V THE MESS OF POTTAGE

SAAC and Rebekah had two sons. The elder was a red-headed lad, called Esau. The younger was named Jacob. The two boys were quite different. Esau was very fond of hunting. He loved to get away into the deep woods and to climb the steep hills. For days at a time he would roam about, with his bow and arrows, and when he came home he always had something in his hand, some bird or beast which he had shot. Sometimes he brought back a deer, and he knew how to cook the venison just as his father liked it. And this pleased Isaac. Jacob was a home boy, who preferred to stay about the house. He worked in the garden, and took care of the sheep and cows, and helped his mother. And that pleased Rebekah. So Isaac’s favorite son was Esau, and Rebekah’s favorite son was Jacob. But Esau, being the elder, had the birthright. That is, he was the one to be the head of the family after the death of his father.

But one day, Esau came home from hunting, very tired and hungry. And he found Jacob cooking something over the fire. The fire was blazing, and the kettle was boiling away at a great rate, and the most appetizing odors were coming out of it, and in the kettle was a mess of pottage, which was made of lentils, and was something like peas, and something like beans, and something like chicken broth, and very nice to eat.

So Esau said, “Give me some of your pottage.”

But Jacob said, “I will sell it to you. Give me your birthright, and I will give you my pottage.”

Then Esau said to himself, “What is the good of my birthright when I am hungry! I can’t eat it. I can’t even see it. I will not have it for years and years. But here is the pottage now.” And he said, “It is a bargain. Give me the pottage.” Then Jacob emptied the kettle into the dish, and hungry Esau, thinking no more of the birthright, sat down and ate the hot pottage with a big spoon.

Then years passed and years passed, and their father Isaac became an old man. His eyes were dim, and he could not see, and he felt that his life was coming to an end. So, one morning, he called Esau and said, “Esau, I wish you would take your bow and arrows, and go out and kill a deer. I think that a taste of your venison will make me strong. And I want to be strong to-day, because I intend to give you my blessing.”

So Esau took his bow and arrows, and away he went to find a deer.

But Rebekah had heard what Isaac said to Esau, and when Esau, with his red head, had disappeared among the trees, she called Jacob. “Jacob,” she said, “your father is not feeling so well to-day. He thinks that he is about to die, and he means to give Esau the blessing of the birthright. Now you go out into the pasture and bring me two little goats, and kill them, and I will cook the meat of the goats so that your father will think it is the sweetest venison he ever ate, and he will give you the blessing which he has for Esau.”

But Jacob said, “Father will know at once that I am not Esau, for Esau’s hands are covered with hair, but mine are smooth. He will find me out, and be very angry with me.”

And Rebekah answered, “I will manage that, my son.”

Then Jacob went out into the pastures, and killed two kids of the goats, and his mother cooked the meat so that it tasted like the sweetest venison. And she dressed Jacob in Esau’s best clothes, and on his neck and arms and hands she put some of the skin of the goats, and she gave him the meat and bread, and in he went to feed his father.

Now Isaac was so old and sick that he lay in bed. So Jacob came into his room, and said, “Sit up, father, and taste the nice venison which I have brought you.”

And Isaac said, “How have you come so soon, my son?”

And Jacob answered, “God showed me a deer in the first field, and I killed it with the first arrow.”

But Isaac was not satisfied. He sat up in bed and said, “Come near, my son, and let me feel you, that I may know whether you are truly my son Esau or not.” And Jacob went near and his father felt him, and the clothes were Esau’s clothes and his hands and neck were rough and hairy like Esau’s. And Isaac said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”

And he asked again, “Are you my son Esau?”

And Jacob lied again, and said, “I am.”

And Isaac said, “Bring me, then, the meat that I may eat it.” And when he had eaten he said, “Come near now and kiss me, my son.” And Jacob kissed him. And Isaac gave Jacob his best blessing, the blessing of the birthright. And Jacob went away.

Now Jacob had hardly gone out of the room, when Esau came. “Here I am, father,” he cried, “back from the hunting, and here is the meat which I have cooked just as you always like it. Come, eat it, and bless me.”

And Isaac said, “Who are you?”

THE BLESSING OF THE SECOND SON

And he answered, “I am your son, your eldest son, Esau.”

And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, “Who came, then, in your place? Who brought venison and I ate it, and gave him your blessing?”

Then Esau cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, “Bless me, even me also, O my father!”

And Isaac said, “It was your brother, Jacob. He lied to me, and stole your blessing. But I have blessed him, and I cannot change it. I have made him the head of the family after my death.”

And Esau said to his father, “Have you but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father!” And Esau cried aloud. Then Isaac blessed Esau also, but he could not give him so good a blessing as he had given Jacob.

Now Rebekah had been thinking for a good while that it would be well for Jacob to visit his cousins, who lived in the old country, beyond the rivers. For there was a family in the neighborhood named Heth, whom Isaac and Rebekah did not like, and they had a number of daughters, and Jacob used to go to see them. It troubled Rebekah greatly, and more than once she had said to Isaac, “Those Heth girls worry me almost to death. How dreadful it would be if Jacob should marry one of them!” And Isaac had said, “Let him go and see his cousins. A change will do him good.” So now, when Jacob’s behavior had displeased his father and made his brother so angry with him that he threatened to kill him, Rebekah felt that the time had come. She packed up Jacob’s things, and sent him off for a long visit at his Uncle Laban’s.