Two mice, a male and a female, made their way along a road towards Loamhedge Abbey. The female was pregnant and due to deliver any day. They walked up to the Abbey. The male knocked.
Abbess Germaine answered the door. "May I help you?" she asked.
The male bowed. "I am Joseph, and this is my wife, Mary. We seek shelter."
Abbess Germaine bit her lip. There were a lot of travelers in Loamhedge that evening. All of the guest rooms, beds in the Infirmary and extra beds in the dormitories were taken. But she couldn't find it in her heart to turn away these two. "We don't have any free beds," she said. "The only place I can offer for you to sleep is the floor. I'm sorry."
Joseph glanced at the sky. Clouds were rolling in, predicting a storm during the night. He looked at Mary, who nodded. Joseph looked at Germaine. "We'll take it," he said.
"Follow me, then," Germaine said. She led them into the abbey building. "I'll go get you some blankets and spare habits so the floor isn't so hard," she said and left them there. She found the cupboard where blankets were kept and pulled out several. Then, going to her dormitory, she took a couple spare habits. These she gave to Joseph and Mary.
Later that night, a bright light shone in Abbess Germaine's window and woke her up. She sat up in bed and suddenly heard a scream from down below. Quietly sliding out of bed and slipping into her slippers and night robe, she padded downstairs. About halfway down, Germaine noticed a new sound. In a moment she recognized what it was: the sounds of a newborn mousebabe! She hurried the rest of the way down the stairs.
In a corner of the room, Mary was lying on a blanket. Joseph was kneeling nearby, holding a tiny white creature in his paws. Germaine approached them. "So the babe came," she said. Joseph and Mary jumped. Joseph looked a little bewildered by everything, which made Germaine smile. She held out her paws. "I can take care of him if you wish," she said. "I have helped with caring for babes after birth before."
Joseph looked relieved. "Thanks," he said, giving her the babe. "This is Mary's and my first. We don't know the first thing about caring for newborns."
Germaine took the babe, noticing that the cord had broken on its own. She also saw that the babe was a male. She also noticed that his fur was snow white and his eyes a sky blue. Strange since both his parents had brown fur and brown eyes. "Joseph, could you help Mary up. I'd like to check her over. I want to make sure she's okay, too." She carried the babe up the stairs to the infirmary with Joseph, who was supporting Mary, by her side. Once there, she cleaned him up and wrapped him up. She went to one of the beds who held a guest. She gently tapped his paw to wake him. "Would you mind getting up?" she asked. "There's a creature here who needs your bed." The creature, a squirrel, got up and Mary lay down on the bed. Germaine gave her the mousebabe and began examining her. "What's the babe's name?" she began conversationally as she worked.
"Jesus," Mary said,
"That's a nice name," Germaine said. After she finished, Joseph got into bed with Mary and the two of them fell asleep with baby Jesus in Mary's paws.
The squirrel who had been displaced went over to one of the other beds where his sister was sleeping and asked if he could share her bed. She let him in.
Germaine silently left the infirmary and closed the door, going back to bed.
On the same night, outside a bunch of shrews were sleeping on the ground when suddenly a bright light in the sky awoke them. "Hey!" one exclaimed "Where's that light comin' from?"
Another shrew spotted the source of the light. "Over there!"
They all looked. There was a creature standing near them. It looked like a shrew, but it was completely white from nose to tail and was dressed in flowing white robes. Large white wings were visible behind the creature's back.
The shrews were terrified. They huddled together. "W-w-wot do ye want with us?" one of the shrews stammered.
The creature's face was extremely fierce, and yet, strangely, at the same time kind. "Don't be afraid," it said. "I bring you good news of a great joy, which is to benefit all the land; today, in the Abbey of Loamhedge, the Savior was born to you--he is the Anointed, the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a mousebabe lying with his parents in a bed in the abbey infirmary."
Suddenly, thousands of other white, glowing creatures appeared. They were all shrews. "Glory to God in the highest!" they shouted, raising paws and snouts towards the sky, "And on earth peace to creatures whom he has favored!" And with that, they all disappeared as suddenly as they had come.
The shrews blinked for a few minutes until their eyes adjusted to the darkness once again. One shrew jumped up. "Come on!" he yelled. "Let's go over to Loamhedge and see what has happened, the event the Lord has told us about." For once, there was no need for debates or voting. All of the shrews were of the same opinion.
The next morning, just as the sun came up, a loud banging and a lot of gruff shouts at the door awakened the Abbess. She quickly got dressed and went out to see who was making the noise.
It was a tribe of shrews. "Are ye the leader of this place?" one snapped at her, aiming a rapier at her.
"Yes," Germaine said. "May I help you with anything?"
"We wanna see the babe," another said.
"Babe?" Germaine echoed.
"We were told a babe was born here last night," yet another shrew said. "We want to see him."
Germaine was bewildered, but she led them to the infirmary. "Follow me, please."
When she led them into the infirmary, her confusion grew. In her experience with shrews, she'd often found them to be quarrelsome, short tempered, noisy creatures. When they entered the infirmary and saw Joseph and Mary with baby Jesus, they became silent and gathered around the bed.
"Oh, the mousebabe," one older shrew whispered.
Mary simply smiled and held Jesus out to them. The shrew who had spoken went first. He did it very delicately, as if he had been rehearsing for a long time and was scared of doing something wrong. "Like this," he said. "I held mine like this. You see? Experience, that's it."
Obviously something had happened, but none of the shrews was able to say exactly what. One of them started on about glory and another interrupted him to talk about creatures on earth. A whole garbled tale about white shrews with wings in their thousands, "thousands upon thousands" and peace to all creatures.
"Whom he favors," said a thin shrew. "I think I got that right. He looked around at the others. "It was 'favor,' wasn't it?"
"Aye," replied an older shrew.
"Oh, oh the babe," said another one. "He's looking at me! At me..."
They stayed for a while longer, talking of things that Germaine didn't understand.
A few days later, Germaine heard singing. She followed the sound. She found Joseph standing alone in the orchard, holding baby Jesus and singing. Germaine stopped to listen to his song.
"How could it be this mousebabe in my paws
Sleeping now, so peacefully
The Son of God, the angel said
How could it be?
"Lord I know
He's not my own
Not of my flesh, not of my bone
Still Father let this mousebabe be
The son of my love
"Father show me where I fit into this plan of yours
How can a mouse be father to the Son of God
Lord for all my life I've been a simple carpenter
How can I raise a king,
How can I raise a king
"He looks so small
His face and paws so fair
And when He cries the sun just seems to disappear
And when He laughs it shines again
How could it be
"Father show me where I fit into this plan of yours
How can a mouse be father to the Son of God
Lord for all my life I've been a simple carpenter
How can I raise a king,
How can I raise a king
"How could it be this mousebabe in my paws
Sleeping now, so peacefully
The Son of God, the angel said
How could it be?
"How could it be?"
"That was beautiful." Germaine said, into the following silence.
Joseph jumped and turned around. "Abbess Germaine!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
"I heard your song and I followed it here," Germaine said. "I hope you don't mind."
"Oh, no," Joseph faltered. "Not at all."
Germaine approached him. "Other creatures have had doubts about how they would do as fathers and turned out to be wonderful."
"But...but..." Joseph protested. "He's going to be a king when he grows up. Me, I'm just a carpenter. How can I give him the education he'll need?"
"Teach him to be a leader," Germaine said. "My own father was a farmer, but he taught me how to be a leader and to live a good life. His lessons and morals have stayed with me all my life and made me who I am. A creature worthy to have been made Abbess of Loamhedge." She hesitated. "I know that Jesus isn't your son."
"Yes," Joseph said, "That's true, but I decided to adopt him and raise him as my own."
Germaine nodded. "Are you willing to play with him, spend time with him, get involved in his life, and talk with him?" she asked.
"Of course," Joseph said. "I want to be close to him...and to any little ones Mary and I might have together."
"Are you willing to love and accept Jesus, even though he's not your own young one, and not think higher or lower of him because of it and the destiny you know he shall have?" Germaine asked.
"I never did like creatures that treated different creatures differently," Joseph said. "I would never do that with my own young ones."
"Are you willing to challenge your young ones and lead them by example?" Germaine asked.
"That was what my father did with me," Joseph said. "I want to do the same."
"Will you be supportive and loyal towards your family, protecting them against anything that might threaten them?" Germaine asked.
"Show me the creature that would harm my family and I'll show you a deadbeast," Joseph said.
Germaine smiled. "Then you will be a good father," she said. With that, she turned around and left.
"Thank you, Father, for sending the Mother Abbess to me to answer my questions," she heard Joseph pray.
That night, there came a knock at the front gates of the Abbey. Three badgers came in, dressed in armor and cloaks. Each one carried some kind of vessel. The first was an older badger with its black stripes turned dark grey with age, dressed in gold armor and a blue cloak. The second one was snow white and dressed in silver armor and a red cloak. The third one was younger than the other two. His stripes were still black and white. He was dressed in bronze armor and a purple cloak.
Mary was sitting at a table, cradling baby Jesus in her paws. One by one the badgers walked forward, knelt, spoke, and placed what they carried on the floor in front of them.
The silver badger went first. He opened a small box and set it down on the floor. The contents of which glittered in the light of a lamp. "Gold is for a king," he said, "The riches of his glory."
After he had stood up and joined the others, the younger badger came forwards and set down some kind of vessel. It looked like it was made of glass. "Frankincense is for prayer," he said, "A fragrant offering to God." A sort of musky smell filled the hall.
Finally the white badger came forwards. "Myrrh is for sorrow and the day of death," he said, "A doorway into life." He set down a white clay vessel. It, too, had a smell. A sharp, pungent smell. He stood and rejoined his companions. Then they all bowed and left.
That night, Germaine couldn't sleep because of the mystery of the white mouse babe. A mystery she would continue to think and wonder about long after he and his parents had left Loamhedge and returned home.
A/N: The song Joseph sings is called "Joseph's Song," and is performed by Michael Card. Yet another thing I don't own.