THE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S had grown in numbers so th a t now th e re were so many you could no t count them , and th e wicked king was afraid th ey would become g reat and strong and fight ag ain st him, for he was very mean and cruel to them . He made them work very h ard every day, m aking and carrying heavy brick in th e ho t sun, hoping they would die, b u t God kep t them well and strong, and sen t dear little babies into th e ir homes, so th ere were more and more of these people all th e time. This king grew very angry when he saw he could no t k ill these people by making them work h ard and tre a tin g them cruelly, and th en he did
43 new baby and tak e him ou t and show him. As he grew strong er day by day his cry and laugh became louder and his m other was afraid some one would h ear him. How could she save her baby boy any longer? She gathered some rushes, which was a tall, strong grass, wove them into a little basket, and p ainted it over on th e outside w ith pitch, so no w ater could g et in, and it would be nice and dry inside; then she p u t little Moses into th e basket. Baby Moses had a sister Miriam, who helped h er m other make th e basket. Very early in the morning th e m other and Miriam took th e basket w ith th e
such an aw ful th ing ; he gave orders th a t every little boy baby th a t was born in th e homes of these people m ust be throw n into th e big river and drowned. Soon a fte r he gave th is wicked order, th e re was ju s t th e dearest little baby boy born in one of th e homes. The fath e r and m other looked a t th e ir beau tifu l baby boy, whose name was Moses, and they loved him so dearly, and they knew w h at th e king had said, b u t they knew too th a t it was w rong to kill the baby, so they asked God, who was stronger th a n th e wicked king, to help them save th e ir baby. Then they hid him so no one knew th e re was a baby in th e home b u t th e fam ily themselves. My, w asn’t th a t h ard no t to be able to tell th e neighbors and friends about the
baby in it down to the river, and pu t it into the w ater n ear th e bank, p artly hidden by th e rushes which grew in th e w ater. As the m other w ent away she prayed th a t God would watch over h er baby, and left th e sister Miriam to watch. She stood some distance away, and p retty soon, th e king’s daughter, th e princess, came down to th e river to go in bathing. She had h er maids w ith her, and as she was w alking along the bank, she spied a little basket floating on the w ater in the grass, and sent a maid to bring it to her. When she raised up th e covering, w asn’t she su r prised to see a real live baby, and of course you know w hat th a t baby did when he saw all strang e faces bending over him. Yes, he cried, and th e prin-
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