The Holy Night - Sarantos

There was a man who went out in the dark night to borrow live coals to

kindle a fire.

He went from hut to hut and knocked.

«Dear friends, help

me!»

said he.

«My wife has just given birth to a child, and I must make a

fire to warm her and the little one.»

But it was way in the night, and all the people were asleep.

No one replied.

The man walked and walked.

At last he saw the gleam of a fire a long way

off.

Then, he went in that direction and saw that the fire was burning in

the open.

A lot of sheep were were sleeping around the fire, and an old

shepherd sat and watched over the flock.

When the man who wanted to borrow fire came up to the sheep, he saw

that three big dogs lay asleep at the shepherd’s feet.

All three awoke when

the man approached and opened their great jaws, as though they wanted

to bark;

but not a sound was heard.

The man noticed that the hair on their

backs stood up and that their sharp, white teeth glistened in the firelight.

They dashed toward him.

He felt that one of them bit at his leg and one at this hand and that one

clung to this throat.

But their jaws and teeth wouldn’t obey them, and the

man didn’t suffer the least harm.

Now the man wished to go farther, to get what he needed.

But the sheep

lay back to back and so close to one another that he couldn’t pass them.

Then, the man stepped upon their backs and walked over them and up to

the fire.

And not one of the animals awoke or moved.

When the man had almost reached the fire, the shepherd looked up.

He

was a surly old man, who was unfriendly and harsh toward human beings.

And when he saw the strange man coming, he seized the long spiked staff,

which he always held in his hand when he tended his flock, and threw it at

him.

The staff came right toward the man, but, before it reached him, it

turned off to one side and whizzed past him, far out in the meadow.

Now the man came up to the shepherd and said to him: «Good man, help

me, and lend me a little fire!

My wife has just given birth to a child, and I

must make a fire to warm her and the little one.»

The shepherd would rather have said no, but when he pondered that the

dogs couldn’t hurt the man, and the sheep had not run from him, and that

the staff had not wished to strike him, he was a little afraid and dared not

deny the man that which he asked.

«Take as much as you need!»

he said to the man.

But then the fire was nearly burnt out.

There were no logs or branches left,

only a big heap of live coals, and the stranger had neither spade nor shovel

wherein he could carry the red-hot coals.

When the shepherd saw this, he said again: «Take as much as you need!»

And he was glad that the man wouldn’t be able to take away any coals.

But the man stopped and picked coals from the ashes with his bare hands,

and laid them in his mantle.

And he didn’t burn his hands when he

touched them, nor did the coals scorch his mantle;

but he carried them

away as if they had been nuts or apples.

And when the shepherd, who was such a cruel and hardhearted man, saw

all this, he began to wonder to himself.

What kind of a night is this, when

the dogs do not bite, the sheep are not scared, the staff does not kill, or the

fire scorch?

He called the stranger back and said to him: «What kind of a

night is this?

And how does it happen that all things show you

compassion?»

Then said the man: «I cannot tell you if you yourself do not see it.»

And he

wished to go his way, that he might soon make a fire and warm his wife

and child.

But the shepherd did not wish to lose sight of the man before he had found

out what all this might portend.

He got up and followed the man till they

came to the place where he lived.

Then the shepherd saw the man didn’t have so much as a hut to dwell in,

but that his wife and babe were lying in a mountain grotto, where there

was nothing except the cold and naked stone walls.

But the shepherd thought that perhaps the poor innocent child might

freeze to death there in the grotto;

and, although he was a hard man, he

was touched, and thought he would like to help it.

And he loosened the

knapsack from his shoulder, took from it a soft white sheepskin, gave it to

the strange man, and said that he should let the child sleep on it.

But just as soon as he showed that he, too, could be merciful, his eyes were

opened, and he saw what he had not been able to see before, and heard

what he could not have heard before.

He saw that all around him stood a ring of little silver-winged angels, and

each held a stringed instrument, and all sang in loud tones that tonight

the Saviour was born who should redeem the world from its sins.

Then he understood how all things were so happy this night and they

didn’t want to do anything wrong.

And it was not only around the shepherd that there were angels, but he

saw them everywhere.

They sat inside the grotto, they sat outside on the

mountain, and they flew under the heavens.

They came marching in great

companies, and, as they passed, they paused and cast a glance at the child.

There was such jubilation and such gladness and songs and play!

And all

this he saw in the dark night whereas before he could not have made out

anything.

He was so happy because his eyes had been opened that he fell

upon his knees and thanked God.

What that shepherd saw, we might also see, for the angels fly down from

heaven every Christmas Eve, if we could only see them.

You must remember this, for it is as true, as true as that I see you and you

see me.

It is not revealed by the light of lamps or candles, and it does not

depend upon sun and moon;

but that which is needful is that we have such

eyes as can see God’s glory.