“You are young, boy, and—who knows? maybe you will live to see the time when these prophecies come true. But I am old and weary with waiting and working and I may never live to see the promised King. Yet I know that the word of God will come true and that He will send His only beloved son to rule the earth.â€�
As the wind whistled over the hillside, the sheep huddled more closely together.
“Our little lambs will suffer with the cold,� said the shepherd-boy.
“No,� answered his father, “look at the way the mother-sheep lie closely about them, protecting the lambs with their warm bodies. No, the old sheep may feel the chill wind but they will not let their babies suffer.�
“Just look at my little baby lamb,� said the boy. “See it is curled up snugly by its mother. Oh! I do hope that no harm will come to it, for it is the tiniest lamb of the flock and I love it. Do you know, Father. I call it ‘Snow-white’ for it is like the white snow which we sometimes see on the far-distant mountain-peaks.�
“Come, boy,� said the father, “you have rested all day; so you watch the flock and the fire for a time and I will lie down here by Grandsire and take a nap.�
The boy lay upon the ground looking at the camp-fire smoke curling up toward the sky. Then he looked at the sleeping shepherds stretched out upon the ground, and as his eyes rested upon the old man, he remembered the story and said softly: “How I should like to see that King!�
The cold wind seemed to die down and the clouds went across the sky like a flock of scurrying sheep, leaving the stars twinkling brightly in the dark-blue vault of the heavens.
“How beautiful it is, and how still!� he said.
He looked again at the group of sleeping shepherds, and then he looked at the sleeping sheep. As he watched, he saw his little lamb stir uneasily.