them, "Be not afraid, for I tell you a great joy that shall be to all
people, for this day is born to us our Lord, Christ, in the city of
David, and this shall be to you a token: Ye shall find a young child
wrapped in cloths and put in a manger." And then suddenly there came a
great multitude of angels of Heaven praising God, who said: "Joy be to
God on high and peace in earth to men of good will."

Now the place where the angel appeared to the shepherds that night when
Christ was born is but half a mile from Bethlehem, and in that same
place David, when he was a child, fed sheep and kept them from the bear
and the lion.

Some books say that the shepherds in that country, twice in the year,
are wont to keep their sheep in the night, and, therein, times be when
the day and the night are both of one length. And you shall understand
that the land about Bethlehem is all mountainous for the most part, so
that in some places a man shall not well know winter from summer, and in
some places it is right cold, and some it is both winter and summer at
one time, and sometimes on the mountains, in parts of the East, men
shall find snow in the month of August, and that snow is gathered by
them that dwell about, and put in caves, and afterward it is borne to
the market, where the great lords of the country will buy it, and take
it to their houses, and set it in a basin upon their board to make their
drink cold.

In September and October, when the sun cometh a little low in that
country, then seeds and all manner of herbs commonly begin to wax in the
fields, as in this country herbs begin to grow in March and April; also
in some parts of the East they reap corn in April and in March, but most
in May, as in some places the ground is higher, in some places lower;