Explanation
Obviously these sorts of things can get distorted, if they're based on something that isn't quite the same, but more possible.
Basically what (IMO) probably happened is that a volcano erupted nearby, causing the 2 previous plagues (fire rain and darkness). Another thing that can happen when a volcano erupts is a release of poison gas. Now, recall that the Jews were instructed to hide in their homes and "paint their doors with goats blood". The blood could perhaps have served as an insulation mechanism keeping the gas outside of the homes.
So if lots of people died for mysterious reasons, including the pharoah's first born, but the Jews didn't die, the legend could easily have been slightly distorted to be just first-born children. Perhaps the poison gas didn't kill adults because they were old enough and strong enough to be able to survive the poison???
I'm sure I'm not the first person to have come up with this but I don't recall where I saw it before and I don't feel like googling today [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
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