flowers for offerings. I was taller and stronger than many of my
companions, and was also the daughter of Amram, so they followed me and
readily did what I suggested. When I was eight years old, we moved
hither from Zoan. Ere I again found a girl-playfellow, you came to
Gamaliel, your sister's husband, to be cured of the wound dealt by a
Libyan's lance. Do you remember that time when you, a youth, made the
little girl a companion? I brought you what you needed and prattled to
you of the things I knew, but you told me of bloody battles and
victories, of flashing armor, and the steeds and chariots of the warrior,
You showed me the ring your daring had won, and when the wound in your
breast was cured, we roved over the pastures. Isis, whom you also loved,
had a temple here, and how often I secretly slipped into the forecourt to
pray for you and offer her my holiday-cakes. I had heard so much from
you of Pharaoh and his splendor, of the Egyptians, and their wisdom,
their art, and luxurious life, that my little heart longed to live among
them in the capital; besides, it had reached my ears that my brother
Moses had received great favors in Pharaoh's palace and risen to
distinction in the priesthood. I no longer cared for our own people;
they seemed to me inferior to the Egyptians in all respects.

"Then came the parting from you and, as my little heart was devout and
expected all good gifts from the divine power, no matter what name it
bore, I prayed for Pharaoh and his army, in whose ranks you were
fighting.

"My mother sometimes spoke of the God of our fathers as a mighty
protector, to whom the people in former days owed much gratitude, and
told me many beautiful tales of Him; but she herself often offered
sacrifices in the temple of Seth, or carried clover blossoms to the
sacred bull of the sun-god. She, too, was kindly disposed toward the