The
cold North Wind whistled around the snowy hills of the Highlands
and hammered its icy gusts against the barn, where inside Sampson the Bactrian
camel had settled into a reverie. As the wind blew outside, Sampson was
in his bed of straw as he awaited the arrival of his friends, the beautiful cat
Mirabella Forster, and their friend Athene Noctua, a small brown owl.
Every evening at this time, the three friends gathered to discuss their day and
plan their next adventures.
Sampson
opened his eyes at the approach of his friends, and once again, Mirabella
marveled at the beauty of his thick eyelashes, and wished such nice ones for
herself. Sampson had especially lustrous eyelashes due to the daily
combing he received from his valet Peter the groomsman, and his own superb
health and hygiene. Sampson seemed lost in thought this
evening, and Mirabella noticed this immediately.
Sampson
and Mirabella had become friends years ago. She met him on her expedition
in 1911 to far-away Tibet.
Mirabella and her family eventually returned home to their London house, and Sampson remained with his
own family. He never forgot his new friend, and so when Sampson grew up
he decided to visit Mirabella’s home in London. She
had left a useful travel guide behind for him in case he decided to make the
trip.
Camels
have always been great travelers.
Setting off on adventures over deserts and mountains is what camels like
to do and they know how to take care of themselves along the way. Sampson himself always seemed to know his way
and was especially sure-footed on rough roads.
When he told his family that he was going to London, they helped him pack his saddle bags,
and sent him on his way with good wishes for a safe journey.
So
it was one bright morning a few months later that Mirabella saw her friend Sampson
coming along the cobble street in London toward the house where she lived with
her family, Edward Morgan Forster and his parents. Sampson carried the
travel guide strapped under his chin. Here is your book, he said, as he
strode to a stop outside the house. Mirabella stepped back as Sampson
dropped at her feet the well-worn Baedeker guidebook. He added that he
mostly traveled by the stars, as his family had taught him in the wild hill
country of his birth.
Mirabella
was delighted to see her friend, and took him into the garden to meet Edward
Morgan and his parents. It was breakfast time, and fortunately the family’s
kind cook was a resourceful woman and quickly managed to provide a feast for
the hungry camel. Over breakfast, the
family talked about their summer plans.
“It
is a fine thing to be a camel,” but you may become lonely because you are the
only one in all the country,” said Mr. Forster.
“Come with us to our house in Scotland, and you can live with all
the animals in the barn. You will enjoy
their company.”
That
very morning the family took Sampson with them to their country house. He
settled in quickly, and liked living in the Highlands.
It was there he learned the rugged dialect of the Highland Scots, which
he much preferred to the smooth city speech he used when he traveled with the
family back to London.
Of
course, Sampson could have lived in the big house with the family, but he
preferred his fine new barn. It was comfortable for him, and his stable boy
was always close by. Sampson’s stall was big—twice the size of the stalls
of the Cleveland Bay carriage horses nearby. Over
Sampson’s stall his name was carved in the lintel.
Sampson’s
barn was actually known as the byre. In those days, the byre is where the
animals lived, and where their food and tack were stored. The barns were
where farm machinery and equipment were kept. Sampson lived in the byre
with several horses, some sturdy little Blackfaced sheep, and a few cows with
long, shaggy coats and even longer horns. The horses were big
animals known for their strength and thoughtfulness. They knew when to
speak up, and when to leave well enough alone. If the animals were
surprised when a camel moved into the byre with them, they quickly got over it
because Sampson proved to be a natural peacemaker in all domestic
quarrels. Further, he was a good listener, and the animals knew they
could talk to him and he would not gossip.
Sampson
was in the byre now, as his friends gathered. He had been thinking of his
family far away, and dozing and dreaming. Mirabella nestled herself
against him and Athene Noctua fluttered up to perch on Sampson’s front hump,
just where Sampson liked her to scratch him with her owlish feet. The
byre was warm with all the animals together for the night, and the friends
could hear the quiet murmur of animal conversations. When Sampson spoke,
everyone else became quiet, except the chickens, of course, because chickens
can talk and listen at the same time. They eventually settled down in the
rafters overhead, keeping a watchful eye on Athene below.
Tonight
he would tell them a story his mother had told him, and that she learned from
her own mother, a wise old camel. This was the first story all young
camels learned. It was a story about traveling and adventuring on a great
journey made by the first member of his camel family in an age long ago.
Sampson's
Story
"In the early days," began Sampson, "we camels
lived with the nomads in a distant country. We lived simply, bearing the
wanderers on their journeys, and carrying their luggage, their children and
other treasures.
"In that distant time, a camp of nomads had some great trouble. The water wells dried up in the camp, and
food was hard to find. Through signs and
portents (and a good deal of listening in), a young camel learned that she
would make a journey to the West. She knew that it would be a hard
journey through dangerous lands to find help for her people.
"The camel watched as the old people of the camp
gathered to talk about the news in the stars. In those days, the people
read the stars like we read the newspapers at breakfast. The camel
stepped toward the tent and stood in the light of the camp fire in front and
listened as the old people talked and questioned each other about the meaning
of what they saw.
" ‘A long journey!’ said a woman, pointing to the stars
overhead.
" ‘There is a great treasure at the end of the road!’
said a man.
“ ‘The treasure will be for all people,’ proclaimed the
oldest grandmother, who had studied the stars and was very wise. ‘We must
choose one among us to go gather it up and news of it home!’ she said to the
other.
“They chose Kaspar, a restless boy who was well liked. Kaspar
was always ready for adventure. The people packed empty saddle bags for
Kaspar to load with the treasure when he reached it. He would bring it
home for them all. He would need a good camel. The elders went to the
camel herder and asked which among the herd he would select for the journey.
"The camel herder chose the camel who had listened at the tent because she was
naturally curious, and had a confident nature. The herder gave Kaspar the
camel’s blanket and told Kaspar to keep the camel well. The oldest grandmother talked quietly to the
camel and gave her directions for the journey.
"Kaspar packed his saddlebags with his own few
belongings and some waybread for the trip and loaded them on the camel.
She would eat what she liked along the way.
" ‘Kaspar, choose a name for your camel,’ the people called
out after him. , Leaning close to her head, Kaspar said ‘You already have
a name, don’t you?’ ‘My name is Estelle,’ she answered, ‘and don’t fall
off.’
"Kaspar and Estelle traveled day after day, for several
weeks. They crossed barren deserts where the sun baked them dry.
They crossed great mountain heights and broad grassy plains. They came to
a country of sweet smelling trees and Kaspar broke away some chunks of dried
resin from the branches and put them in his pocket. They reminded him of
the freshness of springtime, and he liked the smell. Every night, Estelle
set their course by a star that shone ever more brightly in the sky ahead of
them.
"One evening far into their journey, and when the nights
were growing cold, they heard the tinkling bells of other travelers on the
way. Below in a clearing at the edge of a pool of water fringed with
trees was an encampment of men sitting by a great chest that glistened in the
firelight. Kaspar and Estelle climbed down the rocky slope to greet them.
" ‘Where are you going?’ asked the first stranger, who
said his name was Melchior.
“ ‘We are travelers from the East, and we follow the great
star overhead,’ Kaspar told the travelers. The magi said they, too, were
following the star.
“ ‘I am searching for the great treasure at the end of this
journey,’ Kaspar said. He shouted in joy
when Melchior showed him what glowed in the firelight. It was a great
carved chest piled to overflowing with gold.
“Kaspar asked, ‘Have you already found the treasure place and
have packed your boxes full to take home?’
“ ‘This treasure is not something we can carry home in our
boxes and saddle bags. We are still traveling,’ Melchior said, ‘and we
are bringing the gold to give when we reach the treasure place.
"The other wise man was Balthazar, and he held in his
hand a small pouch and from it took some fragrant frankincense. He broke
off a piece and handed it to Kaspar.
“ ‘Breathe deeply,’ Balthazar said. ‘This is frankincense
from a tree that grows out of hard rocks where nothing else can grow.’ His
gift was much smaller than the chest of gold, but it was as precious.
"By now Estelle had walked over to the other camels to
have some supper. After many weeks on the road with Kaspar, she longed
for some sensible talk that didn’t involve carrying home heavy bags of gold the
long way they had come. The camels told her that they would reach their
journey’s end the next evening, and she decided that she and Kaspar would
travel with them.
“The next day the three camels, two wise men and Kaspar arose
early. They trekked by the light of the star now so bright that it glowed
in the daylight. They followed it through the day and into the night, and
followed it to where it came to rest above a humble stable in a tiny village.
The two magi alighted from their camels and entered the small stable.
Kaspar followed them in, wondering at what he saw.
"In the stable, surrounded by cattle and donkeys and
other small animals of the byre, lay a newborn babe wrapped in cloths upon the
straw. With him were his mother and father.
"The camels came up to the family and knelt so the magi
could unload Melchior’s chest of gold upon the ground for the baby.
Balthazar laid his bag of precious frankincense in front of the manger.
Estelle nosed Kaspar forward. Kaspar remembered that he, too, had a gift he
could give this little child. He pulled out of his pocket the few pieces
of fragrant myrrh that now filled the stable with its sweet scent of spring and
new life. It was all that he had. He laid the myrrh on the ground by the manger
where the baby lay sleeping.
"The camels bedded for the night in the stable with
their kindred animals, near the magi, and young Kaspar. Near them
slept the baby, with his parents. All the people slept, but the animals
kept watch as the starlight pooled gleaming on the stable floor and lit
the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Never before did gifts glow
more beautifully than in starlight on that bare, dirt floor. The little
baby awoke and turned his head toward the watchful animals, and he smiled at
them. Suddenly all the animals who had been talking among themselves, the
sheep to the sheep, the donkeys to each other, and the lowing cattle together,
could understand what all were saying.
"The camels began talking about the gifts at
the foot of the manger. They knew about treasures because they had traveled
with the rich magi from the East.
“ ‘There is a legend about the myrrh,’ Melchior Camel said. ‘It
is about the Phoenix Bird that is of all animals the most wonderful. Once
every thousand years a new bird is born. The new one is as large as an
eagle. It is as beautiful as the morning sun. Its feathers are all
the colors of the world and living things, and like stars in a dark sky and
rain falling on dry land.’
" ‘The Phoenix
makes her nest with frankincense and myrrh. The scent of the myrrh gives
her courage and strength for all her life to come, and it is with her to remind
her that she passes through this life to be reborn in greater glory. The Phoenix will always be
with us, bearing the great gifts that the God of all creatures gives to
us.'
“A small donkey said, ‘I carried the child’s mother on my
back because she could not walk all the way here from her village. The baby was
born in this stable this very night. He is a beautiful baby, and he is the
greatest gift that the God of all creatures gives to us.’
"Then the sheep said, ‘Our shepherds guided us safely in
from the fields. A light like the star overhead filled the night sky and a
voice like music from the heavens spoke to us and said, “Fear Not!” We
saw the great light and heard a voice proclaiming the birth of a Savior of all
people. ‘We are not afraid,’ the sheep said, 'for this child will be the
Great Shepherd.”
“Estelle had many questions for the animals, and they talked
long into the night, and as the morning sun rose in the East, all the animals
were filled with great joy and strength for all their lives.
“Soon after, Kaspar and the Magi returned home and lived
their lives according to what they had seen and learned. Kaspar came home
a changed boy. People said he seemed a better person than before, and had
grown wise in his ways. He knew where to find new water wells, and how to
find good food for the people to eat. He also told the people stories of the
newborn baby in the manger.
“Kaspar lived to a very old age, and his people loved him
greatly. With him lived the faithful Estelle. She eventually had
her own family, and she told her sons and daughters the story of the great journey
and the treasure at its end. Her children told the story to their own
young ones, and so the story was passed down in my family to my own mother, who
told it to me."
The
byre was quiet when the great camel finished the tale. The birds had
already fallen asleep, and Athene Noctua herself had grown drowsy.
Mirabella was awake to the every end, but then she fell asleep against Sampson
until morning, and they both dreamed of three camels walking through the night
by the light of that great star.
The
rich scent of balsam fir filled the byre as the animals slept, for of course,
the stable boy had hung some up for Christmas.
Recent Comments