“I thank you,” she answered warmly.  Then leaning against the trunk of the ancient tree, while he sank down on the bench, gazing alternately at the ground and into her face, she began: 

“Childhood already lies behind me, and youth will soon follow.  When I was a little girl, there was not much to distinguish me from others.  I played like them and, though my mother had taught me to pray to the God of our fathers, I was well pleased to listen to the other children’s tales of the goddess Isis.  Nay, I stole into her temple, bought spices, plundered our little garden for her, anointed her altar, and brought 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 Egyptians, among whom her pride and joy, our Moses, had attained such high honors.