"My baby shall not be slain," she said. So she took him down to the river, made a little basket, placed him in it, and hid him in the bulrushes.
Every day, and many times a day, she went down to see that he was comfortable and to carry him food.
But one day the daughter of the king came down to the water to bathe. Straight towards the place where the baby was she came, while Miriam, the baby's sister, hid among the bulrushes, trembling with fear.
"See this poor little baby!" said the princess; and the tears came in her eyes. "It is one of the children of the Israelites," she said, "hidden here from the cruel soldiers."
Then the kind woman lifted it from its little basket and held it close to her heart.
Now, Miriam was a wise little girl; and when she saw that the princess was kind, she came out from the bulrushes and said, "Shall I not bring you a good woman to nurse the little baby for you?"
Then the princess bade her go with speed, for already the baby was beginning to cry.
Miriam ran and brought the baby's mother.
"Take this child, good woman," said the princess, "and bring it up as your own. It shall be my child, and I will name it Moses, because I drew him out of the water."
And so the little baby was taken back to its old home, and every day the princess sent to know if it were well; and often she came herself, bringing gold for its nurse and fine linen for the child.
When the baby grew to be a boy the princess sent him to the wisest teachers in the land, that he might himself grow wise and great.
But the true mother of Moses had taught him the religion of his fathers, and had told him the story of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Joseph. She had told him, too, of the promise of God, that sometime the Israelites should again possess the land of Canaan.
To Moses this was a wonderful story; and he wished often that he might be the prophet that was to deliver his people.
One day Moses saw an Egyptian cruelly beating an Israelite. His heart burned with indignation, and he fell upon the Egyptian and slew him.
Then Moses fled out into the wilderness; for he knew he had offended against the law.
On through the wilderness he pressed, till he came into the field where a priest named Jethro lived. Jethro gave him food and shelter; and it came about that Moses became one of Jethro's family. For a long time he dwelt among these people, tending their flocks, and thinking about his poor people, suffering in their bondage to the Egyptians.