STONEANGEL444

The Spirit of Noel
Christmas is that special time of year when people of all nations and beliefs share their expressions of joy and good tidings toward each other free of suspecion about the other persons motives. This period of time is filled with hopes for the future, forgiveness of the past and stories of the first Christmas. One such story is remembered yet cloaked in mystery.
A man named Joseph led a small donkey across treacherous land with his young wife riding atop a beast of burden. Mary glowed with anticipation of the birth of their first child as they made their way toward Bethelem. The days passed, their provisions became fewer and fatigue slowed their journey. One such night they rested near the home of a humble farmer. Seeing the couple, the farmer approached Mary and Joseph offering them the few provisions he was capable of giving to them. He explained that his land thirsted for water creating smaller crops each year. The nearest water was half a days travel from his farm. He attempted to grow his crop by bringing water to his land with the help of his two daughters.
Mary extended her hand to the old man and advised him to dig a well on the place where she rested with her soon to be born child. This place will yield the water he so badly needed for survival.
The old man thanked Mary for her kindness but remained skeptical as his family lived on this land for many generations finding no water.
The next morning following a dream that renewed his faith, he decided to begin digging. The site, not far from a heavily travelled road, became a curiosity to travellers. One such person, a doctor by profession, stopped to observe the efforts of the old man. Concerned, he decided to offer his advice.
The effort of the old man, now into the third day, began to wear heavily on his body. Fatigue and muscular aches slowed his progress. The doctor, in fear for the old mans health, became determined to convince him to stop digging. The farmer refused to rest. The longer he dug the more he felt certain, water would soon appear.
Days passed, yet the doctor remained at the site pacing around the hole, supervising the weary farmer. The longer the old man dug, the more the doctor became filled with fear for the old man. The doctor paced faster becoming careless in his footing sending dirt back into the hole.
Finally, frustrated by the doctors presence, the farmer climbed out of the hole. He told the doctor he would continue his digging after resting and seeing to the needs of his wife and daughters, in the hope the doctor would be gone when he returned to continue work.
The next morning the old man approached the site. To his delight the hole was filled with water. To his shock, the doctors hat floated on top of the water. The doctors footsteps remained visible around the hole but none led toward the road. The doctor was never heard from again. The new well fed the surrounding crops for generations.
Two thousand years later the story lives on although it is overshadowed by the birth of the child whose life and teachings changed the world forever. Yet in memory of the efforts of the doctor, modern day practitioners have been heard to greet each other, this one time of year with a sincere handshake uttering the word "NOEL".
Folklore believes this gesture to reflect a renewal of the physicians oath to tend to the sick and leave the well alone.
SEASONS GREETINGS FROM A NEW MEMBER.

Light

Thanks for posting 'The Spirit of Noel'

My first impression was your style of writing; it was easy to read which helps in my book. The story was original yet built on an age old theme. How did you come up with the idea for this?

Some things I did pick up on were:

The story was presented as narrative. I can see why you did this for 'The Spirit of Noel' due to the subject matter and your ending indicated it was meant to be this way. But what if the reader had a chance to read the story through the farmer's eyes? Or switching between the Doctor and the Farmer?

I would have loved to have known what the Farmer's impression of Joseph and Mary was. what made him want to go and talk to them and give what little he had (particularly when he had a family). Or perhaps how he felt during his dream. What was it about the dream that drove him to the point of obession to find the water?

I'm not sure whether this was a typo but you jumped from past to present for one sentence I spotted.

Mary extended her hand to the old man and advised him to dig a well on the place where she rested with her soon to be born child. This place will yield the water he so badly needed for survival.

The alternative would have been to place some of this in speech marks.

Overall, it was a good read and put a new slant on 'NOEL' Thanks again for the opportunity to read this

Light

__________________
The choice before us is chaos or community ~ Martin Luther King

Kimberly Bird

I loved it. What a great imagination you have. The reading and writing style was smooth and easy to ready.

Thanks for sharing.

Kimberly