God and the Lamb.

A Christmas Carol.

ONE THE flowery mountain,
O Lord, good Lord,
Nica feeds his flock.
He feeds them,
He drives them,
He touches the foremost,
He gathers the hindmost,
And leads them into the pasture.
But where has he fixed the pasture?
On the top of the mountains,
Under the yellow plane tree.
A summer breeze is blowing,
Shaking the leaves,
And scattering them over the plain.
The sheep grew excited,
And they made a great noise.
They bleated, and the bleating reached the heaven and the earth.
The Holy God heard them,
And he came down to them,
And thus he spake with his mouth:
“Halloo, brave Nica, whose are these sheep,
Which bleat so beautifully,
So beautifully and devoutly?”
Nica the brave replied:
“O dear merciful God,
As thou hast come and askest me,
I will answer truly
To whom these sheep belong:
They are thine,
As well as mine.
I feed them;
Thou guardest them.
I milk them;
Thou multipliest them.
I shear them;
Thou makest them grow.”
The good God replied
And said to Nica the brave:
“May they be given to thee
From me as a gift—
From a good father
To a clever son—
For thou art sweet of tongue.
But thou shalt give me,
On St. John’s day,
Two lambs;
On St. George’s day
One suckling lamb;
And on Ascension day
A cake of cheese.”
Nica the brave
May live in health,
He and his brothers
And his parents.
May God keep you all.