"How unkind thou art to listen and then laugh at me," said Naomi, putting out her under lip. "I would have told thee, Ezra, about the well only it was a secret. Do not tell Mother, wilt thou? I would fain surprise her. Promise thou wilt not tell, Ezra! Promise!" And Naomi laid an imploring hand upon her brother's arm.
Ezra's only answer was to laugh and shake his head. Though he had no intention of telling, he wanted to tease Naomi a little before making any promises. He was fond of his little sister, and was far more gentle and kindly than many another brother would have been in those days in old Palestine.
For in the Jewish family, girls were not valued so highly as boys, and were made to feel their unimportance in many ways that would be highly displeasing to little sisters of to-day. Girls were taught to wait upon their brothers and to treat them with respect. It was impressed upon them that the duty of a girl was to be useful and modest and quiet, and that her chief pleasure should lie in making home happy and comfortable for her father and brothers.
But in the household of Samuel the weaver, Naomi's lot had not been quite that of the ordinary Jewish girl. Her father was proud of his bright, lovable little daughter and had made her his special pet. Her mother, who had been well taught by her own mother, a "wise woman" of her day, was careful that Naomi seldom missed the daily lesson that kept the little girl, to her great delight, only a short way behind Ezra on the hard road of knowledge.
So Ezra, though he felt his superiority as a boy and the first-born of his family, could not long resist Naomi's pleading glance nor the pressure of her little brown hand.
"What wilt thou give me if I do not tell?" asked Ezra, not wishing to seem to relent too quickly.
"The first bright shekel I find in the highway," answered Naomi saucily.
She was smiling now, and her hand was gently stroking the little lamb's nose.
"What lamb is this, Ezra?" she asked. "And why hast thou brought it home? It seems sleepy, poor little creature. Look, its eyes are half shut."