The Little Fir Tree had a sudden sight of a long room with many little white beds in it, of children propped up on pillows in the beds, and of other children in great wheeled chairs, and others hobbling about or sitting in little chairs.  He wondered why all the little children looked so white and tired; he did not know that he was in a hospital.  But before he could wonder any more his breath was quite taken away by the shout those little white children gave.

“Oh! oh! m-m! m-m!” they cried.

“How pretty!  How beautiful!  Oh, isn’t it lovely!”

He knew they must mean him, for all their shining eyes were looking straight at him.  He stood as straight as a mast, and quivered in every needle, for joy.  Presently one little weak child-voice called out,—­

“It’s the nicest Christmas tree I ever saw!”

And then, at last, the Little Fir Tree knew what he was; he was a Christmas tree!  And from his shiny head to his feet he was glad, through and through, because he was just little enough to be the nicest kind of tree in the world!

HOW MOSES WAS SAVED

Thousands of years ago, many years before David lived, there was a very wise and good man of his people who was a friend and adviser of the king of Egypt.  And for love of this friend, the king of Egypt had let numbers of the Israelites settle in his land.  But after the king and his Israelitish friend were dead, there was a new king, who hated the Israelites.  When he saw how strong they were, and how many there were of them, he began to be afraid that some day they might number more than the Egyptians, and might take his land from him.

Then he and his rulers did a wicked thing.  They made the Israelites slaves.  And they gave them terrible tasks to do, without proper rest, or food, or clothes.  For they hoped that the hardship would kill off the Israelites.  They thought the old men would die and the young men be so ill and weary that they could not bring up families, and so the race would vanish away.

But in spite of the work and suffering, the Israelites remained strong, and more and more boys grew up, to make the king afraid.

Then he did the wickedest thing of all.  He ordered his soldiers to kill every boy baby that should be born in an Israelitish family; he did not care about the girls, because they could not grow up to fight.

Very soon after this evil order, a boy baby was born in a certain Israelitish family.  When his mother first looked at him her heart was nearly broken, for he was even more beautiful than most babies are,—­so strong and fair and sweet.  But he was a boy!  How could she save him from death?

Somehow, she contrived to keep him hidden for three whole months.  But at the end of that time, she saw that it was not going to be possible to keep him safe any longer.  She had been thinking all this time about what she should do, and now she carried out her plan.