POTIPHAR. Impossible! Tails.
Joseph uncovers the coin. Potiphar bends over it.
JOSEPH. (without looking) It is heads.
POTIPHAR. So it is! I lose—Joseph, you are a lucky man!
JOSEPH. Not at all, sir—a clever one. You see, I knew just how the coin would fall. I tossed it so that it would fall that way.
POTIPHAR. But—how did you know what I was going to say?
JOSEPH. I will explain to you. On one side of the coin is a representation of the present Pharaoh, who has denied you advancement because of his daughter's interest in you. In consequence, you dislike any reminder of him—even on a coin. But on the other side is a representation of the goddess Isis; she is your favourite goddess—and moreover, you yourself have been heard to remark that her face and figure resemble remarkably that of a certain great lady, whose name—is never mentioned when the story is told. Naturally I knew how you would call the coin.
POTIPHAR. (trembling with rage) How dare you say such things! Do you forget that I can have you beaten with rods?
JOSEPH. (calmly) Do you forget, sir, that I am no longer a slave?
Free men are not beaten in Egypt.
POTIPHAR. Free?