The year is the year 747 from the building of Rome... So did people reckon their dates, not knowing that a poor child would be born in that year, and that his birth would overturn the established order... People would forget the date of the building of Rome, to keep the date of the child's birth.

The season is the beginning of winter, and the little world, from the farthest end of Galilee to the farthest end of Judea, is astir, mounted or afoot, moving from one city to another. Every man makes for the city where he was born, to register his name... Such were the orders of Augustus Caesar, whose object was a census of the country's inhabitants.

It was the enchanting hour of sunset, and the little town lay down in majesty on the shoulder of the valley that slopes toward Kidron... surrounded by fig trees and peach trees, pomegranates and vines, so that it seemed a nest shaded over by branches.

The sun sent out its golden threads in farewell, flooding the small house of two rooms joined by a portico, in whose corner crouched the wheat mill, and the water jar, and a colored mat rolled up and set behind the door, and a few low seats, all of them shaded in some measure by the great fig tree whose branches overhung the interior, and around which hovered the white milking goat... In the outer courtyard of the house stood the daughter of the master of the house, stirring the burning sticks of firewood beneath an earthenware vessel that held the supper; and when she had fin-ished her task she stood shading her eyes with her hand, peering hard down the narrow, rugged road that joins Bethlehem to Jerusalem, bordered on either side by grape vines and fig trees bare of their leaves...

The caravans were traveling the road, coming toward the town, some riding horses, but most riding donkeys or mules, or going on foot; and when they

reached the small house — the first of the town's houses — they would stop to rest, or to ask a sip of water for a thirsty child or a weary old man, and then go on their way. The girl grew absorbed in what she saw, and the mother's voice echoed from within, saying: Susannah, watch the food; your father will come back from his work and find supper not ready... So the girl set to and stirred the sticks, and the smoke rose up, carrying with it the appetizing smell of the food... And in that very minute the small caravan stopped before the house...

Susannah gazed at the newcom-ers: a young girl riding her donkey, heavy of movement in the last nights of her months with child, accompanied by a man of middle years holding the mount's halter... The man was quiet in his movements, walking leaning upon his staff, wrapped in a rough cloak; as for the rider, she covered her head and neck with a white veil that fell over her warm woolen dress... The young woman drew aside her veil as she greeted the girl in a musical voice, saying: The peace of the Lord be with you... The girl stammered, and stared at the young virgin, over whom the rays of the setting sun had cast

their threads, so that she seemed a living statue of beauty — that beauty which the painters portrayed centuries afterward, and by which they were immor-talized... Then she collected herself and returned the greeting in kind, saying: Upon you, and upon whoever takes shelter with you, be the peace of God... And Joseph spoke, as though addressing himself: Shall we find a place to spend the night in the town, I wonder? The girl said: The crowding is great; but perhaps you may yet find a place... And Mary whispered: May it be so. Then she bowed her head to the girl and went on with her companion.

And the two entered Bethlehem, city of love and of music, city of Ruth and of David. No threshing floors of golden wheat met them, rising here and there — those threshing floors in whose ears of grain Ruth found food, and then love... Nor did music resound through its quarters... the music of the beautiful shepherd, that music which used sweetly to soothe the nights of troubled Saul... There was nothing of all this; the little town was packed with newcomers, its corners ringing with the echo of their feet and resounding with their clamor and the clamor of