Whether it was his beauty or something unusual about the boy that struck him, we cannot say, but he ordered the carriage to be stopped, and the child to be brought to him.
Joseph humbly came forward with the boy, crossed his hands on his breast, and made a deep obeisance.
"That is your son ?" said the king in his own language.
Joseph bowed affirmatively.
"You are a Jew! Will you sell me the boy ?" asked Pharaoh.
And then Joseph: "Pharaoh! although I am a descendant of Jacob, whose sons sold their brother Joseph into Egypt, I do not deserve your irony.
We are poor people, but the child is our most cherished possession." "I only spoke in kindness about the selling," said the king.

"You are my subjects, and the boy is my property.

Take him, Hamar." The servant was ready to put his hand on the little boy, who stood by quietly and looked resolutely at the king.

Joseph fell on his knees and respectfully represented that he and his family were not Egyptian subjects, but lived there as strangers, and implored the almighty Pharaoh to allow him the rights of hospitality.
"I know nothing about all that, my good man," said the king.

Then, catching sight of the boy's angry face, he laughed.