feeding the flocks, and there he stayed forty days.
With bowed head and sad eyes when he was alone,
he knelt and prayed that God would tell him what
he had done to deserve this disgrace.

And as he prayed God sent an angel to comfort
him.

The angel placed his hand upon the bowed head
of the poor old man, and told him to be of good
cheer and to return home at once to his wife.

`For God will even now send thee a child,' said
the angel.

So with a thankful heart which never doubted
the angel's word, Joachim turned his face homewards.

Meanwhile, at home, Anna had been sorrowing
alone. That same day she had gone into the garden,
and, as she wandered among the flowers, she wept
bitterly and prayed that God would send her comfort.
Then there appeared to her also an angel, who
told her that God had heard her prayer and would
send her the child she longed for.

`Go now,' the angel added, `and meet thy
husband Joachim, who is even now returning to
thee, and thou shall find him at the entrance to the
Golden Gate.'