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The Sad Shepherd
The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Sad Shepherd, by Henry Van Dyke This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: The Sad Shepherd
Author: Henry Van Dyke
Release Date: May 29, 2005 [EBook #15936]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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THE SAD SHEPHERD
[Illustration]
THE SAD SHEPHERD
A CHRISTMAS STORY BY HENRY VAN DYKE
NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 1911
Copyright, 1911, by Charles Scribner's Sons
Published October, 1911
THE SAD SHEPHERD
I
DARKNESS
Out of the Valley of Gardens, where a film of new-fallen snow lay smooth as feathers on the breast of a dove, the ancient Pools of Solomon looked up into the night sky with dark, tranquil eyes, wide-open and passive, reflecting the crisp stars and the small, round moon. The full springs, overflowing on the hill-side, melted their way through the field of white in winding channels; and along their course the grass was green even in the dead of winter.
But the sad shepherd walked far above the friendly valley, in a region where ridges of gray rock welted and scarred the back of the earth, like wounds of half-forgotten strife and battles long ago. The solitude was forbidding and disquieting; the keen air that searched the wanderer had no pity in it; and the myriad glances of the night were curiously cold.
His flock straggled after him. The sheep, weather-beaten and dejected, followed the path with low head