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.
The
sale
of Egypt
[Genesis 47:13]
As the year continued, the famine got so bad
That everyone had eaten up everything they had.
Stocks put by for harder times were quickly running dry,
And Joseph put a squeeze upon the monetary supply.
Those who’d bought their food before with silver and with gold,
Had to trade their cows and sheep, whatever could be sold.
In the end, the Egyptians had nothing left to sell,
Except of course their property, and services as well.
They did their best to ride the storm but soon they had to yield,
And Joseph bought up every farm and every single field.
He bought them all in Pharaoh’s name, the worst ones and the best,
Till Pharaoh owned the whole of Egypt: north, south, east and west.
Pharaoh’s priests were safe and sound, they knew they wouldn’t die,
The king had guaranteed them all a permanent supply.
But everybody else depended wholly on the corn,
Which Jo supplied them freely, once their debts were sworn.
He gave them seeds for planting, so they could start anew,
And made a law that taxed them a fifth of what they grew.
No one grumbled or complained, everyone was grateful,
Thanks to Joseph’s management they never lacked a plateful.
As the years went rolling by, the Israelites grew stronger,
But Joseph’s dad was getting old and wouldn’t last much longer.
He said to Joseph, “Promise me that you will dig my grave,
With Isaac and with Abraham in old Machpelah’s cave.”
