pretty tunes. David, king of Israel, was, in
his youth, a shepherd boy, and he learned to
play beautiful music while he watched his
sheep. The Psalms that you find in the Bible
were composed by him.

PRESENTATION

Now let us read about a shepherd who was
playing music. (The teacher reads the poem.)
While he was playing, what did he see? He saw a
little child sitting on a cloud.

What was the child doing? He was laughing.

Why? He liked the music.

What kind of music was it? It was pleasant,
full of joy.

Where was the shepherd? In a valley.

Tell what the valley was like. It was wild. It
had big rocks and hills on each side, and a
cloud was over the valley.

What did the child ask him to do? To play "a
song about a Lamb".

Why did he do that? Because the sheep were
pretty and he thought he should like to hear
pretty music about them.

How did the child like it? He asked the
shepherd to play the tune again, and it was
such beautiful music that the keen enjoyment of
it made the tears come to his eyes.

What did the child next ask? He wished to have
the music put into words, so he asked the
shepherd to "sing" it.

How did the child enjoy it? It was so lovely
that he "wept with joy".

What did he ask the shepherd to do? To "write"
it down.

Why? The child thought it was so lovely that he
wanted other children to hear it, too.

Yes, that is the way that we come to have all
these pretty poems in our books. If they were
only played or sung, not so many children could
have the opportunity of enjoying them.

What do you need when you write? We need pens,
and paper, and ink.

The shepherd had not steel pens, and white
paper, and black ink. He may have used the bark
of trees to write on.

How did he get a pen? He "plucked a hollow
reed", and he "made a rural pen".

What does that mean? He took a hollow stalk,
such as an oat straw or a weed, and cut it in
the form of a pen.

What is a "rural pen"? "Rural" means belonging
to the country. The pen was not made as ours
are. The shepherd wrote abo