Midrasch zu Bereschit 41:8

...And in Jonah it is written, "I would rather die than live." Jonah was the son of the woman of Zarfat. He had already died once, and knew that he would have rest, and Elijah did not die. And so he said, "am I not better than my ancestors?"

And Pharaoh said unto Joseph: “I have dreamed a dream (ibid.). As he was about to relate the dream to him, he decided to test Joseph by altering the dream slightly. He said: “Seven kine went up out of the Nile, fat and well-formed,” whereupon Joseph replied: “That is not so, you saw fat and healthy kine.” “And there were,” he said to him, “seven lean and ill-favored kine.” And Joseph replied: “You did not see this but rather ugly-appearing and thin-fleshed kine.” “And there were seven full and good ears of corn,” he continued. Whereupon Joseph answered: “That too is not so, you saw fat and good ones.” “There were seven shrunken ears of corn,” he added. And Joseph responded: “That is not so, you beheld seven ears of corn, withered thin and blistered by the east wind.” Pharaoh began to wonder about this. He said to him: “You must have been behind me when I had my dream,” as it is said: For inasmuch as God hath shown thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou (ibid. v. 39).

And still others among them said unto the king according to these words: The seven fat cows ‎are seven sons, who shall be slain in the latter days by seven sons of thy princes; and the ‎seven rank ears which thou hast seen in thy second dream are the same seven princes who ‎will be smitten by seven less powerful princes in the latter days, who will avenge on them the ‎cause of thy sons, and thus the government will once more be turned over to thy seed. And ‎the king heard all the words of these wise men, and the various interpretations of his dreams ‎none of them found favor in the eyes of the king, for the king knew in his wisdom that neither ‎of them hath spoken correctly. And this came from the Lord to pervert the words of these ‎wise men in order that Joseph be brought from the prison house to attain greatness in Egypt. ‎And when the king saw that not one among the wise men and the magicians had spoken the ‎correct words the anger of the king was exceedingly aroused and his wrath burned within him. ‎And the king commanded that all the wise men and the magicians be led away from him, and ‎all of them went away from the presence of the king in shame and contempt, and the king ‎commanded further that it be proclaimed throughout the land of Egypt that all the magicians in ‎Egypt should be slain so not one of them be left alive. And the officers of the king's guard rose ‎up and all of them drew their swords and they began smiting the magicians of Egypt and her ‎wise men. And after this Marod, the chief butler of the king, appeared and bowed down ‎before the king, and seated himself before him. And the chief butler said unto the king: May ‎the king live forever, and may his kingdom beenlarged in the land. Thou hast been angry at thy ‎servant, now two years since, and thou hast placed me into confinement, and I was ‎imprisoned for some time together with the chief baker. And there was with us in the ‎dungeon a Hebrew slave, belonging to the prince of the guards, and his name is Joseph; for his ‎master became angry with him and he placed him into the prison house, where he attended ‎upon us. And after we had been in prison for some days we dreamed dreams in the same ‎night, I and the chief baker. We dreamed each man according to the interpretation of his ‎dream. And in the morning we came to that slave and we told unto him our dreams, and he ‎interpreted them correctly, to each man according to his dream. And his interpretation was ‎fulfilled, not the least of all his words fell to the ground. And now, oh my lord and king, do not ‎slay the men of Egypt without cause! Behold the same slave is still confined in the prison ‎house of the prince of the guards, and if it please the king send for him, and let him appear ‎before thee and he will make known unto thee the correct interpretation of the dream thou ‎hast dreamed.‎

(Gen. 41:8:) < AND IT CAME TO PASS IN THE MORNING > THAT HIS SPIRIT WAS TROUBLED (rt.: P'M), in that it was beating against him like a gong (rt.: P'M). Another interpretation (of Gen. 41:8): THAT HIS SPIRIT WAS TROUBLED. It is written of Nebuchadnezzar (in Dan. 2:1): HIS SPIRIT WAS DEEPLY TROUBLED; and it is written of Pharaoh (in Gen. 41:8): THAT HIS SPIRIT WAS TROUBLED.¹³Tanh., Gen. 10:2; Gen. R. 89:5. Why? Pharaoh knew the dream but did not know its interpretation; therefore, he was confused by one confusion. But Nebuchadnezzar knew neither the dream nor its interpretation; therefore, < he was confused > by two confusions. Thus it is stated (in Dan. 2:1): NEBUCHADNEZZAR DREAMED DREAMS. R. Hiyya said: He dreamed one dream. Then why does it say: DREAMS (in the plural)? Because he had forgotten the dream. R. Jannay says: He dreamed two dreams, one of an image (in Dan. 2:31-35) and one of a tree (in Dan. 4:7-14).

R. Yehoshua of Sakhnin in the name of R. Levi, "They would interpret it, but their voices would not enter his ears. 'The seven good cows are seven daughters that you will beget, and the seven bad cows are seven daughters that you will bury.' Likewise they said, 'The seven good sheaves are seven kingdoms that you will conquer, and the seven bad sheaves are seven ministers that will rebel against you'"... Another interpretation: "And he sent and called" - to inform you that each and every nation that stands in the world is granted five wise men to serve it. Moreover, the Holy One, blessed be He, gives it three things: wisdom , understanding and strength. As so did the evil Sannacherib say (Isaiah 10:13), "By the might of my hand have I done this, etc." But when the Holy One, blessed be He, judges the world, He takes them away from it, as it is stated (Obadiah 1:8-9), "I will make the wise vanish from Edom, understanding from Esau’s mount.Your warriors shall lose heart, O Teman." And why so much? So that Joseph will come at the end and attain greatness. The Holy One, blessed be He, said, "If Joseph comes first and interprets the dream, this [will not earn] him praise. The magicians will be able to say to him, 'If you had asked us, we would have already interpreted it for you [the same way].'" Rather, [Joseph] waited for them until they tired him out and extracted his spirit. And afterwards Joseph came and brought it back [to him]. About this did Solomon say (Proverbs 29:11), "The fool extracts his entire spirit" - these are the wise men of Egypt; "but the wise man lowers it back" - this is Joseph, as it is stated (Genesis 41:39), "there is no one wise and understanding like you."