INTRODUZIONE
“A New World” è il primo libro di Mosè, più noto come la Genesi, raccontato in modo unico. Versi scorrevoli in rima baciata ed un incalzante ritmo trasportano il lettore dalle delizie verdeggianti del Giardino dell’Eden, oltre Noè e l’alluvione e le avventure di Abramo e Isacco, fino all’arrivo di Giuseppe in Egitto e la sua ascesa al potere come braccio destro del Faraone. Uno stile scanzonato ma mai irriverente, porta in vita i personaggi di questa storia biblica e fa di ‘A New World’ una lettura molto piacevole sia per bambini che per adulti.
Per trarre il massimo beneficio dalla traccia audio, si consiglia di fare l’ascolto almeno una volta prima di passare alla lettura del testo.
Pharaoh’s
dreams
[Genesis 41:1]
In the palace, two years later, in a vivid dream,
Pharaoh found himself alone, standing by a stream.
Seven healthy cows appeared, almost at his feet,
And went into a meadow to find some grass to eat.
Then another seven appeared, but they were weak and thin,
They hardly looked like cows at all, just bags of bones and skin.
Suddenly the thin cows pounced, and gobbled up the others,
They didn’t seem to care if they were sisters, aunts or mothers.
Pharaoh sat up with a start and counted up to ten,
Then meditated for a while and lay back down again.
He closed his eyelids tightly and started counting sheep,
He got to eighty-five or so before he fell asleep.
He shortly had a second dream, a pleasant country walk,
And seven ears of golden corn upon a single stalk.
The ears were fat and healthy and radiant as the sun,
Till seven ears of weedy corn gobbled up each one.
Pharaoh woke up in a sweat, I need advice, he thought,
And summoned all the mystics and the scholars of the court.
Spells were cast and fortunes read, but all to no avail,
Till suddenly the butler remembered Jo in jail.
He told his tale to Pharaoh who really was impressed
And said that he would see the man as soon as he was dressed.
Before interpreting the dreams, Joseph stopped to pray,
Explaining that it was the Lord who told him what to say.
But Pharaoh didn’t care about the secret of his art,
He wanted to recount his dreams and quickly made a start.
Afterwards, he looked at Jo and asked him to explain,
Joseph said the dreams were one: the meaning was the same.
“The seven healthy cows,” he said, “and seven healthy ears,
Are healthy harvests which will last exactly seven years.
“The seven skinny cows and ears,” he said, without a doubt,
“Signify that afterwards there’ll be a seven-year drought.
The reason that the dreams were two,” he said, “is also clear,
God is trying to tell you that the time is very near.
You ought to choose,” he carried on, “someone smart and wise,
Who’s able to administrate, to plan and organise.
“The famine can be overcome and need not bring you down,
If giant granaries are built in every single town.
Throughout the seven healthy years evaluate each field,
And put inside the granary a fifth of every yield.
Later on, your governor can distribute the wheat
Throughout the years of famine, so every man can eat.”
The king was so astounded by Jo’s ingenious plan,
He thought for just a moment, and then made Jo his man.
He made him governor general, effective from that day,
And Pharaoh was the only man that Joseph would obey.
He gave a golden chain to Jo, a ring from off his hand,
Fine garments, and a chariot to ride around the land.
He also gave him Asenath, a lovely local dame,
And used, instead of ‘Joseph’, a long Egyptian name.
Joseph worked for seven years storing all the corn,
But took a little time off, the day his sons were born.
He had to fill the granaries, the drought would soon arrive,
He knew it was the only way the people would survive.
