Jerusalem. It is on the top of a hill, and people have to climb up a
steep road to get into the town.

An inn is a large house that people stay at when they are on a journey.
The inns in Palestine have four walls, with a door in front, and with a
great empty space for camels and horses inside. In the middle of the
empty space is a fountain; and all round the walls, a little bit higher
than the part where the animals are, there are a number of places like
empty stone arbors. These empty places are called _leewans_, and they
are open in front, so that everybody can see into them. Yet Mary and
Joseph, after all their long journey from Nazareth, could not find even
an empty _leewan_ to lie down in.

[Illustration: The shepherd's care.]

Near that inn there was a place in which asses and camels were kept.
It was perhaps a cave in the side of the hill. And because there was
no room for them in the inn, Mary and Joseph had to go into that stable
to sleep, and in that stable Jesus Christ was born. Mary wrapped Him
in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in the manger in the place where the
animals' food was kept.

On the hill where Bethlehem stands there are green places where
shepherds feed their flocks. There are wild animals in Palestine; and
all night long the shepherds of Bethlehem watched to see that no harm
happened to their sheep. One night an angel of the Lord stood by them
and a bright light shown round about them. The shepherds were afraid;
but the angel said, 'FEAR NOT; FOR BEHOLD, I BRING YOU GOOD TIDINGS (OR
NEWS) OF GREAT JOY, WHICH SHALL BE TO ALL PEOPLE. FOR UNTO YOU IS BORN
THIS DAY IN THE CITY OF DAVID A SAVIOUR, WHICH is CHRIST THE LORD.'