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| https://www.zazzle.com/stars_in_the_sky_remembrance_ornament |
2020 has battered us and removed too many from our lives.
Besides being a
much needed remembrance ornament, a star is doubly important this
Christmas.
This coming week, besides Christmas, is the Winter Solstice (YAY! After it the days get longer!) and, on the same day, December 21, the reappearance of an astronomical phenomenon not seen for 800 years called the Christmas Star.
It actually is not one star, but a conjunction of two planets. This is Jupiter and Saturn, although Jupiter and Venus have also had a conjunction. Some say this was the Star of Bethlehem the Magi followed. Other theories are a comet or even a supernova was what they followed. For a discussion of the star from religious, astronomical, and historical views, that earlier link takes you to Wikipedia. Of course Wikipedia alone is too dry for storytelling, so I went looking further.
No matter how many older books in the Public Domain I have, and even in the narrow category of Christmas, there often seems to be a need for something I don't own. Most of the time my Christmas programs are done from the framework of an American Hired Girl looking at how we do a Victorian Christmas. Today's story could easily be added to such a program. While Queen Victoria died on January 22, 1901, her influence upon our celebration of Christmas was especially fresh in the early 20th century and continues today. Looking for any story specifically about the Christmas Star, I found Florence M. Kingsley's story in the 1916 anthology edited by Phebe A. Curtiss, Christmas Stories and Legends, for the perfect tale. I don't own the book, but Project Gutenberg has it in their holdings. If you are looking to donate before the end of the year (U.S. tax law alert!) to something that will keep stories and Public Domain material available, I strongly recommend both Project Gutenberg and Wikipedia.
The final story in Christmas Stories and Legends retells from a different perspective the familiar Christmas story found in the opening of Matthew in the New Testament. Don't let that stop you, nor Kingsley's belief in using older word choices like "thou" and "dost", for their meaning is clear. I personally would drop them when telling, but it's a personal choice. One word I would keep and explain is my personal pet peeve about modern slang taking the word "lame", the orthopedic problem of difficulty walking, and now uses it in an unrelated manner. The original use is in this story.
Beyond that you may ignore how this copy inserts the page numbers of the original book. There were no illustrations except your own mental ones.
THE STAR
By Florence M. Kingsley
Once upon a time in a country far away from here, there lived a little
girl named Ruth. Ruth's home was not at all like our houses, for she
lived in a little tower on top of the great stone wall that surrounded
the town of Bethlehem. Ruth's father was the hotel-keeper—the Bible
says the "inn keeper." This inn was not at all like our hotels,
either. There was a great open yard, which was called the courtyard.
All about this yard were little rooms and each traveler who came to
the hotel rented one. The inn stood near the great stone wall of the
city, so that as Ruth stood, one night, looking out of the tower
window, she looked directly into the courtyard. It was truly a strange
sight that met her eyes. So many people were coming to the inn, for
the King had made a law that every man should come back to the city
where his father used to live to be counted and to pay his taxes. Some
of the people came on the backs of camels, with great rolls of bedding
and their dishes for cooking upon the back of the beast. Some of them
came on little donkeys, and on their backs too were the bedding and
the dishes. Some of the people came walking—slowly; they were so
tired. Many miles some of them had come. As Ruth looked down into the
courtyard, she saw the camels being led to their places by their
masters, she heard the snap of the whips, she saw the sparks shoot up
from the fires that were kindled in the courtyard, where each per[Pg 160]son
was preparing his own supper; she heard the cries of the tired, hungry
little children.
Presently her mother, who was cooking supper, came over to the window
and said, "Ruthie, thou shalt hide in the house until all those people
are gone. Dost thou understand?"
"Yes, my mother," said the child, and she left the window to follow
her mother back to the stove, limping painfully, for little Ruth was a
cripple. Her mother stooped suddenly and caught the child in her arms.
"My poor little lamb. It was a mule's kick, just six years ago, that
hurt your poor back and made you lame."
"Never mind, my mother. My back does not ache today, and lately when
the light of the strange new star has shone down upon my bed my back
has felt so much stronger and I have felt so happy, as though I could
climb upon the rays of the star and up, up into the sky and above the
stars!"
Her mother shook her head sadly. "Thou art not likely to climb much,
now or ever, but come, the supper is ready; let us go to find your
father. I wonder what keeps him."
They found the father standing at the gate of the courtyard, talking
to a man and woman who had just arrived. The man was tall, with a long
beard, and he led by a rope a snow white mule, on which sat the
drooping figure of the woman. As Ruth and her mother came near, they
heard the father say, "But I tell thee that there is no more room in
the inn. Hast thou no friends where thou canst go to spend the night?"
The man shook his head. "No, none," he answered. "I care not for
myself, but my poor wife." Little Ruth pulled at her mother's [Pg 161]dress.
"Mother, the oxen sleep out under the stars these warm nights and the
straw in the caves is clean and warm; I have made a bed there for my
little lamb."
Ruth's mother bowed before the tall man. "Thou didst hear the child.
It is as she says—the straw is clean and warm." The tall man bowed
his head. "We shall be very glad to stay," and he helped the
sweet-faced woman down from the donkey's back and led her away to the
cave stable, while the little Ruth and her mother hurried up the
stairs that they might send a bowl of porridge to the sweet-faced
woman, and a sup of new milk, as well.
That night when little Ruth lay down in her bed, the rays of the
beautiful new star shone through the window more brightly than before.
They seemed to soothe the tired aching shoulders. She fell asleep and
dreamed that the beautiful, bright star burst and out of it came
countless angels, who sang in the night:
"Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, good will to men." And
then it was morning and her mother was bending over her and saying,
"Awake, awake, little Ruth. Mother has something to tell thee." Then
as the eyes opened slowly—"The angels came in the night, little one,
and left a Baby to lay beside your little white lamb in the manger."
That afternoon, Ruth went with her mother to the fountain. The mother
turned aside to talk to the other women of the town about the strange
things heard and seen the night before, but Ruth went on and sat down
by the edge of the fountain. The child, was not frightened, [Pg 162]for
strangers came often to the well, but never had she seen men who
looked like the three who now came towards her. The first one, a tall
man with a long white beard, came close to Ruth and said, "Canst tell
us, child, where is born he that is called the King of the Jews?"
"I know of no king," she answered, "but last night while the star was
shining, the angels brought a baby to lie beside my white lamb in the
manger." The stranger bowed his head. "That must be he. Wilt thou show
us the way to Him, my child?" So Ruth ran and her mother led the three
men to the cave and "when they saw the Child, they rejoiced with
exceeding great joy, and opening their gifts, they presented unto Him
gold, and frankincense and myrrh," with wonderful jewels, so that
Ruth's mother's eyes shone with wonder, but little Ruth saw only the
Baby, which lay asleep on its mother's breast.
"If only I might hold Him in my arms," she thought, but was afraid to
ask.
After a few days, the strangers left Bethlehem, all but the three—the
man, whose name was Joseph, and Mary, his wife, and the Baby. Then, as
of old, little Ruth played about the courtyard and the white lamb
frolicked at her side. Often she dropped to her knees to press the
little woolly white head against her breast, while she murmured: "My
little lamb, my very, very own. I love you, lambie," and then together
they would steal over to the entrance of the cave to peep in at the
Baby, and always she thought, "If I only might touch his hand," but
was afraid to ask. One night as she lay in her bed, she thought to
herself: "Oh, I wish I had a [Pg 163]beautiful gift for him, such as the wise
men brought, but I have nothing at all to offer and I love him so
much." Just then the light of the star, which was nightly fading, fell
across the foot of the bed and shone full upon the white lamb which
lay asleep at her feet—and then she thought of something. The next
morning she arose with her face shining with joy. She dressed
carefully and with the white lamb held close to her breast, went
slowly and painfully down the stairway and over to the door of the
cave. "I have come," she said, "to worship Him, and I have brought
Him—my white lamb." The mother smiled at the lame child, then she
lifted the Baby from her breast and placed Him in the arms of the
little maid who knelt at her feet.
A few days after, an angel came to the father, Joseph, and told him to
take the Baby and hurry to the land of Egypt, for the wicked King
wanted to do it harm, and so these three—the father, mother and
Baby—went by night to the far country of Egypt. And the star grew
dimmer and dimmer and passed away forever from the skies over
Bethlehem, but little Ruth grew straight and strong and beautiful as
the almond trees in the orchard, and all the people who saw her were
amazed, for Ruth was once a cripple.
"It was the light of the strange star," her mother said, but little
Ruth knew it was the touch of the blessed Christ-Child, who was once
folded against her heart.
You may find the entire book at https://www.gutenberg.org/files/17770/17770-h/17770-h.htm. I think Phebe Curtiss's Foreword is worth noting her intent.
FOREWORD
No greater teaching force has ever been discovered than the story and
no one has ever lived who used that force so skillfully as did our
Great Teacher.
It is not strange, then, that among all the stories that have ever
been written or told none are so dear to us as the stories and legends
which center in His birth.
Young and old alike delight in them and never tire of hearing them.
. . .
It is our earnest wish that this little book may find its way into
many homes and schools and Sunday Schools and that its contents may
help to give a deeper appreciation of the true Christmas spirit.
And if you see the star I hope you think about this story and the first Christmas star.
UPDATE: I fell in love with a video of Jack Beck and his wife, storytelling colleague, Dr. Wendy Welch (her doctorate is in ethnography which Wikipedia defines as " a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual
cultures. In contrast with ethnology, ethnography explores cultural
phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study." I'd just say "folklore.") I further said thievery is part of advancing the folk process. She conceded if I'd mention her most recent work in the scholarly work, Covid-19 Conspiracy Theories, which has the subtitle of "QAnon, 5G, the New World Order and Other Viral Ideas."
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WzlG1ZGV-Fp6LQnvh0uLtQ5Vif-vvVIp/view
It's not that long (109MB), combining a brief bit of Christmas songs with the factual explanation of the Planetary Conjunction, but I tried to download the Google Drive video here and blogger said it was too large! At least clicking on that link lets you see their "pedantic" correction of songs dealing with the "Christmas Star."
*******************
This
is part of a series of postings of stories under the category,
"Keeping the Public in Public Domain." The idea
behind Public Domain was to preserve our cultural heritage after the
authors and their immediate heirs were compensated. I feel
strongly current copyright law delays this intent on works of the
20th century. My
own library of folklore includes so many books within the Public
Domain I decided to share stories from them. I hope you enjoy
discovering new stories.
At
the same time, my own involvement in storytelling regularly creates
projects requiring research as part of my sharing stories with an
audience. Whenever that research needs to be shown here, the publishing
of Public Domain stories will not occur that week. This is a return to
my regular posting of a research project here. (Don't worry, this
isn't dry research, my research is always geared towards future
storytelling to an audience.) Response has convinced me that "Keeping
the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my other
postings as often as I can manage it.
Other
Public Domain story resources I recommend-
There
are many online resources for Public Domain stories, maybe none for
folklore is as ambitious as fellow storyteller, Yoel Perez's
database, Yashpeh,
the International Folktales Collection. I have long
recommended it and continue to do so. He has loaded
Stith Thompson's Motif Index into his server as a database so
you can search the whole 6 volumes for whatever word or expression
you like by pressing one key. http://folkmasa.org/motiv/motif.htm
- You may have noticed I'm no
longer certain Dr. Perez has the largest database, although his
offering the Motif Index certainly qualifies for those of us seeking
specific types of stories. There's another site, FairyTalez
claiming to be the largest, with "over 2000 fairy tales,
folktales, and fables" and they are "fully optimized for
phones, tablets, and PCs", free and presented without ads.
Between those two sites, there
is much for story-lovers, but as they say in infomercials, "Wait,
there's more!"
The
email list for storytellers, Storytell,
discussed Online Story Sources and came up with these additional
suggestions:
-
Story-Lovers - http://www.story-lovers.com/ is now only accessible
through the Wayback Machine, described below, but the late Jackie Baldwin's
wonderful site lives on there, fully searchable manually (the Google
search doesn't work), at https://archive.org/ . It's not easy, but go to Story-lovers.com snapshot for October 22 2016 and you can click on SOS: Searching Out Stories to scroll down through the many story topics and click on the story topic that interests you.
You're
going to find many of the links on these sites have gone down, BUT
go to the Internet Archive
Wayback Machine to find some of these old links. Tim's
site, for example, is so huge probably updating it would be a
full-time job. In the case of Story-Lovers, it's great that
Jackie Baldwin set it up to stay online as long as it did after she
could no longer maintain it. Possibly searches maintained it.
Unfortunately Storytell list member, Papa Joe is on both Tim
Sheppard's site and Story-Lovers, but he no longer maintains his old
Papa Joe's Traveling Storytelling Show website and his Library
(something you want to see!) is now only on the Wayback Machine. It
took some patience working back through claims of snapshots but finally
in December of 2006 it appears!
Somebody
as of this writing whose stories can still be found by his website
is the late Chuck Larkin - http://chucklarkin.com/stories.html.
I prefer to list these sites by their complete address so they can
be found by the Wayback Machine, a.k.a. Archive.org, when that
becomes the only way to find them.
You
can see why I recommend these to you. Have fun
discovering even more stories!
