o--not everything. One tiny speck of light
was flickering in the blackness.

"He must be where the light is," said one of the shepherds.

Down the street they ran, and in through a door.

They were standing in a stable. There were no angels there. Instead of
that, the shepherds saw cows and donkeys eating hay. A cold draft of
air was blowing in around the cracks of the door and over the dirt
floor. Beside one of the mangers they saw a man standing. A young
woman was resting close by. She was watching a baby who lay in the
straw.

"We came to see the Messiah," one of the shepherds stammered.

The baby cried. The animals munched their food.

There was some explaining to do. The shepherds told the story of what
had happened in the field.

The young man beside the manger did not have anything very exciting to
tell the shepherds.

"My name," he said, "is Joseph. This is my wife Mary. We used to live
here in Bethlehem, but no one remembers us now. I've been working in
Galilee for years. I have a carpenter shop there. The only reason we
came back to Bethlehem was to have our names entered in the government
records.

"We got here only yesterday. We tried to get a room in the inn, but
there wasn't any room for us with all the important people here. They
said we could sleep in the stable. The baby came tonight. Here he is,
if you would like to see him."

The shepherds looked at the baby. They hoped that they would see
something unusual about him, but he looked just like any other baby.

Then they remembered the angels' song.

Outside again, the shepherds looked up and saw a faint gray light
streaking the blackness in the east. Morning was coming. Soon the
people of the countryside would be getting up.

What a story the shepherds were going to tell them! Who would have
thought of looking for the Messiah in a manger! The shepherds were the
first to learn the secret. As they walked back to their flocks they
prayed and gave thanks to God.

[Illustration]

Meanwhile, the little family in the stable were gathered in silence
around the manger. Mary, the mother, said never a word, but her
thoughts were busy with the tale the shepherds had told about her
little child.

* * * * *

The shepherds were not the only people to see strange lights in the
sky. Many miles away, three men saw a new star. They were Wise Men,
and they knew all the stars, but this one they had never seen before.