At length they came to a place called Marah, where to their joy they found some water. But when they came to taste it, the water was so bitter that they could not drink it.
Then the people were very very angry with Moses, and blamed him very much.
So Moses cried to the Lord; and the Lord shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters they were made sweet and nice, and the people could drink.
Soon after this the great company had eaten up all the bread they had brought out of Egypt, and there were no shops to buy anything at, nor any corn growing in the wilderness.
Here was a new trouble, so the people began to scold Moses and Aaron again, saying they wished they had stayed in Egypt after all.
They forgot all about the cruel taskmasters, and the bricks, and their slavery; and they told Moses he had brought them into the wilderness to kill them with hunger! How soon they had forgotten all that God had done for them, and how they had walked through the midst of the sea on dry land!
God was very grieved when He heard their murmurings; but He promised Moses that He would rain down bread from heaven for them to eat.
So that evening the Lord sent a number of little birds, called quails, for the people to eat, and they satisfied their hunger; and in the morning He sent them the bread from heaven which He had promised.
Perhaps you will say, children, "Loaves from heaven?" I daresay the Israelites thought the same, and wondered as you do.
So in the morning when they went out of their tents, the dew laid on the ground, and when the dew was gone, the whole ground was covered with little white seeds. And the Children of Israel called it Manna.