Doubt
not, the Hebrew prince knew that the gift came from a son of Israel.
The queen and Moses used the attar. Therefore all purple-wearing Egypt
must have it or die, since the fashion had been set within the
boundaries of the throne. Then did Elihu name a price for his sweet
odor that might have been small had each drop been a jewel. But Egypt
opened her coffers and bought as though her idols had broken their
silence and commanded her."
The old woman paused and reflected with grim satisfaction on the remote
days of an Israelitish triumph.
"Meanwhile," she continued finally, "thy grandsire lived humbly in
Goshen. None dreamed that this keeper of a little flock, lord over a
little tent and tiller of a few acres, was the great Syrian merchant
who was despoiling Mizraim.
"Next he became a money-lender, through his steward, to the Egyptians,
and wrested from them what they had saved in putting Israel to toil
without hire. So his riches increased a hundredfold and the half of
noble Egypt was beholden to him. Then he turned to aid his oppressed
brethren.
"He bribed the taskmasters or kept watch over them and discovered
wherein they were false to the Pharaoh, and held their own sin over
their heads till they submitted through fear of him.
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