their beasts.

Had an unknown hand, then, guided them to the city of David, that they might welcome the awaited newborn?... And were the clouds — the white clouds of autumn — hiding behind them the angelic choir, making ready to play its music in the stillness of the night, announcing the birth of the messenger of peace?...

The caravan stopped at the door of the only khan in the town... It was a square building of rough stone, of a single story, divided into sections, each section with a door through which the light entered; and around the building was a wall enclosing the travelers' beasts... Joseph greeted the master of the khan, who sat there on a wooden bench, and asked for shelter... It was no easy matter, for the khan was filled to twice the number it could hold; but the daughter of Joachim had her station, and so the man offered her the grotto adjoining the khan...

The grotto was like the other natural caves that abound around the town; heaps of grain were piled up in it, and mangers and feeding troughs stretched along its sides. The gatekeeper bent his head to be able to enter, and the two travelers did as he did... The man made his apologies, and the travelers thanked him — on a cold night, such a shelter was not to be despised...

Drowsiness settled over weary eyelids, and everyone in the khan surrendered to his dreams... Even the shepherds on the plain stretching below the high cliff on which the town and its khan lean... even the shepherds on that plain gathered round the fire, telling their tales; and when it died down they drew closer to it, and each wrapped himself in his cloak, yielding to a pleasant sleep.

And suddenly the world was lit with a strange light... The universe shone until the sheep, the shepherds, and the field with its trees appeared as if in broad daylight... One of the shepherds cried out, his heart melting with terror: Comrades, wake! The sky is on fire!... And all awoke, and the sheep bleated, and the dogs howled, and the shepherds threw themselves down on their faces in terror... And behold, a calm, musical voice saying: Fear not; it is good tidings: born to you and

to mankind is a Savior — a child lying in a manger... And heaven played its melodies, and the angels sang their airs, and the rustling of wings faded away; and the shep-herds stirred. One said: It is good tidings. A second said: A Savior is born to us. A third said: Here in Bethlehem, in a manger — come, let us see; there are no mangers except in the one grotto, the grotto of the khan... Come, let us see.

The shepherds passed the little house on their way to the khan... Their voices rose high, for the vision had stirred their feelings, and the anthems still rang in their ears... Susannah heard the talk —

her feelings too had been stirred, and she had been kept sleepless by the image of the young woman riding her donkey, the sun's rays casting their golden threads upon her so that she seemed a holy thing descending from heaven... She listened to the shepherds' talk, then drew near her mother and cried out: Mother, a miracle has happened this evening — the Messiah is born!...

Moments later the little family was following the shepherds, and everyone in the khan was gather-ing round the child in the manger, singing: A Savior is born to us — so peace upon the earth.

The Kashaf Bookshop and Press presents

Said Takieddine

author of "Labbayk,"

"Wala Yahwi," and "The Emir's Case"

A Toast to the Enemy

A play in three acts

Black Snow

and other stories

"Repel evil with that which is better, and behold, he between whom and you there was enmity shall be as a warm friend" — The Holy Quran

A play that treats partisan and sectarian strife, the cancer of the Lebanese village, and dissolves it in a limpid cup of love and brotherhood, in an original style and a radiant diction

To be had from "the Kashaf Bookshop" and from all bookshops in the Arab world