The story of Zuleika

Zuleika was the wife of Potiphar, a courtier of Pharaoh. She was young, stunningly beautiful, and emotionally neglected. When her husband bought Joseph as a slave, she fell madly in love with the handsome boy. Joseph was granted every conceivable privilege by his owner, and he paid many visits to Zuleika. Whe she asked him to "lay with her", he declined, but he continued to visit her, until one bad day everything went wrong.

Joseph stormed out of her apartment, but left behind his cloak. Zuleika was so desperately hurt by yet another rejection, that she sought revenge: she used the cloak to prove that he had tried to violate her. Joseph was thrown into jail. Even there he charmed everybody, and before long he was freed.

Zuleika had no choice but to resign herself to her fate; Joseph managed to become viceroy of Egypt.