When a baby comes to your home you want to tell every one you see, do you not?
But in that little home it was very different. Miriam, the baby's sister, could not tell any one about the little brother, and the poor mother had to keep the baby hidden away. Shall I tell you why?
In that country there lived a wicked king, who did not love little children, and whenever he heard that a boy baby had come into a house he sent his soldiers to take the baby away.
This mother loved her baby dearly, and she wanted to keep him always. But when the baby began to grow, and to laugh and to cry, just as all babies do, the mother's heart was very sad, for she knew she could hide him no longer.
One day she took the baby and went down to the river. There she gathered a great many of the tall grasses that grew on the river bank, and of these grasses she made a little basket, or ark, just large enough to hold the baby. She wove it carefully, and when it was finished she covered it over with pitch and slime, so that no water could come into it.
Then she lifted her baby, put him into the queer little basket, carried the basket to the river and set it down carefully in the water. The tall rushes growing there held the little cradle, that the water might not wash it away.
The mother turned and went quickly to her home. But do you think she left the baby alone? Ah, no. Among the tall grasses near the river's brim stood Miriam, the sister, patiently watching the queer cradle.
While Miriam watched, the princess came to the river to bathe. The maidens who had come to help her walked along the river's side.
Presently the princess saw the queer little basket and sent one of her maids to get it.
When the princess opened the basket, the baby wakened and began to cry, and the princess felt very sorry for the little one.