for they were men of rank.

One morning, when Joseph came into the room where the butler and the
baker were kept, he found them looking quite sad. Joseph said to them:

"Why do you look so sad today?" Joseph was cheerful and happy in his
spirit; and he wished others to be happy also, even in prison.

And one of them said, "Each one of us dreamed last night a very strange
dream, and there is no one to tell us what our dreams mean."

For in those times, before God gave the Bible to men, he often spoke to
men in dreams; and there were wise men who could sometimes tell what the
dreams meant.

"Tell me," said Joseph, "what your dreams are. Perhaps my God will help
me to understand them."

Then the chief butler told his dream. He said, "In my dream I saw a
grape-vine with three branches; and as I looked, the branches shot out
buds; and the buds became blossoms; and the blossoms turned into
clusters of ripe grapes. And I picked the grapes, and squeezed their
juice into king Pharaoh's cup, and it became wine; and I gave it to king
Pharaoh to drink, just as I used to do when I was beside his table."

Then Joseph said, "This is what your dream means. The three branches
mean three days. In three days, king Pharaoh shall call you out of
prison and shall put you back in your place; and you shall stand at his
table, and shall give him his wine, as you have given it before. But
when you go out of prison, please to remember me, and try to find some
way to get me, too, out of this prison. For I was stolen out of the land
of Canaan, and sold as a slave; and I have done nothing wrong to deserve
being put in this prison. Do speak to the king for me, that I may be set
free."

Of course, the chief butler felt very happy to hear that his dream had
so pleasant a meaning. And the chief baker spoke, hoping to have an
answer as good:

"In my dream," said the baker, "there were three baskets of white bread
on my head, one above another, and on the topmost basket were all kinds
of roasted meat and food for Pharaoh; and the birds came, and ate the
food from the baskets on my head."

And Joseph said to the baker:

"This is the meaning of your dream, and I am sorry to tell it to you.
The three baskets are three days. In three days, by order of the king
you shall be lifted up, and hanged upon a tree; and the birds shall eat
your flesh from your bones as you are hanging in the air."

And it came to pass just as Joseph had said. Three days