I

There was once a great man named Potipherah, who was high priest of
the city of On in Egypt; and he and his wife had no children. One day
he went into the temple to offer sacrifice, as was his custom. He
went alone, and when he entered the great courtyard of the temple, in
the middle of which stood the altar, he was astonished to see a
little child lying upon the altar. Without waiting to offer his
sacrifice, he hurried back to his wife. "What is the matter," said
she, "that you come back so hastily?" "I have seen a wonderful
thing," he said; "the gods have given us a child. The gates of the
temple were locked, so that no one could get into the court; yet
there is a child there, lying on the altar!" "What say you?" said his
wife; "what can be the meaning of it?" So they both hastened to the
temple, and when Potipherah opened the door of the courtyard, they
saw, partly at least, how the wonder had happened; for now there was
an eagle perched upon the altar with its wings spread out over the
child--it was a little girl, quite newly born--to protect it. They
guessed that it was the eagle that had brought the child, but, of
course, they could not tell whose it was. It was wrapped in
swaddling-clothes, and these Potipherah's wife kept carefully by her;
for she thought the time might come when they might be recognised by the
parents of the little child; and indeed, years afterwards, this proved
to be the case.

In the meantime Potipherah and his wife kept the child and brought
her up, and treated her as their daughter; and they called her