When they returned
to their father Jethro (on whom be peace!) they told him, and he
said to one of them, "Haply, he is hungry: go back to him and bid
him hither." So she covered her face and returning to Moses, said
to him, "My father bids thee to him, that he may reward thee for
having drawn water for us." Moses was averse to this and
unwilling to follow her. Now she was a woman large in the
buttocks, and the wind blowing upon her gown, discovered this;
which when Moses saw, he lowered his eyes and said to her, "Do
thou walk behind me." So she followed him, till he came to
Jethro's house, where the evening meal was ready. "O Moses," said
Jethro, "I desire to reward thee for having drawn water for
them." But he answered, "I am of a people who sell nothing of the
fashion of the next world for earthly gold and silver." "O
youth," rejoined Jethro, "nevertheless thou art my guest, and it
is my wont and that of my fathers to do honour to the guest by
setting food before him." So Moses sat down and ate. Then Jethro
hired Moses for eight pilgrimages, that is to say, eight years,
and appointed to him for hire the hand of his daughter, and
Moses' service to him was to stand for her dowry. As says the
Holy Writ of him (quoth Jethro), "I am minded to marry thee to
one of these my daughters, on condition that thou serve me eight
years, and if thou serve out the ten, it will be of thine own
will, for I do not wish to press hardly on thee.
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