《【国外英文文学】The Babe in the Bulrushes.doc》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《【国外英文文学】The Babe in the Bulrushes.doc（23页珍藏版）》请在taowenge.com淘文阁网|工程机械CAD图纸|机械工程制图|CAD装配图下载|SolidWorks_CaTia_CAD_UG_PROE_设计图分享下载上搜索。
1、【国外英文文学】The Babe in the BulrushesTHE FINDING OF MOSESMany long years had passed since the days when Josephs brothers andtheir families had settled in the land of Egypt. They were a greatnation in numbers now, but the Egyptians still ruled over them, andused them as servants. The Pharaoh who had been
2、 so kind to theshepherds from Canaan was dead long ago, and the new kings, orPharaohs as they were called, hated foreigners, and began to treat theIsraelites very harshly. There were too many of them, they said; itwas dangerous to have so many strong, powerful slaves. They must bekept down, and made
3、 to work from morning till night, and be beaten ifthey did not work fast enough.That was very hard for the poor people; but worse was to come. Anorder was issued one day which spread sorrow through all the land ofGoshen, where the Israelites lived. Every baby boy that was born wasto be thrown into t
4、he river. Girl babies might be allowed to live, forthey would be useful as slaves, but boys might grow up to fight fortheir country, and so they must be destroyed.In one little house, not far from the great river Nile, a woman satholding her tiny baby in her arms, while the tears ran down hercheeks.
5、 He was such a beautiful baby, so strong and fair and healthy;but the kings order was that he was to be thrown into the river,where the cruel, hungry crocodiles were waiting to snap up everythingthey could find for a meal. Jochebed, the poor mother, held her babycloser in her arms. No, she could not
6、 obey the kings order. She wouldtry and hide the baby for a little while, at any rate.It was easy to hide a baby while he was still tiny and slept most ofthe day; but when he grew bigger it was much more difficult. Hissister Miriam did her best to help her mother; but any day, now thatthe baby was t
7、hree months old, he might be discovered, and somethingmust be done at once.So Jochebed thought of a plan, and prayed to God that He would helpher to carry it out. At the edge of the river there grew tallbulrushes, which, when cut down and dried, could be made into manyuseful things. Taking some of t
8、hese bulrushes, she wove them into alittle cradle with a cover to it, just like a little ark, and this shecovered with a kind of pitch, so that not a drop of water could comethrough. Inside the cradle she made a soft bed, and laid the babythere while he was fast asleep, and set the ark afloat in the
9、 waterwhere the bulrushes were growing. She knew that presently the greatprincess, Pharaohs daughter, would come down to bathe in the river,and would notice the queer little ark floating there.Illustration: She laid the baby there while he was fast asleep.Very soon the royal procession came winding
10、down from the palacetowards the river, as the princess in her gorgeous robes made her wayto bathe in the pool of the lotus flowers. But at the edge of theriver she stopped. What was that among the bulrushes? It was no lotusflower, but a strange-looking covered basket, and she ordered hermaidens to b
11、ring it to her.The little ark was lifted out of the water and carried to theprincess. There was surely something alive inside, and the princesswas full of curiosity as she leaned down and lifted the cover to lookin. Then she started back in amazement. The dearest little baby shehad ever seen lay the
12、re, all rosy and fresh after his sleep, gazing upat her with wide-open eyes. The maidens crowded round, and the sightof all those strange faces was more than the baby could bear. Hepuckered up his face and began to cry.The princess loved babies, and she had none of her own. That littlewailing cry we
13、nt to her heart. She guessed at once that this was oneof the Hebrew babies which had been ordered to be destroyed, and shemade up her mind that this beautiful boy should at least be saved.All this time Miriam had been watching from her hiding-place close by,and with anxious, beating heart she came f
14、orward now. Could she helpthe princess? she asked. Should she run and find some Hebrew woman whomight look after the baby?Perhaps the princess guessed that the babys mother would not be faroff, and she must have smiled a little when a nurse was so quicklyfound. But she took no notice of that.Take th
15、is child away, she said, when Jochebed stood humbly beforeher, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages.It was merely as a nurse that the mother was hired. The great princessmeant to adopt the baby as her own. But he was safe, and Jochebedsheart was full of gratitude to God as she took he
16、r little son into herarms again.As long as he needed a nurse the baby was left to be looked after byhis mother in the little house by the river-side. The princess calledhim Moses, which means drawn out, because he had been drawn out ofthe water, and she had made up her mind that as soon as he was ol
17、denough he should come to live with her at the palace, and be broughtup as a prince. He would be treated just as if he was really her son.Illustration: She taught him about God.But his poor mother had him for those first precious years while hewas still a little boy, and she did not waste one minute
18、 of that timein her training of him. She taught him about God, and told him all thewonderful stories about his own country, so that he should neverforget that he belonged to Gods people, even when he should become aprince in the Egyptian palace. Just as a gardener sows seeds in agarden which afterwa
19、rds grow up into beautiful flowers, so she sowedthe seeds of truth in the heart of her little son, which longafterwards were to blossom out and bear such wonderful fruit.Illustration: Beating him unmercifully with a long whip.Then when Moses was old enough to do without a nurse, she took him tothe p
20、alace, and brought him unto Pharaohs daughter, and he becameher son.But deep down in his heart he never forgot his own people.It happened one day that he saw one of the Egyptian taskmasterstreating one of the poor Israelite slaves with great cruelty, beatinghim most unmercifully with a long whip. Th
21、is made Moses so angry thathe rushed in to defend the slave, and dealt the taskmaster such a blowthat it killed him.But instead of being grateful the Israelites would not trust him, andbegan to whisper the tale of how he had killed the Egyptian, so thatMoses was obliged to flee for his life, leaving
22、 behind all the richesand honours he had enjoyed so long.A very different kind of life began now for Moses. He journeyed farinto the desert and joined company there with an Arab tribe, andwandered from place to place feeding their flocks and living the lifeof a shepherd.But God had more difficult wo
23、rk for him to do than feeding sheep, andone day when he was in the desert he saw a strange sight. A bush wasgrowing there, and in the middle of the bush a fire was burning, andthe strange thing was that although the fire kept on burning fiercelythe bush was not burnt at all. It was the Angel of the
24、Lord that wasin the midst of the fire, and as Moses drew near God called him by hisname, and told him that he was to go back and set his people freefrom the tyranny of Pharaoh and lead them into the Promised Land.Illustration: In the middle of the bush a fire was burning.At first Moses said it was i
25、mpossible for him to do this. His ownpeople would not trust him, and he was no great speaker; he wouldcertainly fail. But God bade him do his best, and Aaron his brotherwould speak for him; and above all God would be his helper.Illustration: Arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all thispeople. Josh
26、ua i. 2.So Moses returned to the land of Egypt and boldly asked Pharaoh toallow the people to go and worship God. Time after time Pharaohrefused, although God sent dreadful plagues to warn him. At last,however, when the angel of death killed all the eldest sons of theEgyptians, Pharaoh was terrified
27、 and said the people might go at onceand take all their belongings with them.Illustration: The Land of Canaan lay stretched out before him.It was a great company of people that set out, and Moses the greatleader guided them on their way. They had many adventures, and bravedmany dangers and difficult
28、ies, but God was always their shield anddefence. He delivered them by parting the waters of the Red Sea andallowing them to walk over dry-shod when Pharaoh and his army werepursuing them. And when the pursuers tried to follow them, the watersrolled back, and the whole great army were swept away by t
29、he returningtide.Yet in spite of Gods care and goodness towards them, these Israeliteswere often ungrateful, and complained bitterly when they suffered anywant. And it was always Moses whom they blamed.Moses was very patient with them; but once he was so angry that he wastempted to disobey Gods dire
30、ction, and as a punishment God told himthat though he should see the Promised Land from afar he would neverenter it himself.There on the mountain top he stood, gazing into the far distance,where the Land of Canaan, that fair land flowing with milk and honey,lay stretched out before him. Then he bowe
31、d his head to Gods will.The murmuring people never saw their great leader again. He was not,for God took him.RUTH, THE GLEANERAlong the hot, dusty road that led from the country of Moab to thefair land of Judah three women were walking with bowed heads andweary, halting steps. Their sorrowful, heavy
32、 eyes took no pleasure inthe summer beauty of the harvest fields, the shimmering silver of theolive trees, and the rich promise of the vineyards which borderedtheir way. The whole world looked sad to them, seen through a mist oftears.There behind them, in the land of Moab, each of these women had le
33、ftgreen graves, which held all they loved best. Naomi, the eldest, wasperhaps the most desolate. Her thoughts went back to the time when shewas as young and fair as the two daughters-in-law who walked at herside-when with her husband and her two boys she had trod that veryroad, seeking a home in a s
34、trange country to escape the famine whichthreatened them in her own land. Now she was returning to her nativetown of Bethlehem, a childless, lonely widow.The younger women, who were the wives of those two dead sons, werevery sorrowful too, but for them there might yet be happiness in theworld. They
35、still had near and dear relatives and many friends inMoab, which was their native land. They had come far enough now, andit was time for them to return.Turn again, my daughters, said Naomi, and go your way.Their homes lay behind, and she must journey on alone to the littlehill town which she had not
36、 seen for so many long years. They hadkindly come so far to see her on her way, but they must come nofarther.So the little party halted, and one of the young women, weepingbitterly, kissed her mother-in-law and turned to go back. But theother one, whose name was Ruth, clung to Naomi, and would not l
37、eaveher.In vain the elder woman urged her to return, and pointed out thatOrpah had gone, that home and friends and happiness awaited her there,while in front was only poverty and loneliness. Ruth only clung thecloser as she sobbed out her tender, loving words.Entreat me not to leave thee, she said,
38、or to return from followingafter thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest,I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. TheLord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me.The tender words brought comfort to the heart of Naomi, as soft ra
39、inbrings refreshment to the hard, dry earth. After all, she was notquite alone; she still had some one to love and care for. So togetherthey journeyed on again, and at last came to the winding road whichled up to the town of Bethlehem, nestling like a white bird upon thelong ridge of hills.Naomi kne
40、w every step of the way. It seemed almost like a dream totread on more that winding road, to pass through the city gates andfind her way to the little house she knew so well. Although she hadbeen gone so many years there were still people who remembered her,and these came running out to greet her.Is
41、 this Naomi? they asked wonderingly.They could scarcely believe that this sad, broken-down woman could bethe pleasant-faced, happy girl who had gone away with her husband andboys in the year of the great famine. But as they listened to herstory they did not wonder that she seemed so old and talked s
42、obitterly. It made them look very kindly upon the beautiful girl whokept so close to her mother-in-law, who had given up everything ratherthan leave her alone.Illustration: He spoke very kindly.Naomi had been quite right when she had told Ruth that poverty laybefore them. She had come back quite emp
43、ty-handed, and it wasnecessary to find some work at once which would at least provide themwith daily bread. Ruth, looking out over the fields where already thebarley was being cut, made up her mind to go and work there. The poorwere always allowed to follow the reapers and glean the stray ears ofcor
44、n that fell unnoticed. She might at least gather enough to feed hermother-in-law and herself.Very happily, then, Ruth set out, and found her way into the harvestfield, which belonged to a rich man called Boaz. The reapers treatedher kindly when she timidly asked for permission to glean there, andwhe
45、n the master arrived to see how the harvest went, he too noticedher at once, for she was very beautiful.Whose damsel is this? he asked.There were many people ready to tell him her name, and also to tellhim how she had left her land and her people to come with Naomi, hermother-in-law. The story had b
46、een repeated all through the town.Boaz listened with interest. Naomi was his kins-woman, and it was onlyright that he should help her. He would begin by helping thesweet-faced daughter-in-law who had chanced to come gleaning upon hisland. So he went and spoke very kindly to the beautiful Ruth, and t
47、oldher to come every day to his harvest field and share the reapersfood, and he would see that no one troubled her. He even told thereapers to let some handfuls of corn fall in her way, on purpose, sothat there might be plenty for her to glean.Illustration: The two loving hearts rejoiced in their happiness.So each day Ruth went back and worked in the harvest fields, and eachday as Boaz watched her he grew to love the gentle, loving-heartedwoman more and more. And when at last the harvest days were over, hewent to Naomi and asked that Ruth migh