The Quran

Preface

فَجاءَتهُ إِحداهُما تَمشي عَلَى استِحياءٍ قالَت إِنَّ أَبي يَدعوكَ لِيَجزِيَكَ أَجرَ ما سَقَيتَ لَنا ۚ فَلَمّا جاءَهُ وَقَصَّ عَلَيهِ القَصَصَ قالَ لا تَخَف ۖ نَجَوتَ مِنَ القَومِ الظّالِمينَ

Yusuf Ali

Afterwards one of the (damsels) came (back) to him, walking bashfully. She said: “My father invites thee that he may reward thee for having watered¹ (our flocks) for us.” So when he came to him and narrated the story, he said: “Fear thou not: (well) hast thou escaped from unjust people.”²

Scarcely had he rested, when one of the damsels came back, walking with bashful grace! Modestly she gave her message, 'My father is grateful for what you did for us. He invites you, that he may thank you personally, and at least give some return for your kindness.'
Nothing could have been more welcome than such a message, and through such a messenger. Moses went of course, and saw the old man. He found such a well-ordered patriarchal household. The old man was happy with his daughters and they with him. There was mutual confidence. They had evidently described the stranger to him in terms which made his welcome a foregone conclusion. On the other hand Moses had allowed his imagination to paint the father in something of the glorious colours in which his daughters had appeared to him like an angelic vision. The two men got to be friends at once. Moses told the old man his storywho he was, how he was brought up, and what misfortunes had made him quit Egypt. Perhaps the whole household, including the daughters, listened breathlessly to his tale. Perhaps their wonder and admiration were mingled with a certain amount of pity-perhaps with some more tender feeling in the case of the girl who had been to fetch him. Perhaps the enchantment which Desdemona felt in Othello’s story was working on her. In any case the stranger had won his place in dieir hearts. The old man, the head of the household, assured him of hospitality and safety under his roof. As one with a long experience of life he congratulated him on his escape. 'Who would live among unjust people? It is as well you are free of them!'