begged the loan of a loaf of bread, to be returned as soon as she baked, for her oven was still too cool and her boy crying from hunger.

This was also refused, which so called down the wrath of the Almighty that an angel was sent, who, lifting up the hot taboon, or oven, placed it on the back of the merciless woman, leaving only the limbs and the head protruding.

So she who thus refused bread became the mother of all turtles, and if you seem to doubt it, the fellah will prove it to you by calling your attention not only to the fact that the turtle's shell resembles the taboon in shape, but also to the markings on the top of the shell like the pebbles used in the oven.

The shells of small turtles are much in vogue as charms, by peasants and city people alike, and are often to be seen strung on a cord along with blue beads, a bit of alum, etc., and worn by the children.

A story told by a peasant living at Artas, where King Solomon had his gardens, runs thus: A certain fellah living by the seaside was in the habit of feeding every day a loaf of bread to a whale. The chief of the genii noticed it and, addressing him, said: “For your kindheartedness you shall be rewarded. Gold and riches you can obtain by working for them, but I will give you something you cannot otherwise get. You shall have the gift of understanding the animals, but mind you do not tell any one about it."

When he returned home with his tired oxen from the day's plowing he heard the donkey say to one of the oxen, "If only you would not eat your food the master would think you were sick and would not take you out to plow."

Hearing this the man began laughing, and his wife asked the reason, but he did not tell her. The next morning, to repay the donkey for his intriguing, he hitched him to the plow instead of the ox. When he was brought back in the evening the ox asked him how he liked plowing. He pretended not to be tired, but advised the ox that if he continued not eating, the master would slaughter him.

* Eccl. 2:5.

295

The farmer, hearing this, laughed heartily, but would not reply to his wife's queries as to the reason of seemingly laughing at nothing. Next morning he took out the ox to plow, and the beast, fearing that the man might be leading him away to slaughter, as the donkey had said, pulled back and did not want to move. The man, knowing the reason, again began to laugh, which so aroused his wife's curiosity that she insisted if he did not tell her the cause of his amusement it was because he did not love her.

After much importuning, he at last told her the whole story, and no sooner had he done so than he lost this peculiar gift and could no longer understand the language of the animals.

As he watches over the feeding sheep, he cuts a little wool from the back of one,

spins it with the aid of only a smooth pebble, and then converts the yarn into a sling such as is always carried in the scrip.

With this he becomes expert in throwing stones to a great distance and with much precision. It not only serves as a weapon of defense, but when a sheep or goat wanders off and will not return at his call he will drop a stone near it, and this at once has the desired effect.

With such a simple weapon, and a stone taken from his shepherd's bag, which was undoubtedly similar to the one above described, it will be remembered the stripling David, while still caring for his father sheep, encountered Goliath, the Philistine giant, and slew him (see page 280).

When the owner of a flock has no son to care for the sheep, he hires a shepherd, and not only feeds him, but supplies a stipulated amount of clothing and shoes. The wages paid in money amount to only a few dollars a year.

It is not uncommon for a shepherd or a plowman thus serving a master to receive, instead of wages, one of the man's

I Sam. 17: 40, 49.

296

daughters as a wife, just as Jacob contracted with Laban for his two daughters, Leah and Rachel. The usual time served for a wife is from five to seven years.

PRIMITIVE METHODS OF DAIRYING

As long as the flocks are kept in the village, the sheep, as well as the goats, are milked by the women, and the milk turned into cheese and butter, to be sold in the city markets.

Butter is made in a goat skin like those used for carrying water. This is only half filled with the milk, which previously has been allowed to sour. The skin is blown full of air, the opening tied up, and it is hung on a tripod of sticks and shaken back and forth by one or two women until the butter is formed (see page 312).

We have no record of how the ancient shepherds of this land made their butter, but could it have been by a cruder or more primitive process? This butter is quite white, and is not eaten, spread on bread, as with us, but is mostly converted into a cooking requisite by boiling until all the watery parts have evaporated, when it is stored in goat skins, and keeps indefinitely.

Fresh butter is also eaten served in a bowl, with usually a quantity of sugar, honey, or molasses made of grapes added, in which each dips their morse! of bread.

During the day each shepherd pastures his flock independently, but in the evening all meet at the selected rendezvous. It may be a large open field or a spot where they are protected from the wind. Here all the flocks intermix in one great company during the night.

The shepherds arrange among them selves for a watch, each set of four or five men keeping guard for an hour or two, while the rest sleep curled up in their sheepskin. Sometimes they stand like sentinels over the sheep in the solitude of the still, starlit night, just like

*Gen. 29 15-29.

Isaiah 7:15, 22.

the shepherds of old on the first Christ

mas eve.

CALLING THE SHEEP BY NAME

Those unacquainted with the pastoral life of this land, who do not know the

almost human relationship between the flocks and their keepers, may wonder how the sheep are separated by their different owners when morning comes.

The sheep respond to the voice of their own shepherd, but, so well do they know the individual members of the flock of which they are part, that when the morning breaks each flock gathers itself together as a matter of habit. Then the shepherds start off in different directions, each calling his own sheep. sometimes standing on a rock or elevated place, and the sheep prick up their ears and look around, and seeing their shepherd, follow him because they know his voice.

The shepherd, to make sure that none is left behind, causes his flock to pass under his rod between him and a rock, and as they pass he counts them.‡

As a rule, when the shepherd calls one by its name it will answer with a bleat or come running expecting a treat, as a bit of bread from his scrip or a twig of leaves broken from a tree.

Each shepherd carries a club or crook, and uses it for defense and protection and not, as in other countries, to drive the sheep with, for here the shepherd always precedes the flock and they follow him. In case of danger, such as the intrusion of some wild animal, the sheep rush to him, and this weapon on his shoulder seems to allay their fears, reminding one of the words, "Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." S

To know these shepherds is to understand how the Shepherd Psalmist and King, contemplating all the incidents and vicissitudes of his pastoral life, could compose that matchless psalm, of such solace and strength. "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want."¶

Lev. 27: 32. $ Psalm 23: 4. Psalm 23: 1.