carried him down to a river and hid the cradle among the reeds there.

Soon after this, Pharaoh's daughter came with her maidens to the
river-side, and when she saw the beautiful child, she sent one of her
maidens to bring it to her.

She took the little boy to the palace and named him Moses, and he became
a great man among the Egyptians; he knew, however, that he belonged to
the Hebrew race, and when he saw how badly his own people were treated,
he tried to help them; but at last he was obliged to leave Egypt, and
became a shepherd, taking care of the flocks of a priest called Jethro.
He also married Jethro's daughter.

[Illustration: THE GOOD SAMARITAN.]

After a time, God spoke to Moses out of a burning bush, and told him
that he must go and rescue his people from the cruel Egyptians. Moses
thought he could not do this; but God promised to help him, and to show
him what he would be able to do with that help, God turned the rod which
Moses carried into a serpent. Then God told Moses to pick the serpent
up by the tail, and as he did so, it became a rod again. He showed him
another sign, also; but Moses was still afraid, because he could not
talk well and thought that Pharaoh would not listen to him. So God told
him to take his brother Aaron for a spokesman.

Moses and Aaron, therefore, went into Egypt, where they called together
the chief men among their own people, the Hebrews, or Israelites, and
told them what God had commanded. Moses also did the miracles which God
had given him power to do, and the people believed that God had sent
him.

After this Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, and told him that it was the
Lord's command that he should let the Israelites go. Pharaoh knew
nothing about God, and became very angry, saying that Moses and Aaron
kept the people from their work by telling them such things; and he
treated the poor Israelites worse than before.

But Moses had faith in God; so he was able to perform before the king
the wonderful things that he had done before his own people; still,
Pharaoh would not let the children of Israel go.

Then Moses turned the waters of the rivers into blood; and after that he
caused large numbers of frogs to run over the land and through the
houses, doing great harm. He also brought locusts and other insects to
be a pest to the people, and caused many of the useful animals which
belonged to the Egyptians to grow sick and die, doing all these wonders
with the rod which