Early upon the morning following a servant came to Leah and said:
"There be a lad outside the gates of the palace who desires speech with
thee."
"A lad desires speech with me," said the little maid, wonderingly. "But
I know no lad in Damascus."
"He inquired for the Israelite maiden who is a slave in the house of
Naaman," replied the servant. "'Tis only a ragged beggar lad," and the
servant turned scornfully away.
Leah passed out of the palace and ran down to the great gates.
Beyond the gates, for the servant had not permitted him to enter, stood
a lad. His coarse garments were soiled and torn, his bare feet were
cut and bleeding. The golden light from the rising sun fell upon his
dark curly head.
Uttering a cry of joy, he ran, with outstretched hands, towards the
little maid.
"Leah! sister! I have found thee at last!" he cried.
She stood motionless, gazing at him with wide, bewildered eyes.
"Isaac! my brother! is it indeed thou?" she cried.
"Yes, 'tis indeed thy Isaac!" he answered. "But, as thou dost see, no
longer a cripple for Elisha has made me whole."
"Elisha has made thee whole," she repeated.
"Yes; listen, and I will tell thee all," said Isaac. "I will speak but
briefly of the sorrow which did fill our hearts when thou wert captured
by the Syrians. Had I not been a helpless cripple I would have gone
forth to seek thee. Then one day our mother called our father to her
and said, 'Unless thou seeketh help we shall soon have no child, for
Isaac will die of his grief for his sister.' 'Where and of whom shall I
seek help?' asked our father. 'Journey to Samaria and seek the prophet,
Elisha,' answered our mother. 'Tell to him how heavily the hand of
misfortune has fallen upon our home. Beg of him to return with thee and
heal our son.'
"So upon the morrow our father did borrow the ass of our neighbor and
set forth upon his journey to Samaria. In the evening he returned,
bringing Elisha with him. That night, sister, while our parents slept,
Elisha came and stood beside my couch. I felt the touch of his hand
upon my limbs and I heard his voice saying, 'With the sun thou shalt
rise from thy couch and walk.' Then he was gone and it seemed to me
I had but dreamed. When the morning had come and the sun had risen,
Elisha was gone, but I did arise from my couch and walk, for I was
strong and made whole.
"Then did I set forth to seek thee. I was many days in reaching
Damascus. I was often hungry and footsore, but I was happy for I was
no longer a cripple. But yesterday I did pass through the gates of
Damascus. There was great excitement upon the streets. The people were
shouting and uttering cries of joy. I learned that they were rejoicing
because Naaman, a great Syrian general and favorite of the king,
Benhadad, had returned from Samaria healed of his leprosy.
"I asked a woman in the crowd who had healed Naaman. 'A great man
called Elisha,' she replied. 'Tis said that Naaman did hear of this
Elisha through a little Israelite maid who is a slave in Naaman's
household.' Oh, dear sister, how I did rejoice at her words for I knew
then that I had found thee. I am come to offer myself as Naaman's slave
that I may ransom thee."
Leah put her arms tenderly about his neck.
"Brother," she said, "I am no more a slave; neither shalt thou nor
our parents labor, for Naaman has made me rich. Oh! dear brother! our
hearts should indeed be filled with gratitude to Jehovah, Israel's God."
END.
[Illustration]
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes:
Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
Page 12, "widsom" changed to "wisdom" (words of wisdom)
Page 52, "pesisted" changed to "persisted" (persisted the servant)
Page 68, "A" changed to "An" (An hour before)
End of Project Gutenberg's The Little Maid of Israel, by Emma Howard Wight