The Animals' Tales

As used at Holy Trinity, Nailsea Crib Service yesterday.

The Story of the Journey - The Donkey's Tale
I am a donkey. To tell the truth I don't have a name. Everyone calls me little. I suppose I am small for my age. But small creatures can do important tasks.

Caesar Augustus wanted to know how many people were in the Roman Empire. So he made everyone go home.

When a census was taken in the Roman Empire everyone had to get back to their birthplace and sign in. All the important people got the best rides. Those with no money either walked or got a donkey.

I got to carry this woman who was pregnant. Very pregnant. I put my hooves down really carefully in case a loud noise started her off.

And her bloke, Joseph, came from David's family. The great King David of Israel. And everyone knows that he came from - yeah that's right - Bethlehem, In Judea. But they lived in Nazareth in Galilee. That's eighty miles away and further if you don't want to go through Samaria. Which we didn't. Scum.

It took us a week. Amazing she didn't have the baby on the way.

And when we got to Bethlehem it was ramming. I wondered if some people wanted to show off that they came from the same town as David.

And all the rooms were taken. Everyone must have got there early to get a bed. So Mary and Joseph had to kip at my place. With the other animals.

I'll let Daisy the cow take the story on.



Inside the Stable - The Cow's Tale
Moo. Moo.

Hi I'm Daisy. High quality, organic milk supply to the hospitality industry.

This bit of the story gets exaggerated. Everyone reckons they know what happened and adds a bit of detail. To be honest it all took place quite quickly. Mary and Joseph crashed in the barn and that was where she had the baby. When Luke wrote it down all he said was:

While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her first-born, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger...

As I remember it we all tried to move to the side to give them a bit of room. Everyone respects a birth round here.

But it all went well. Lots of happy voices and then Mary and the baby went to sleep and Joseph went to the pub.

We had a bet on what they would call the kid. My money was on David - it seemed to fit - but everyone lost. They called him Joshua; that's Jesus in Greek. It means 'The Lord saves.' Hmm. I wonder.

How do I know all this? Remember, not all cows are as silly as they look.


Out in the Fields - The Sheep's Tale
It was night. We were all asleep. It was a bit of a boring night.

Sorry. I'm forgetting myself. Name's Harry. Harry the lamb. I told my Mum it would have been easier to remember if it had been Larry but what can you do?

I'll never forget what happened next. It became day. Not slowly as usual. At once. In an instant. Kaflash!

And a thing appeared. I didn't know what it was. The shepherds, who had been doing OK up to then, went crazy. They are supposed to protect us but they hid behind us while we tried to hide behind each other. It was chaos.

And a voice said:

Do not be afraid.

Didn't really work. We carried on being more afraid. Because the kaflash talked.

Then it spoke some more and said a baby had been born, was dressed in cloths, was lying in a manger and was really quite important.

The kaflash got brighter and started singing:

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.

Rubbish song. Great video.

So the shepherds left us and went to visit Bethlehem. Left us. Alone in the dark again. In the fields, by ourselves. That was frightening.

When they came back they seemed very excited. They kept talking about what had happened and told everyone who passed by the next day.

Amazing.


Another Journey - the Camel's Tale
If you want to go somewhere in style you don't walk. You don't go on a little donkey. You hire a camel.

That's me that is. Tall. Distinguished. Very capable. Someone once called us the ships of the desert.

They must have meant my sister. She looks like the back end of a liner. I, on the other hand...

Anyway, my story.

One day some wise men who studied the stars hired me and my mates for a few weeks to travel to the east, to Jerusalem. They wanted to see a new king. They had seen it in the stars.

In Jerusalem we stopped and asked where the king was, thinking everyone would send us to the Palace. Nobody knew anything.

Eventually some priests and teachers did a bit of checking. They told King Herod, the current king, what they had found out. He sent us on our way to Bethlehem. We looked up and a star seemed to be moving there too. Cool.

When we got to Bethlehem we found a house where the baby they were all talking about lived. The wise guys went in and said hello and left presents.

Herod had told us to report back to him but the wise guys decided not to. There was something of the night about him.