The Crown and the Cross: The Life of Christ Read Online Free PDF Page A

pray from fear, for the light seemed somehow friendly and warm—like the smile of the young mother in the stable as she had looked down upon her child.
    “You there, little man!” A rough voice close to Jonas’s ear startled him. “Why are you saying your prayers here in the middle of the night?”
    Jonas stumbled hurriedly to his feet. Two men stood near him, travelers who obviously had been sitting late in the wine shops of the town and were now loud of voice and unsteady upon their feet.
    “The—the star,” Jonas stammered. “I was blinded by the star.”
    “The sky is full of stars!” the man said roughly. “I see no star that would blind a man.”
    Jonas looked up quickly, thinking the star might have grown dim while he was praying. But it was still there, its warm brilliance undiminished.
    “There it is,” he said pointing. “Hanging in the sky over the inn.”
    “Leave him alone, Asa,” the second man urged. “The poor fellow must be possessed by an evil spirit; he sees things that do not exist.”
    “The star is there!” Jonas cried. “I can see it!”
    The men hurried toward the inn. Everyone knew, when a man was possessed by a demon, the evil spirit could escape into the body of anyone who came near.
    Jonas felt a chill colder than the winter night settle upon him. Madmen, he knew, often saw things others could not see. There were such in every village, shunned by the people lest they send the devils who possessed them to trouble others. If the men who had just left told of seeing a little man kneeling in the courtyard and babbling about a star no one else could see, everyone would think him a madman. Elam might not take him back home to Hebron and he would be condemned to wander through the countryside, seeking shelter, wherever he could find it and with nothing to eat except what he could steal or whatever scraps kindhearted people might throw him.
    Jonas decided he would say no more about the star to anyone. And since the men would hardly mention his peculiar behavior before he had departed early in the morning with his master, no one else need know. Feeling somewhat better, now that his secret did not seem likely to be revealed, he lay down on the ground beside the animals.
    Strangely enough, he felt the cold no longer, for the soft radiance of the star seemed to bathe his body in a warmth like the rays of the sun. Once he was almost certain he heard faint music like the sound of harps and voices coming from some place in the sky. But he kept that to himself, too, and enveloped by the soft, warm, protecting mantle of the star’s light, he soon slept.
III
    Elam was up early for he was anxious to reach the bazaars of Jerusalem with his bales of cloth soon after the shops opened for business. Later in the day, when more merchandise had come in, prices would be lower, but since it was only a few miles to the Holy City, he planned to be among the firstcomers and thus be sure of a good price.
    Word had gone through the inn that a child had been born in the stable during the night. With a good night’s rest behind him and the prospect of a handsome profit on the sale of his goods, the Pharisee was in a good humor when he stopped by the stable to give his blessing to mother and child. But as he looked at the sleeping baby, he gave a muffled exclamation of surprise. Reaching down, he took a corner of the swaddling cloth between his fingers and for an instant a look of astonishment showed in his eyes, to be quickly replaced by a crafty gleam.
    “This fabric is too fine to be wasted as a swaddling cloth,” he said casually to Joseph. “I will give you a good price for it.”
    “I cannot sell the cloth.” Joseph glanced quickly at Jonas, who had come in to tell the family good-bye before leaving.
    “Why not sell it?” Elam demanded of Joseph. “You could not bid against me for the couch last night. You must be poor.”
    “We have no other swaddling cloth for the baby,” Joseph