Aaron at first supposed that he was pursued by one of Pharaoh’s horsemen, and he would have cast himself into the Nile; but Gabriel stayed him, declared who he was, mounted him on the fiery cherub, and they crossed the Nile on his back. There stood Moses, who, when he saw Aaron, exclaimed, “Truth is come, Falsehood is passed.” Now this was the sign that God had given to Moses, “_Behold he cometh to meet thee._”[489] And they rejoiced over each other. But another account is this: Moses entered Memphis with his sheep, during the night. Now Amram was dead, but his wife Jochebed was alive. When Moses reached the door, Jochebed was awake. He knocked at the door; then she opened, but knew him not, and asked, “Who art thou?” He answered, “I am a man from a far country; I pray thee lodge me, and give me to eat this night.” She took him in, and brought him some meat, and said to Aaron, “Sit down and eat with the guest, to do him honour.” Aaron, in eating, conversed with Moses and recognized him. Then the mother and sister knew him also. And when the meal was over, Moses acquitted himself of his mission to Aaron, and Aaron answered, “I will obey the will of God.”[490] Moses spent the night, and the whole of the following day, in relating to his mother the things that had befallen him. And on the second night, Moses and Aaron went forth to Pharaoh’s palace. Now the palace had four hundred doors, a hundred on each side, and each door was guarded by sixty thousand fighting men. The angel Gabriel came to them and led them into the palace, but not by the doors. When they appeared before Pharaoh, they said: “God hath sent us unto thee to bid thee let the Hebrews go, that they may hold a feast in the wilderness.” But Pharaoh said, “_Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go._”[491] Tabari tells a different story. Moses and Aaron sought admittance during two years. Now Pharaoh gave himself out to be a god. But Moses and Aaron, when they spake at the door with the porters, said, “He is no god.” One day the jester of Pharaoh heard his master read the history of his own life, and when he came to the passage which asserted he was a god, the jester exclaimed, “Now this is strange! For two years there have been two strangers at thy gate denying thy divinity.” When Pharaoh heard this, he was in a fury, and he sent and had Moses and Aaron brought before him. But to return to the Rabbinic tale. Moses and Aaron were driven out from the presence of Pharaoh; and he said, “Who admitted these men?” And some of the porters he slew, and some he scourged. Then two lionesses were placed before the palace, to protect it, and the beasts suffered no man to enter unless Pharaoh gave the word.