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    Star over Bethlehem: Poems and Holiday Stories
    Star over Bethlehem: Poems and Holiday Stories
    Star over Bethlehem: Poems and Holiday Stories
    Ebook201 pages2 hours

    Star over Bethlehem: Poems and Holiday Stories

    By Agatha Christie

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    With Star Over Bethlehem, the beloved Queen of Mystery Agatha Christie shines in a totally unexpected way, offering readers a wondrous collection of poems and holiday short stories.

    A retelling of the Christmas Story in a way you’ve never heard it before. . . . The fable of a donkey who carries a mother and child safely to Egypt. . . . The tale of a widow who dislikes people until she meets a stranger. . . .

    From the most popular writer of all time comes a treasured collection of short stories and poems celebrating the holiday season.

    This special edition also contains a wealth of Agatha Christie rarities—not only all the stories, poems, and illustrations from her long out-of-print book Star over Bethlehem (1965) but also a reproduction of all her rare poetry from the two collections The Road of Dreams (1924) and Poems (1973).

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 25, 2011
    ISBN9780062122018
    Star over Bethlehem: Poems and Holiday Stories
    Author

    Agatha Christie

    Agatha Christie is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in English with another billion in over 70 foreign languages. She is the most widely published author of all time and in any language, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. She is the author of 80 crime novels and short story collections, 20 plays, and six novels written under the name of Mary Westmacott.

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    Reviews for Star over Bethlehem

    3.5/5

    27 ratings4 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Star Over Bethlehem is a collection of Christian short stories and poetry.The stories are not deep or really thought-provoking, but they are touching and kind stories. Christie tells some stories from the Bible and then other stories are about how religion can touch a person's life and leave a positive mark. I like that the stories are not preachy in anyway. They are simple tales that tell their story well.
    • 3/5
      This is a collection of short stories, holiday themed, and poems, not all holiday themed. I'm not sure when this was originally published, but it reads like a Victorian collection, at least the poems do. The stories are nice, nothing earth-shattering, just nice little stories to read during the holidays. The poems were quite sentimental, seemed to focus on dead or lost lovers, the seasons and nature. I have some poetry written by my great-great grandmothers which is similar. I found those about Harlequin, Columbine and the rest very interesting, not having heard much about them before except their names.Simon Vance, as the narrator, was perfect.
    • 4/5
      This is a slightly more traditional set of Christmas stories than others I have read this year, though from an unusual pen. Agatha Christie published this set of short stories in 1965. They are warmly and cosily religious stories (ones not ramming religion down one's throat) about God appearing in various guises to people in a range of situations, ancient and modern, restoring hope and balance to those people's lives. Nothing outstanding but a pleasant read.
    • 2/5
      Stars Over Bethlehem and Other Stories is a short story and poetry collection with a religious theme. The collection contains five poems and six stories. My favourites were The Water Bus and In the Cool of the Evening. My least favourite was The Island. Individual ratings and reviews below. Overall collection rating is 2 stars.POETRY: A GREETING: ***A short Christmas poem relating the story of Jesus in the Manger and the appearance of the three Wise Men. I liked the rhythm and pacing of this one. 3 stars.MISC: STAR OVER BETHLEHEM: **Mary is tempted to end the life of her son, Jesus, in order to save him from the suffering he will endure. This was okay. Very religious and kind of hard to follow the specific references, although I got the gist about Lucifer. 2 stars.POETRY: A WREATH FOR CHRISTMAS: **A poem about the making of a Christmas wreath. The rhythm and pacing was good and I liked the rhyming and word choices. 2 stars.MISC: THE NAUGHTY DONKEY: **A naughty donkey winds up in the Manger where Jesus lay and finds himself wanting to change and be good for her new Master. It got weird towards the end, but I liked the donkey's sass. 2 stars.POETRY: GOLD, FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH: **A poem about the gifts Jesus was given. Not really anything to say about this one. It was alright. 2 stars.MISC: THE WATER BUS: ***A woman dislikes people and does her best to isolate herself from the world. But when she travels by a water bus she sees a man in a beautiful woolen coat and when she can't stop herself from touching it, she finds that she sees life in a whole new light. This started out strong and then went downhill. I liked that she disliked the world. The joke at the end that the guy in the coat must be able to walk on water was funny though. 3 stars.MISC: IN THE COOL OF THE EVENING: ***A woman prays for her son to be "fixed" but is confronted by the idea that God lives everywhere and loves all people, animals and things. This was alright. I liked the message of acceptance and compassion for all. 3 stars.POETRY: JENNY BY THE SKY: **A man considers a woman named Jenny and God's will. This was alright? I don't know. I liked the rhythm, pacing and the word choices but it was still too religious for me and I think I might have missed what it was even about. The end line says and "we both understood". Yeah, I did not understand. 2 stars. MISC: PROMOTION IN THE HIGHEST: **The Saints of God have decided they have not done enough in service of their faith and would like to return to Earth in order to serve. This was kind of funny although I'm pretty sure I missed most of the point. Once they got down to Earth it got odd. 2 stars.POETRY: THE SAINTS OF GOD: ***A punchy poem about the Saints of God coming back down to Earth in order to lead man back to Heaven. I liked Saint Margaret who has a dragon. I mean who doesn't love dragons. 3 stars.MISC: THE ISLAND: *Mary lives on an island looking after John who is a holy man (and possibly her son? I didn't quite get this bit). Men come looking for the Queen of Heaven and then Jesus arrives and takes Mary away. I definitely didn't understand this one. I'm not even sure I've gotten the plot straight at all, let alone any metaphors or religious references. 1 star.

    Book preview

    Star over Bethlehem - Agatha Christie

    STAR OVER BETHLEHEM

    A Greeting

    Praise to the Yule Log!

    Leap, Flames, merrily.

    Hail to the Wassail Bowl!

    Bubble, Wine, rosily!

    In the Manger lies the Child;

    Asses, Oxen, braying, lowing,

    Cackling Hens and Cocks a’crowing.

    Overfull the Inn to-night,

    Up above a star shines bright,

    Shepherds kneel beside their fold,

    Wise Men bring their gifts of Gold,

    Angels in the Sky above

    Trumpet forth God’s gift of Love.

    Waken, children, one and all,

    Wake to hear the trumpet call,

    Leave your sleeping, ’tis the Day,

    Christmas, glorious Christmas Day!

    Star over Bethlehem

    Mary looked down at the baby in the manger. She was alone in the stable except for the animals. As she smiled down at the child her heart was full of pride and happiness.

    Then suddenly she heard the rustling of wings and turning, she saw a great Angel standing in the doorway.

    The Angel shone with the radiance of the morning sun, and the beauty of his face was so great that Mary’s eyes were dazzled and she had to turn aside her head.

    Then the Angel said (and his voice was like a golden trumpet):

    Do not be afraid, Mary …

    And Mary answered in her sweet low voice:

    I am not afraid, Oh Holy One of God, but the Light of your Countenance dazzles me.

    The Angel said: I have come to speak to you.

    Mary said: Speak on, Holy One. Let me hear the commands of the Lord God.

    The Angel said: I have come with no commands. But since you are specially dear to God, it is permitted that, with my aid, you should look into the future …

    Then Mary looked down at the child and asked eagerly:

    "Into his future?"

    Her face lit up with joyful anticipation.

    Yes, said the Angel gently. "Into his future … Give me your hand."

    Mary stretched out her hand and took that of the Angel. It was like touching flame—yet flame that did not burn. She shrank back a little and the Angel said again:

    Do not be afraid. I am immortal and you are mortal, but my touch shall not hurt you …

    Then the Angel stretched out his great golden wing over the sleeping child and said:

    Look into the future, Mother, and see your Son …

    And Mary looked straight ahead of her and the stable walls melted and dissolved and she was looking into a Garden. It was night and there were stars overhead and a man was kneeling, praying.

    Something stirred in Mary’s heart, and her motherhood told her that it was her son who knelt there. She said thankfully to herself: He has become a good man—a devout man—he prays to God. And then suddenly she caught her breath, for the man had raised his face and she saw the agony on it—the despair and the sorrow … and she knew that she was looking on greater anguish than any she had ever known or seen. For the man was utterly alone. He was praying to God, praying that this cup of anguish might be taken from him—and there was no answer to his prayer. God was absent and silent …

    And Mary cried out:

    Why does not God answer him and give him comfort?

    And she heard the voice of the Angel say:

    It is not God’s purpose that he should have comfort.

    Then Mary bowed her head meekly and said: It is not for us to know the inscrutable purposes of God. But has this man—my son—has he no friends? No kindly human friends?

    The Angel rustled his wing and the picture dissolved into another part of the Garden and Mary saw some men lying asleep.

    She said bitterly: He needs them—my son needs them—and they do not care!

    The Angel said: They are only fallible human creatures …

    Mary murmured to herself: "But he is a good man, my son. A good and upright man."

    Then again the wing of the Angel rustled, and Mary saw a road winding up a hill, and three men on it carrying crosses, and a crowd behind them and some Roman soldiers.

    The Angel said: What do you see now?

    Mary said: I see three criminals going to execution.

    The left hand man turned his head and Mary saw a cruel crafty face, a low bestial type—and she drew back a little.

    Yes, she said, they are criminals.

    Then the man in the centre stumbled and nearly fell, and as he turned his face, Mary recognised him and she cried out sharply:

    "No, no, it cannot be that my son is a criminal!"

    But the Angel rustled his wing and she saw the three crosses set up, and the figure hanging in agony on the centre one was the man she knew to be her son. His cracked lips parted and she heard the words that came from them:

    My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

    And Mary cried out: No, no, it is not true! He cannot have done anything really wrong. There has been some dreadful mistake. It can happen sometimes. There has been some confusion of identity; he has been mistaken for someone else. He is suffering for someone else’s crime.

    But again the Angel rustled his wings and this time Mary was looking at the figure of the man she revered most on earth—the High Priest of her Church. He was a noble-looking man, and he stood up now and with solemn hands he tore and rent the garment he was wearing, and cried out in a loud voice:

    This man has spoken Blasphemy!

    And Mary looked beyond him and saw the figure of the man who had spoken Blasphemy—and it was her son.

    Then the pictures faded and there was only the mudbrick wall of the stable, and Mary was trembling and crying out brokenly:

    "I cannot believe it—I cannot believe it. We are a God-fearing straight-living family—all my family. Yes, and Joseph’s family too. And we shall bring him up carefully to practise religion and to revere and honour the faith of his fathers. A son of ours could never be guilty of blasphemy—I cannot believe it! All this that you have shown me cannot be true."

    Then the Angel said: Look at me, Mary.

    And Mary looked at him and saw the radiance surrounding him and the beauty of his Face.

    And the Angel said: What I have shown you is Truth. For I am the Morning Angel, and the Light of the Morning is Truth. Do you believe now?

    And sorely against her will, Mary knew that what she had been shown was indeed Truth … and she could not disbelieve any more.

    The tears raced down her cheeks and she bent over the child in the manger, her arms outspread as though to protect him. She cried out:

    My child … my little helpless child … what can I do to save you? To spare you from what is to come? Not only from the sorrow and the pain, but from the evil that will blossom in your heart? Oh indeed it would have been better for you if you had never been born, or if you had died with your first breath. For then you would have gone back to God pure and unsoiled.

    And the Angel said: That is why I have come to you, Mary.

    Mary said: What do you mean?

    The Angel answered: You have seen the future. It is in your power to say if your child shall live or die.

    Then Mary bent her head, and amidst stifled sobs she murmured:

    The Lord gave him to me … If the Lord now takes him away, then I see that it may indeed be mercy, and though it tears my flesh I submit to God’s will.

    But the Angel said softly:

    "It is not quite like that. God lays no command on you. The choice is yours. You have seen the future. Choose now if the child shall live or die."

    Then Mary was silent for a little while. She was a woman who thought slowly. She looked once at

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