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The Shepherd
After an angel appears to him in a dream, an old shepherd follows a great, shining star to a hut where he finds the Christ Child.
- GenresPicture Books
32 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1967
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April 15, 2015
The cover makes me happy. A person is hugging themselves, head safe on knees in sleep. A starry tree and it really is a nice scene. Dreamy smiles are contagious like yawns.
Sheep sheepy (and a ram!) in a field. It must be nice and inspiring when your fellows to follow are having a good time in a field.
The Shepherd once upon a times his days in a mountain. The sheep eat and he plays his flute. Damn, his life isn't as sweet as it looks in the pictures. I'm still envious, though. The lonely mountain would hide his old hut from any visitors who might want to stop by. He sleeps out doors anyway. I bet he counts the wooly little guys with their sweet shut eyes if sleep ever eludes him. Beautiful stars and beautiful angels promise a Christ child this time. The star is in reality as well as in dreams, as promised. The shepherd looks up at the star marveling at where the angel had been. It's like looking at a sky when you know the sun is there. I know he was asleep and it isn't the same thing as looking/not looking at the sun. His face has that struck look, though. Looking too long when he hadn't begun seeing. Wake up, sheep! What else could sheep do but follow? They are sheep not for nothing. I guess God made them sheepy sheep so they could follow this lonely flute player after the six pointed star. What a bunch of (loyal) followers.
Their road is like a firey river in deep green. Beautiful towns. Castles better than sand castles before parted seas. By this point I was thinking it was great for the Shepherd and the sheep that the star (or the angel. The star could be a sheep too and the angel counts them all to sleep at night) cared to show them all this cool stuff. The baby is the star of the show. I wasn't expecting that, somehow. The sun kind of star. The other people are there too. It is the shepherd the baby looks at, though. So the shepherd gives the baby his coat because he feels sorry for it lying there in straw. What do you know? The baby smiles and what was he feeling sorry for it for? "The heaven and earth belong to you," says the shepherd. I'm not too sure about this part. I liked it better when the shepherd is appreciating all that stuff on the way. It's great the baby likes stuff too but it was just as cool the man did. I chose this Helga Aichinger book because it was the one that wasn't expensive. I confess I was let down when discovering it was a religious story. Faith is one of those things like love that loses me when left on my faith that the definition is the story. This is a little bit of both. I liked Aichinger's illustrations. She's got something down to earth ancient in the dreamy connections.... The every day man and his sheep gravitating to another light. Hanging out with smiling sheep and getting to sleep every day looks pretty good to me but maybe it wouldn't be long before my own inner voice ruined everything with tales of empty skies and mountains with no friends making that trip. But random people named Mary and Joseph there and enough said and go back home and you're never going to experience stuff like sand and star or anything for you and your buddies? I wish it had felt like going on. Parallel stories. Helga Aichinger probably isn't the same Helga Aichinger who was twins with my favorite Ilse Aichinger. Still, I couldn't help but remember this story of hers I liked so much about two sisters. One always tells her younger sister she overslept and didn't see the angels. The sister is a dog eat dog with a bone about her faith. God heads killed and reborn faith versus faith turns. I remembered the story the other day when an unseen bird's feathers brushed by my head when sitting in my car (most likely it was a mockingbird). Something about what you want or need someone else to believe and why got me more than if it is true. I don't need to call that baby Jesus.
Sheep sheepy (and a ram!) in a field. It must be nice and inspiring when your fellows to follow are having a good time in a field.
The Shepherd once upon a times his days in a mountain. The sheep eat and he plays his flute. Damn, his life isn't as sweet as it looks in the pictures. I'm still envious, though. The lonely mountain would hide his old hut from any visitors who might want to stop by. He sleeps out doors anyway. I bet he counts the wooly little guys with their sweet shut eyes if sleep ever eludes him. Beautiful stars and beautiful angels promise a Christ child this time. The star is in reality as well as in dreams, as promised. The shepherd looks up at the star marveling at where the angel had been. It's like looking at a sky when you know the sun is there. I know he was asleep and it isn't the same thing as looking/not looking at the sun. His face has that struck look, though. Looking too long when he hadn't begun seeing. Wake up, sheep! What else could sheep do but follow? They are sheep not for nothing. I guess God made them sheepy sheep so they could follow this lonely flute player after the six pointed star. What a bunch of (loyal) followers.
Their road is like a firey river in deep green. Beautiful towns. Castles better than sand castles before parted seas. By this point I was thinking it was great for the Shepherd and the sheep that the star (or the angel. The star could be a sheep too and the angel counts them all to sleep at night) cared to show them all this cool stuff. The baby is the star of the show. I wasn't expecting that, somehow. The sun kind of star. The other people are there too. It is the shepherd the baby looks at, though. So the shepherd gives the baby his coat because he feels sorry for it lying there in straw. What do you know? The baby smiles and what was he feeling sorry for it for? "The heaven and earth belong to you," says the shepherd. I'm not too sure about this part. I liked it better when the shepherd is appreciating all that stuff on the way. It's great the baby likes stuff too but it was just as cool the man did. I chose this Helga Aichinger book because it was the one that wasn't expensive. I confess I was let down when discovering it was a religious story. Faith is one of those things like love that loses me when left on my faith that the definition is the story. This is a little bit of both. I liked Aichinger's illustrations. She's got something down to earth ancient in the dreamy connections.... The every day man and his sheep gravitating to another light. Hanging out with smiling sheep and getting to sleep every day looks pretty good to me but maybe it wouldn't be long before my own inner voice ruined everything with tales of empty skies and mountains with no friends making that trip. But random people named Mary and Joseph there and enough said and go back home and you're never going to experience stuff like sand and star or anything for you and your buddies? I wish it had felt like going on. Parallel stories. Helga Aichinger probably isn't the same Helga Aichinger who was twins with my favorite Ilse Aichinger. Still, I couldn't help but remember this story of hers I liked so much about two sisters. One always tells her younger sister she overslept and didn't see the angels. The sister is a dog eat dog with a bone about her faith. God heads killed and reborn faith versus faith turns. I remembered the story the other day when an unseen bird's feathers brushed by my head when sitting in my car (most likely it was a mockingbird). Something about what you want or need someone else to believe and why got me more than if it is true. I don't need to call that baby Jesus.
Displaying 1 of 1 review