December 2, 2008
The nativital sheep dog
Anna was given a Fisher Price “Little People” nativity set to play with. It’s cute. It has baby Jesus, Joseph, Mary, an angel, a couple of shepherds, and then some animals: two sheep, a donkey, a cow, and… a border collie?
Hmm, that’s a new one. Never mind that the border collie didn’t come along until the late 19th century; I’m sure if they had been around back then, the shepherds would have had one. They’re excellent sheep dogs, after all.
So when I acted out the Christmas story for Anna with the figures, and I got to the part where the shepherds left their sheep on the hillside and ran to Bethlehem, I paused and glanced down at the sheep-herding canine lying on the floor. “But the sheep were probably ok because of this very fine border collie here,” I said, placing it with the sheep.
I can just imagine the angel saying, “Leave thy sheep with thy border collie and go at once to Bethlehem…”
Ok, I’m taking this a bit too far. Time to get back to decorating.
Comments(7)
Addie got one of those too (thanks, grandma!) and we had a laugh about the biblical border collie.
Did you name the dog “Moreover”!?!?
hahahahaha that’s awesome
funny!
“leave thy sheep with thy border collie” – is that in Davidicus or Hezekiah?
That’s priceless!…
…and thus continues a time-honored oral
tradition of ‘adding to the story’! I think
that’s a wonderful ‘addition’! It’s a keeper.
The modern day Nativity story has little factual
support, even in the Bible. It has been added
to throughout the ages… as all good stories
should be.
See “The Truth About the Nativity”…
http://travancoreann.blogspot.com/2008/02/nativity-myths.html
Funny you should mention that Kevin, I just read this post this morning on one of the blogs I follow:
The First Christmas: Myths and Reality
and you all know where to come to see the real border collie!!!