d boy, and don't dream any
more. I will, Granny, and don't be getting up; the bed-clothes don't
want settling. I am well tucked in, he pleaded; and fell asleep praying
that Granny had not heard him ask Samuel if he would be a prophet.

A memory of his dream of Samuel came upon him while she dressed him, and
he hoped she had forgotten all about it; but his father mentioned at
breakfast that he had been awakened by cries. It was Joseph crying out
in his dream, Dan, disturbed thee last night: such cries, "Shall I?
Shall I?" And when I asked "What ails thee?" the only answer I got was
"An old man."

Dan, Joseph's father, wondered why Joseph should seem so disheartened
and why he should murmur so perfunctorily that he could not remember his
dream. But if he had forgotten it, why trouble him further? If we are to
forget anything it were well that we should choose our dreams; at which
piece of incredulity his mother shook her head, being firm in the belief
that there was much sense in dreams and that they could be interpreted
to the advantage of everybody.

Dan said: if that be so, let him tell thee his dream. But Joseph hung
his head and pushed his plate away; and seeing him so morose they left
him to his sulks and fell to talking of dreams that had come true.
Joseph had never heard them speak of anything so interesting before, and
though he suspected that they were making fun of him he could not do
else than listen, till becoming convinced suddenly that they were
talking in good earnest without intention of fooling him he began to
regret that he had said he had forgotten his dream, and rapped out: he
was the prophet Samuel. Now what are you saying, Joseph? his father
asked. Joseph would not say any more, but it pleased him to observe that
neither his father nor his granny laughed at his admission, and seeing
how interested they were in his dream he said: if you want to know all,
Samuel said he had heard me say that I'd like to be a prophet. That was
why he came back from the dead. But, Father, is it true that we are his
descendants? He said that I was.

A most extraordinary dream, his father answered, for it has always been
held in the family that we are descended from him. Do you really mean,
Joseph, that the old man you saw in your dream told you he was Samuel
and that you were his descendant? How should I have known if he hadn't
told me? Joseph looked from one to the other and wondered why they had
kept the secret of