Long ago in the land of Egypt there lived as slaves to the Egyptians a<br />race of white people called the Hebrews. There were so many of them that<br />the Egyptians began to be afraid that they would over-run the land. So<br />the cruel king, or the Pharaoh, as he was called, commanded that all the<br />baby boys of the slave race should be thrown into the River Nile. But<br />one little child escaped this fate, for his poor slave mother disobeyed<br />the king and hid her baby in her hut. When he was three months old, his<br />mother was afraid she could not keep him quiet any longer. So she made a<br />basket, and plastered it inside with pitch, so that it would be<br />water-tight and float like a boat. Into this basket-boat she put her<br />baby.