Joseph, The Great Servant

CHAPTER 1 JOSEPH’S LONELY CHILDHOOD This is the story of a prince called Joseph, a direct descendant of King David of Israel. According to the tradition of Israel, the Messiah would one day come from this lineage. It was said that the Messiah, or Great King as he was known, would attain such power that it would make Israel the mightiest nation on Earth, even mightier than under the reigns of King Solomon and King David, the greatest kings that Israel had ever had. The story starts with Joseph as a young boy. He was a normal four-year-old living in a palace on the outskirts of a small town called Bethlehem. His father owned a lot of land and property, as well as having many servants and other people at his beck and call. One day, Joseph went out into the palace courtyard where the children of the servants were playing. Earlier that day it had been raining and the children were making all sorts of interesting things with the mud by soaking it with water, turning it over and over, and all the while moulding and shaping it slowly and with great care into all manner of useful objects, such as pots and other vessels. This whole scene filled Joseph with so much enthusiasm that he asked them to teach him how to make the pots. But the boys looked puzzled and asked why a prince would want to know how to mould mud in order to make clay pots. After all, it would only be useful if he put in plenty of practice, and besides, what need would a prince like Joseph have for such a skill. However, Joseph insisted they show him and so, everyone set to work making clay bowls. It was by seeing what the others were doing that he started to learn. In fact, he learned so fast and so well that he ended up producing the best bowl of all, telling the rest of the children that it wasn’t so hard to learn after all and that anybody could do it with a little practice. This didn’t go down well with the some of the boys and they told him it was beginner’s luck, causing a fight to break out between them all. During the scuffle, Joseph’s bowl fell to the ground and broke making Joseph burst into tears. As soon as the servants heard him crying, they all rushed outside and on seeing the other children laughing at him, they started to beat them with sticks. At this point when all the children were crying, the servants asked the prince about what had happened. Joseph replied that he had accidently dropped the clay bowl he had made, and that he had broken it. Joseph’s explanation meant that the boys had been beaten for no good reason in the eyes of the servants. Instead of being beaten again and scolded for their actions in similar circumstances, the boys’ parents told them, "It serves you all right for playing with the prince!” And so, whenever the children saw the prince coming, they ran away. As they were running away, Joseph would always ask them, “Why can’t we all just play together? What have I ever done to any of you?” “Your highness, you haven’t done anything to us, but if our parents see us all playing together and something bad happens to you, they will beat us” the children answered. And so, the unfortunate result was that Joseph had no friends of his own age to play with.