On the first Christmas night he was out with his fellow shepherds on the hills.

It was chill and dark, and all, except him, were glad to gather around the fire.

He sat, as usual, by himself, with his harp on his knee and a great longing in his heart.

And there came a marvellous light in the sky and over the hills, as if the darkness of the night had suddenly blossomed into a wonderful meadow of flowery flame; and all the shepherds saw the angels and heard them sing.

And as they sang, the harp that the young shepherd held began to play softly by itself, and as he listened to it he realized that it was playing the same music that the angels sang and that all his secret longings and aspirations and strivings were expressed in it.