But she would not let him know how it was with her.  He should not see her weep.  She would not spoil his pleasure.  And then they discovered that after all he was not going very far away, only from the Nile to the town, and that Pharaoh had promised him liberty; he could visit his parents, and return to them whenever he so wished.  But he would no longer be the same child who went from them.  Mary reflected that that was the usual case with mother and son; the youth gave himself up more and more to strangers, and less and less of him remained to his mother.  There remained to her the memory that she had borne him in pain, that she had nourished him with her life; she had a claim on him more sacred and everlasting than any other could have.  But gradually and inevitably he separated himself from his mother, and what she would do for him, and give him, and be to him, he kindly but decidedly set aside.  She must even give him her prayerful blessing in secret; she hardly dared to touch his head with her trembling hands.

Next day at noon a royal litter stood before the hut.  Two slaves were the bearers, one of whom was old and feeble.  When Mary saw the litter she exclaimed that she would not allow her child to lie on so soft a couch.  The boy smiled a little, so that two dimples appeared on his rosy cheeks, and said: 

“Why, mother, do you think I would ride on those cushions?  Now, let the sick slave get in, and I will take his place.”

But the leader of the little procession was not agreeable.  The boy could do as he liked, stay, or go with them.

“I shall stay,” said Jesus, “and go to Pharaoh when I please.”  The litter returned empty to the palace.

The next day the boy made up his mind to go.  His parents accompanied him through the palm-grove to the town.  He walked between father and mother in his humble garb, and Joseph gave him good advice the while.  Mary was silent and invoked the heavenly powers to protect her child.  Only the boy was admitted through the gateway of the palace; father and mother remained behind and looked fearfully after their Jesus, who turned round to wave to them.  His face was glad, and that comforted the mother.  The father thought it incomprehensible that a child could so cheerfully and heedlessly part from the only creatures who cared for him; but he kept his thought to himself.

The boy felt curiosity, satisfaction, and repugnance all at the same time, when he gave himself into the hands of the servants, who led him to a refreshing bath, anointed him with sweet-smelling oil, and clad him in a silken garment.  But he desired to learn what life in the royal palace was like.  And gradually its splendour began to enfold him.  The Arabian tales which his father loved to tell him contained marvels and splendours, but nothing to be compared with the magnificence and brilliance that now assailed his senses.  Marble staircases as broad as streets, halls as lofty as temples, marble