What Happened at the Stable That Holy Night

What Happened at the Stable That Holy Night

A very long time ago, perhaps way beyond remembering, a tiny little boy was born in a poor village. As a young boy, he and all the village animals were on intimate terms. He grew to a young man and everyone in the village admired how he could talk to animals in the village. He seemed to know when the ox was going to calve, and would be in the stable to watch and be of help. Sometimes a kitten would be caught in a hole in one of the caves surrounding the village and he would rescue it. One time a litter of pups had been abandoned after the mother had been killed by a wolf. The young man took the pups in and nursed them until they were ready to be on their own. He went through the village and found homes for every one of those pups. Every animal in the village seemed to know him, and surely they loved him.

The young man took a wife and they struggled to make ends meet, until as luck would have it, an opportunity came to them to start an inn in their little village. In those days, strangers came into the village and had nowhere else to stay, but a cave or stable. Many people even kept their animals in caves. The couple worked hard to make their inn a place where strangers and travelers passing through could find a pallet in their home upon which to rest after a weary trip. Except for the rich or prosperous, travelers walked long distances to get to where they were going. Only a few people could afford to ride a camel, or even a donkey. No one but an important soldier would have a horse or chariot. Walking was the accepted way to get to one's destination, be it five miles or fifty miles. The couple provided a hot drink to the travelers, a pallet on their floor, and offered their guests a plate of olives, figs and bread before travelers set upon their way again. As the young man had such a way with animals, if the traveler perchance did have beast of burden that traveled with them, he would gently take the animal, feed and water it and bed it down with the animals he kept in the stable.

His stable was a cave, a very small cave, just big enough for an ox, 2 donkeys, a couple of doves who lived in the bracing rafters, 2 sheep, a yearling lamb and a goat. He lovingly attended the animals daily, talking to them as well as feeding them. In fact, his wife knew that if he disappeared early in the morning or in the evening, she could find him out in the stable. There he would be down on his knees, talking to each of his animals. Kittens from the neighborhood might come for an evening stroll to visit their friend. There was always a warm stroke and a bit of milk over there at that welcoming cave.

In that time there came a decree for all in the land to go back to their place of birth to register. The authorities were quite adamant that every person should do this, even though this was a great hardship to all who dwelt in this land. On one particular night during this time of turmoil, there seemed to be an eerie calm happening in the village. That day had seen the most travelers yet to come into the village to find shelter. The young man and his wife had used all their space for strangers and travelers to bed down, even giving their own bed to one old man and his frail wife. As the sun left the sky and the clear night started to close in, there came another young couple, the wife being ready to bear a child. The husband begged the young innkeeper and his wife to allow them to stay somewhere. Knowing that it would be a cold night, and seeing the young mother-to-be in such discomfort, the young man led them out to his stable where they would at least find warmth and shelter from the cold night. As he entered the stable with his new guests, his animals turned their heads toward him. He spoke gently to them and they made low moans and coos, as if welcoming the new occupants of the stable. He led the ox over to the far side of the stable and gave an extra measure of grain to him and the donkeys, ushering the travelers' beast of burden in to stay alongside his own animals. Clearing the manger where the hay had been placed earlier in the evening, he laid fresh hay into the rough wooden trough, and even spread another blanket of straw around the stable. He stroked the young lamb and spoke gently to the goat as he playfully pulled its ear. Whistling at the doves in the rafters, they cooed back to him "I hope you'll find this warm enough here. In the morning I'll bring you something hot to drink before you go on your way. My friends here will watch over you tonight, I'm sure" he chuckled.

That night as the innkeeper lay on his pallet in the only remaining floor space in his little inn, he was awakened by some strange and heavenly sounds. He quietly got up and slipped onto the roof to listen to what might be happening. It seemed especially bright that night, due to a star in the eastern sky that was of such light, he stood in amazement. He thought he heard singing somewhere , indeed, if he had had to relate the sound to anyone who asked, he would have had to say it truly sounded like angels. And as he looked down toward his stable, he again heard something. This time it seemed like it was not angels , but his own animals . Now he knew his animals talked to him but he said little about this to anyone for fear they would think him addled. Yet this time there were sounds he knew his animals were making, that they had never made before. It was like an animal chorus. A low moo blended with the melodic baaing of the goat and sheep, with staccato notes from the doves, and a dogs and some kittens filling in the harmony in the middle. Some kind of miracle must be happening tonight. Some kind of glorious event was taking place in his very stable. He stood there for an eternity listening to angelic sounds coming from the skies, echoed by his little animal symphony in the stable. He took it all in, knowing that he would find out on the morrow from the members of his stable entourage. But for now, he found that he could do nothing but imagine what miracle had happened here, and wonder what his stable had wrought that very night.