I be a prophet? Joseph asked, and as Samuel did not answer
he cried out as loudly as he could: shall I? shall I?
What ails thee, Son? he heard his grandmother calling to him, and he
answered: an old man, an old man. Ye are dreaming, she mumbled
between sleeping and waking. Go to sleep like a good boy, and don't
dream any more. I will, Granny, and don't be getting up; the
bed-clothes don't want settling. I am well tucked in, he pleaded; and fell
asleep praying that Granny had not heard him ask Samuel if he would
be a prophet.
A memory of his dream of Samuel came upon him while she dressed
him, and he hoped she had forgotten all about it; but his father
mentioned at breakfast that he had been awakened by cries. It was
Joseph crying out in his dream, Dan, disturbed thee last night: such
cries, "Shall I? Shall I?" And when I asked "What ails thee?" the only
answer I got was "An old man."
Dan, Joseph's father, wondered why Joseph should seem so
disheartened and why he should murmur so perfunctorily that he could
not remember his dream. But if he had forgotten it, why trouble him
further? If we are to forget anything it were well that we should choose
our dreams; at which piece of incredulity his mother shook her head,
being firm in the belief that there was much sense in dreams and that
they could be interpreted to the advantage