My Favorite Christmas Fable
This story is from my childhood. I thought everyone knew this story, but for those who don't...
This is the story of what happened in the stable the night Jesus was born. But the story starts earlier in the day with the donkey. The donkey carried the Virgin Mary all the way to Bethlehem. On the one hand, a donkey is not a particularly big animal for carrying a person, but they are powerfully built. On the other hand a woman who is about ready to have a baby is not a particularly light burden, though maybe still smaller than a man, so maybe it is a wash. Joseph and Mary and the donkey had started out very early in the morning. Joseph and the donkey had walked all day with Mary riding the donkey. But Joseph and Mary were kindly and when they stopped to rest, Mary got off the donkey so that he could rest too. And when they ate, they made sure the donkey had fresh water and a meal as well.
They walked all day long and into the twilight and on into the evening before the donkey saw the town. He knew his journey was almost over. But even when they reached the town they went from place to place to place. Until at last Joseph led the donkey around to stable in the back. Joseph brushed the donkey down and made sure he had fresh water and clean hay. And the donkey was very happy. He was lucky to be with kind people and very happy to be at the end of the day and able to rest in the stable. And he had been whickering to the other barn animals while Joseph had been caring for him ,and the other animals seemed like a good sort to be spending the evening with. The donkey was very content.
But this lasted only a moment, because he looked around and saw Mary settling herself down in hay pile to rest and Joseph going to bring her some water and a small meal and realized that the two pople were staying in the stable also. The other animals of the barn could see he was upset about the peope staying.
The cow advised him, "Well, sometimes the people do stay here also when they have no place or no money to afford better."
The donkey replied, "Oh, you don't understand. See now, this is a nice enough barn for me, and you all are a good sort, but the woman is going to have that baby soon, likely tonight (animals have a sense for these things). And while this is a fine place for donkey, it is not so fair for a woman with a newborn baby."
Now that the animals knew the situation, they could see the donkey's point. The cow, being oldest of the lot and well experienced with people, spoke first. "well, we will do what we can. The people may take my hay crib and fill it with fresh straw and their newborn will have a soft place to sleep."
The sheep spoke next and said, "The man can comb out my coat and use the wool around their new baby and that will keep the baby warm against any night."
The goat said, "They may use my milk to drink. They at least will not go hungry." You scoff, but a great many people drink milk from goats....
The morning doves in the rafters said "We will sing our best song and soothe them all to sleep and gentle their slumber."
The barn kittens, there were a great many of them, young as they were, ran around mewing "we want to help! We want to help!" And the mother cat said "Hush! Do not wake the baby! You may be the baby's playmates in the morning. And you may ask the baby's mother if you can curl up with it and purr to help the baby feel warm and loved. Now go to sleep yourselves!"
And so it went. All the animals of the stable shared what supplies and talents they had. And so the baby Jesus was born into the world without anything, but through the kindness of those animals, Christ was born into the world without want.
The Bible will tell you that the very first people to see the baby Jesus were the shepherds of the field. And as far as the story goes, it is correct. But the very first to see Jesus were the animals of the stable that night.
And they say that to this very day, at midnight on Christmas day, the very first moment that heralds Jesus' birth, they say the animals of the barn can talk. They can speak long enough to tell their story of the gifts they had for the baby Jesus, so that we can all learn the story and not forget it.
Merry Christmas, friends.
This is the story of what happened in the stable the night Jesus was born. But the story starts earlier in the day with the donkey. The donkey carried the Virgin Mary all the way to Bethlehem. On the one hand, a donkey is not a particularly big animal for carrying a person, but they are powerfully built. On the other hand a woman who is about ready to have a baby is not a particularly light burden, though maybe still smaller than a man, so maybe it is a wash. Joseph and Mary and the donkey had started out very early in the morning. Joseph and the donkey had walked all day with Mary riding the donkey. But Joseph and Mary were kindly and when they stopped to rest, Mary got off the donkey so that he could rest too. And when they ate, they made sure the donkey had fresh water and a meal as well.
They walked all day long and into the twilight and on into the evening before the donkey saw the town. He knew his journey was almost over. But even when they reached the town they went from place to place to place. Until at last Joseph led the donkey around to stable in the back. Joseph brushed the donkey down and made sure he had fresh water and clean hay. And the donkey was very happy. He was lucky to be with kind people and very happy to be at the end of the day and able to rest in the stable. And he had been whickering to the other barn animals while Joseph had been caring for him ,and the other animals seemed like a good sort to be spending the evening with. The donkey was very content.
But this lasted only a moment, because he looked around and saw Mary settling herself down in hay pile to rest and Joseph going to bring her some water and a small meal and realized that the two pople were staying in the stable also. The other animals of the barn could see he was upset about the peope staying.
The cow advised him, "Well, sometimes the people do stay here also when they have no place or no money to afford better."
The donkey replied, "Oh, you don't understand. See now, this is a nice enough barn for me, and you all are a good sort, but the woman is going to have that baby soon, likely tonight (animals have a sense for these things). And while this is a fine place for donkey, it is not so fair for a woman with a newborn baby."
Now that the animals knew the situation, they could see the donkey's point. The cow, being oldest of the lot and well experienced with people, spoke first. "well, we will do what we can. The people may take my hay crib and fill it with fresh straw and their newborn will have a soft place to sleep."
The sheep spoke next and said, "The man can comb out my coat and use the wool around their new baby and that will keep the baby warm against any night."
The goat said, "They may use my milk to drink. They at least will not go hungry." You scoff, but a great many people drink milk from goats....
The morning doves in the rafters said "We will sing our best song and soothe them all to sleep and gentle their slumber."
The barn kittens, there were a great many of them, young as they were, ran around mewing "we want to help! We want to help!" And the mother cat said "Hush! Do not wake the baby! You may be the baby's playmates in the morning. And you may ask the baby's mother if you can curl up with it and purr to help the baby feel warm and loved. Now go to sleep yourselves!"
And so it went. All the animals of the stable shared what supplies and talents they had. And so the baby Jesus was born into the world without anything, but through the kindness of those animals, Christ was born into the world without want.
The Bible will tell you that the very first people to see the baby Jesus were the shepherds of the field. And as far as the story goes, it is correct. But the very first to see Jesus were the animals of the stable that night.
And they say that to this very day, at midnight on Christmas day, the very first moment that heralds Jesus' birth, they say the animals of the barn can talk. They can speak long enough to tell their story of the gifts they had for the baby Jesus, so that we can all learn the story and not forget it.
Merry Christmas, friends.