“Terrified with the thoughts of what her husband would feel at such a sight, what a convincing proof he would hold it of a faith on her part the reverse of spotless,[3] she procured a babe of her own colour by means of a confidant; and before thou wert baptised (which is a ceremony that takes place in Ethiopia later than elsewhere) committed thee to my care to be brought up at a distance.  Who shall relate the tears which thy mother poured forth, and the sighs and sobs with which they were interrupted?  How many times, when she thought she had given thee the last embrace, did she not gather thee to her bosom once more!  At length, raising her eyes to heaven, she said, ’O Thou that seest into the hearts of mortals, and knowest in this matter the spotlessness of mine, dark though it be otherwise with frailty and with sin, save, I pray thee, this innocent creature who is denied the milk of its mother’s breast.  Vouchsafe that she resemble her hapless parent in nothing but a chaste life.  And thou, celestial warrior, that didst deliver the maiden out of the serpent’s mouth, if I have ever lit humble taper on thine altar, and set before thee offerings of gold and incense, be, I implore thee, her advocate.  Be her advocate to such purpose, that in every turn of fortune she may be enabled to count on thy good help.’  Here she ceased, torn to her very heart-strings, with a face painted of the colour of death; and I, weeping myself, received thee, and bore thee away, hidden in a sweet covering of flowers and leaves.

“I journeyed with thee along a forest, where a tiger came upon us with fury in its eyes.  I betook me, alas, to a tree, and left thee lying on the ground, such terror was in me; and the horrible beast looked down upon thee.  But it fell to licking thee with its dreadful tongue, and thou didst smile to it, and put thy little hand to its jaws; and, lo, it gave thee suck, being a mother itself; and then, wonderful to relate, it returned into the woods, leaving me to venture down from the tree, and bear thee onward to my place of refuge.  There, in a little obscure cottage, I had thee nursed for more than a year; till, feeling that I grew old, I resolved to avail myself of the riches the queen had given me, and go into my own country, which was Egypt.  I set out for it accordingly, and had to cross a torrent where thieves threatened me on one side, and the fierce water on the other.  I plunged in, holding thee above the torrent with one hand, till I came to an eddy that tore thee from me.  I thought thee lost.  What was my delight and astonishment, on reaching the bank, to find that the water itself had tossed thee upon it in safety!

“But I had a dream at night, which seemed to shew me the cause of thy good fortune.  A warrior appeared before me with a threatening countenance, holding a sword in my face, and saying in an imperious voice, ’Obey the commands of the child’s mother and of me, and baptise it.  She is favoured of Heaven, and her lot is in my keeping.  It was I that put tenderness in the heart of the wild beast, and even a will to save her in the water.  Woe to thee, if thou believest not this vision.  It is a message from the skies.’