“Journey to Bethlehem,” by Pieter Bruegel (1566)

[I thought it might be amusing to retell the Christmas story in saga style. The result is below. I’d intended to post this Christmas day, but got distracted.

This version includes some imaginary information not found in Luke’s account. This is because sagas are very different literature from the gospels, and the telling detail is a necessary part of the technique, even if you have to make it up. ljw]

There was a man called Joseph, son of Jacob, son of Matthan, one of the clan of old King David from Bethlehem. Joseph was an honest man, and very clever at building things. But he didn’t get on with his kinfolk, especially his brothers. One day he said, “I’m going to move up to Nazareth in Galilee. They talk strangely up there, but at least they talk sense, and there’s work to be had.” And his brothers said, “Don’t let us stand in your way.”

Now Joseph was promised in marriage to a girl named Mary, daughter of Heli, daughter of Matthat, also of the David clan, though they had kin among the priests. Mary was a beautiful girl, and very devout. Some people said she was too devout for her own good. One day when she was praying in the house all alone, a mighty messenger of God appeared to her, clad in mail that shone like the sun, and he said, “Hail, highly favored one! You are about to conceive a Son, whom you will name Jesus. He will be a hero, and will be known as Gudsson, and the Highest of All will set Him in the high seat of David, and He will reign over the Jacoblings forever.”

“How can this be?” asked Mary. “I am a virgin.”

The messenger said, “The Spirit of the Secret One will come upon you, and the power of the Highest One will overshadow you, so that the Child to be born will be known as Gudsson.”

“I am the thrall of the Highest One,” said Mary. “Let Him do as He likes.”

Later she prepared a fine meal for Joseph, and gave him plenty to drink, before breaking this news to him. But to her surprise she learned that he’d gotten much the same message from the same source. Still, they agreed the less said about it the better. They decided that once she started showing, she’d go on a visit to her relations in Judea. She wouldn’t be the first to make such a trip, and she had better cause than most.

But that wasn’t necessary, as it turned out. Augustus was high king in Romaborg in those days, and he took tribute from all the kings of the world. He grew suspicious that some of them were short-changing him, so he sent the word out that all the people in the world must be counted, according to their clans. So everybody had to travel to the towns where they were born, to make it easier for the high king’s clerks. This was a great nuisance for everybody, but it suited Joseph and Mary very well.

So they joined a party of travelers going south into the mountain country, and Joseph borrowed an ass for Mary to ride on. As they traveled, Joseph asked her again and again if she was well, and she always answered, “I’m well enough to do this.”

When they got to Bethlehem, Joseph’s brothers were none too happy to see him, especially with Mary pregnant with a child he’d somehow forgotten to mention before. But all the women made a great fuss, and sniffed at Joseph for bringing her on such a journey (though she defended him stoutly). They bundled her off to the byre, which they cleaned out, to give her some privacy in her labor. And so her time came, and she bore a Son, and called Him Jesus, as the messenger had commanded.

Now that same night there were shepherds in the hills not far off, watching their flocks. And as they told stories to pass the time, one of them said, “I think I see a fire.”

“Where?” asked the others.

“Over there,” he said, pointing to the east. And another shepherd said, “There’s another.” And soon they saw many lights, and they all seemed to be drawing closer. And they wondered if it might be Edomite bandits, and whether they would be wiser to get the sheep into the caves, or just to run and leave the flock to the bandits, which might at least slow them down.

But suddenly one of the lights grew very large, and they saw that it was a man who shown like fire, with a spear in his hand. And they were too terrified even to run.

“Don’t be afraid,” said the messenger. “I come with good news that will make the whole country glad. For this very day a Child is born to you in David’s town, a Deliverer, an anointed King, a Chieftain. And this is how you’ll know Him—you will find Him wrapped in swaddling cloth, and lying in a manger.”

And suddenly all the lights became a mighty host of messengers, each of them clad in shining mail, with spears and bright swords, and they praised the Highest One and said, “All Hail the Highest One, and on earth let there be peace for His people, because He is pleased with them!”

And then the messengers were gone as if they’d never been. And when the shepherds had cleared their heads, and all agreed they’d seen the very same thing, one of them said, “We’d better go to Bethlehem and have a look, since the Highest One took all this trouble about it.” So after drawing straws to see who’d stay with the sheep, they set off for town and asked around, and before long they found Mary and Joseph in the byre, with the Baby in the manger. And once they’d offered their congratulations, they went out and started telling everyone what had happened, and the whole town was amazed. And many drinks were bought that night.

But Mary said, “Let me remember these things. I have the feeling I will need them, in the years that are coming.”

The shepherds went back to work, a little tipsy but very joyful, because everything had happened just as the messenger had told them it would.

And now they are out of the story….