Star Over Bethlehem and other stories
Encyclopedia
Star Over Bethlehem and Other Stories is an illustrated book of poetry
and short stories
on a religious theme by crime writer Agatha Christie
. It was published under the name "Agatha Christie Mallowan" (whose only other book to be published under this by-line was the 1946 short autobiography Come, Tell Me How You Live
). It was published in the UK by Collins
on November 1 1965 in an edition priced at thirteen shillings and sixpence
(13/6) and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company
in an edition retailing at $4.95.
The volume contains five poems and six short stories
, all on the theme of Christianity
. Some of the poems can be taken as comments or epilogues on the short stories (e.g. Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh refers to the gifts in the stable which The Naughty Donkey in the preceding story attempts to eat).
Although relatively unknown, this work, when referred to at all, is often stated as being for children; however the stories it contains are firmly aimed at an adult audience and with adult themes, especially for 1965. For instance, in the story The Water Bus, Mrs Hargreaves’s cleaner tries to offload her woes to her employer, the main one of which is that her daughter is dying in hospital after an illegal abortion
went wrong.
Little is known of the reasons for the writing of the contents of this book, however Christie is known to have retained strong religious beliefs throughout her life. She is also said to have been pleased with Collins' plans for the publication and its illustrations by Elsie Wrigley and pleased at the reception of the book and, for once, requests for it to be autographed.
is alone in the stable in Bethlehem
with the baby Jesus
when she receives a visitation from an angel
. He tells the virgin that she has been permitted a glimpse of the future and shows Jesus alone and afraid in the Garden of Gethsemane as He prays before his arrest, then a vision of Jesus carrying His cross on the way to His crucifixion
, and then finally on the cross as He is declared by the High Priest as a blasphemer
. The angel offers Mary the choice of giving the baby back to God
to avoid these agonies of the future and tells her that she should regard the choice as hers alone with no compunction from God himself. Mary suddenly remembers the smile on her son’s face as He looked on His sleeping disciples in Gethsemane and a similar look on the face of one of the criminals also on a cross at Golgotha. She refuses the offer that the angel makes to her. He vanishes as Joseph
comes into the stable. The angel is then revealed to be Satan
in disguised form who vows to come back one day and tempt
Jesus himself. As he flashes through the sky towards hell
, his passage is mistaken for a star
by the Three Wise Men
.
. Sheltering in the stable in Bethlehem, it witnesses the birth of Jesus, the shepherds, the three wise men and the visitation of an angel. Inspecting the presents left by the three wise men for something to eat, the baby Jesus touches the donkey’s ear and its character is transformed. It becomes the donkey that takes Joseph, Mary and Jesus into Egypt
, once knowing by instinct when Herod
’s soldiers are near and hiding them.
. Her two grown-up children are married and live far away. She is comfortable on her own but dislikes people, their cares and complaints. She is a generous giver to charity but does not want to be involved herself and feels isolated from everyone around her to the point where even a shopping expedition becomes an ordeal. Craving isolation she takes a water bus to Greenwich
and on the journey touches the woven cloak-like coat of an Arabic-looking man sat in the bow of the boat. She undergoes something of a religious conversion
, suddenly seeing other people’s problems that irritated her in a new light. She feels she knows who the man was. On the water bus, the man has disappeared. The Captain tells the mate who collected the tickets that he must have just missed him disembarking as he couldn’t walk on water…
. She is praying desperately for a miracle cure for their son, Alan, who is thirteen and mildly retarded. Arriving home after the service, Alan greets them with a strange creature he has found in the garden. Part frog
, it has wings and feathers and is a mutation caused by a leak some time ago from a local research station on the downs
. Alan tells them he has named the creature a “Raphion” and he has named it and other strange creatures with the help of his “friend” who is down the bottom of the garden. Alan wants to know where they have been and what a “church” is. His parents tell him it is God’s house. After supper, Alan asks permission to go back down to the bottom of the garden and help his “friend” continue to name the new species. His parents say yes and Alan meets up with his “friend” again. As they continue to name the new animals, Alan asks Him if He is God. He says yes and when asked if he lives in a church, he replies, “I live in many places… But sometimes, in the cool of the evening, I walk in a garden – with a friend and talk about the New World…”
) and a man carrying a gridiron (St Lawrence). Narracott tells the local police constable of his sighting, feeling that he has seen them somewhere before…
The fourteen are saints who walk the earth again on their way back to heaven. They stand before the recording angel
and tell him of their guilt that they attained eternal life when they feel they did not do enough to deserve such a reward. The recording angel is dismissive but the archangel Gabriel intercedes as every millennium
, judgements given can be appealed. The saints are given promotion in the highest and return to earth where they start to do good deeds among needy people.
Back in the church, the vicar is told that his fifteenth century altar screen is beyond repair and that the images of the saints on it have gone for good and cannot be restored…
lives there. Sent by the islanders to the croft
where Mary and the man live, they are told no such person lives on the island and they should stop their search for false gods. The two men leave. Soon after, another boat arrives on the island with Jesus in the company of Simon
and Andrew
. They take Mary and John away, walking on water to reach the boat...
(Although not stated implicitly in the story, the island is undoubtedly Patmos
where John the Evangelist
or John of Patmos
wrote the Book of Revelation
. John the Evangelist supposedly took care of Mary in her old age but in this story, the positions are reversed, leaving John to complete the final book of the Bible
.)
The title story was first published in the monthly Woman's Journal issue for December, 1946
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
and short stories
Short Stories
Short Stories may refer to:*A plural for Short story*Short Stories , an American pulp magazine published from 1890-1959*Short Stories, a 1954 collection by O. E...
on a religious theme by crime writer Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
. It was published under the name "Agatha Christie Mallowan" (whose only other book to be published under this by-line was the 1946 short autobiography Come, Tell Me How You Live
Come, Tell Me How You Live
Come, Tell Me How You Live is a short book of autobiography and travel literature by crime writer Agatha Christie. It is one of only two books she wrote and had published under both of her married names of "Christie" and "Mallowan" and was first published in the UK in November 1946 by William...
). It was published in the UK by Collins
William Collins (publisher)
William Collins was a Scottish schoolmaster and publisher.Collins was born near Glasgow in 1789. In 1819 he set up a publishing business, initially selling religious books. He produced the first Collins dictionary in 1824, when he also obtained a licence to publish the Bible...
on November 1 1965 in an edition priced at thirteen shillings and sixpence
British sixpence coin
The sixpence, known colloquially as the tanner, or half-shilling, was a British pre-decimal coin, worth six pence, or 1/40th of a pound sterling....
(13/6) and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company
Dodd, Mead and Company
Dodd, Mead and Company was one of the pioneer publishing houses of the United States, based in New York City. Under several names, the firm operated from 1839 until 1990. Its history properly began in 1870, with the retirement of its founder, Moses Woodruff Dodd. Control passed to his son Frank...
in an edition retailing at $4.95.
The volume contains five poems and six short stories
Short Stories
Short Stories may refer to:*A plural for Short story*Short Stories , an American pulp magazine published from 1890-1959*Short Stories, a 1954 collection by O. E...
, all on the theme of Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
. Some of the poems can be taken as comments or epilogues on the short stories (e.g. Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh refers to the gifts in the stable which The Naughty Donkey in the preceding story attempts to eat).
Although relatively unknown, this work, when referred to at all, is often stated as being for children; however the stories it contains are firmly aimed at an adult audience and with adult themes, especially for 1965. For instance, in the story The Water Bus, Mrs Hargreaves’s cleaner tries to offload her woes to her employer, the main one of which is that her daughter is dying in hospital after an illegal abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
went wrong.
Little is known of the reasons for the writing of the contents of this book, however Christie is known to have retained strong religious beliefs throughout her life. She is also said to have been pleased with Collins' plans for the publication and its illustrations by Elsie Wrigley and pleased at the reception of the book and, for once, requests for it to be autographed.
Poems
- A Greeting
- A Wreath for Christmas
- Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh
- Jenny by the Sky
- The Saints of God
Short stories
Star Over Bethlehem
MaryMary (mother of Jesus)
Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...
is alone in the stable in Bethlehem
Bethlehem
Bethlehem is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank of the Jordan River, near Israel and approximately south of Jerusalem, with a population of about 30,000 people. It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate of the Palestinian National Authority and a hub of Palestinian culture and tourism...
with the baby Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
when she receives a visitation from an angel
Angel
Angels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...
. He tells the virgin that she has been permitted a glimpse of the future and shows Jesus alone and afraid in the Garden of Gethsemane as He prays before his arrest, then a vision of Jesus carrying His cross on the way to His crucifixion
Crucifixion
Crucifixion is an ancient method of painful execution in which the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead...
, and then finally on the cross as He is declared by the High Priest as a blasphemer
Blasphemer
Blasphemy is the disrespectful use of the name of one or more gods.Blasphemer may also refer to:* "Blasphemer", the stage name of Rune Eriksen, a Norwegian guitarist formerly of the black metal group Mayhem....
. The angel offers Mary the choice of giving the baby back to God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
to avoid these agonies of the future and tells her that she should regard the choice as hers alone with no compunction from God himself. Mary suddenly remembers the smile on her son’s face as He looked on His sleeping disciples in Gethsemane and a similar look on the face of one of the criminals also on a cross at Golgotha. She refuses the offer that the angel makes to her. He vanishes as Joseph
Saint Joseph
Saint Joseph is a figure in the Gospels, the husband of the Virgin Mary and the earthly father of Jesus Christ ....
comes into the stable. The angel is then revealed to be Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
in disguised form who vows to come back one day and tempt
Temptation of Christ
The temptation of Christ is detailed in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. According to these texts, after being baptized, Jesus fasted for forty days and nights in the Judean desert. During this time, the devil appeared to Jesus and tempted him...
Jesus himself. As he flashes through the sky towards hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
, his passage is mistaken for a star
Star of Bethlehem
In Christian tradition, the Star of Bethlehem, also called the Christmas Star, revealed the birth of Jesus to the magi, or "wise men", and later led them to Bethlehem. The star appears in the nativity story of the Gospel of Matthew, where magi "from the east" are inspired by the star to travel to...
by the Three Wise Men
Biblical Magi
The Magi Greek: μάγοι, magoi), also referred to as the Wise Men, Kings, Astrologers, or Kings from the East, were a group of distinguished foreigners who were said to have visited Jesus after his birth, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh...
.
The Naughty Donkey
A boastful donkey refuses to behave or obey the orders of its masters. Having a mind of its own, it leaves whatever master it has and manages to wander through JudeaJudea
Judea or Judæa was the name of the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel from the 8th century BCE to the 2nd century CE, when Roman Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina following the Jewish Bar Kokhba revolt.-Etymology:The...
. Sheltering in the stable in Bethlehem, it witnesses the birth of Jesus, the shepherds, the three wise men and the visitation of an angel. Inspecting the presents left by the three wise men for something to eat, the baby Jesus touches the donkey’s ear and its character is transformed. It becomes the donkey that takes Joseph, Mary and Jesus into Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, once knowing by instinct when Herod
Herod the Great
Herod , also known as Herod the Great , was a Roman client king of Judea. His epithet of "the Great" is widely disputed as he is described as "a madman who murdered his own family and a great many rabbis." He is also known for his colossal building projects in Jerusalem and elsewhere, including his...
’s soldiers are near and hiding them.
The Water Bus
Mrs Hargreaves, a middle-aged widow, lives alone in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Her two grown-up children are married and live far away. She is comfortable on her own but dislikes people, their cares and complaints. She is a generous giver to charity but does not want to be involved herself and feels isolated from everyone around her to the point where even a shopping expedition becomes an ordeal. Craving isolation she takes a water bus to Greenwich
Greenwich
Greenwich is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.Greenwich is best known for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time...
and on the journey touches the woven cloak-like coat of an Arabic-looking man sat in the bow of the boat. She undergoes something of a religious conversion
Religious conversion
Religious conversion is the adoption of a new religion that differs from the convert's previous religion. Changing from one denomination to another within the same religion is usually described as reaffiliation rather than conversion.People convert to a different religion for various reasons,...
, suddenly seeing other people’s problems that irritated her in a new light. She feels she knows who the man was. On the water bus, the man has disappeared. The Captain tells the mate who collected the tickets that he must have just missed him disembarking as he couldn’t walk on water…
In the Cool of the Evening
Major Rodney Grierson and his wife, Janet, are at EvensongEvensong
The term evensong can refer to the following:* Evening Prayer , the Anglican liturgy of Evening Prayer, especially so called when it is sung...
. She is praying desperately for a miracle cure for their son, Alan, who is thirteen and mildly retarded. Arriving home after the service, Alan greets them with a strange creature he has found in the garden. Part frog
Frog
Frogs are amphibians in the order Anura , formerly referred to as Salientia . Most frogs are characterized by a short body, webbed digits , protruding eyes and the absence of a tail...
, it has wings and feathers and is a mutation caused by a leak some time ago from a local research station on the downs
Downland
A downland is an area of open chalk hills. This term is especially used to describe the chalk countryside in southern England. Areas of downland are often referred to as Downs....
. Alan tells them he has named the creature a “Raphion” and he has named it and other strange creatures with the help of his “friend” who is down the bottom of the garden. Alan wants to know where they have been and what a “church” is. His parents tell him it is God’s house. After supper, Alan asks permission to go back down to the bottom of the garden and help his “friend” continue to name the new species. His parents say yes and Alan meets up with his “friend” again. As they continue to name the new animals, Alan asks Him if He is God. He says yes and when asked if he lives in a church, he replies, “I live in many places… But sometimes, in the cool of the evening, I walk in a garden – with a friend and talk about the New World…”
Promotion in the Highest
It is New Year’s Eve in the year 2000. In the dead of night, a drunken man, Jacob Narracott, sees a strange procession making its way down the hill from the church. There are fourteen people, among them a woman carrying a wheel (Saint CatherineCatherine of Alexandria
Saint Catherine of Alexandria, also known as Saint Catherine of the Wheel and The Great Martyr Saint Catherine is, according to tradition, a Christian saint and virgin, who was martyred in the early 4th century at the hands of the pagan emperor Maxentius...
) and a man carrying a gridiron (St Lawrence). Narracott tells the local police constable of his sighting, feeling that he has seen them somewhere before…
The fourteen are saints who walk the earth again on their way back to heaven. They stand before the recording angel
Recording angel
The Recording angel is, in Judaic, Christian and Islamic angelology, one or more angels assigned by God with the task of recording the events, actions, and/or prayers of each individual human...
and tell him of their guilt that they attained eternal life when they feel they did not do enough to deserve such a reward. The recording angel is dismissive but the archangel Gabriel intercedes as every millennium
Millennium
A millennium is a period of time equal to one thousand years —from the Latin phrase , thousand, and , year—often but not necessarily related numerically to a particular dating system....
, judgements given can be appealed. The saints are given promotion in the highest and return to earth where they start to do good deeds among needy people.
Back in the church, the vicar is told that his fifteenth century altar screen is beyond repair and that the images of the saints on it have gone for good and cannot be restored…
The Island
On an isolated island, Mary lives with a man who is known to the other islanders as a holy man. This man works at his scriptures desperate for a vision to enable him to complete them. Two men arrive on the island as they have heard that the Queen of HeavenQueen of Heaven
Queen of Heaven is a title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary by Christians, mainly of the Roman Catholic Church, and also, to some extent, in the Anglican, Lutheran, and Eastern Orthodox churches, to whom the title is a consequence of the Council of Ephesus in the fifth century, where the Virgin...
lives there. Sent by the islanders to the croft
Croft
Croft may refer to: * Croft, an area of land with a crofter's dwelling, used for crofting .* Bleachfield, an open space used for the bleaching of fabric, sometimes called crofts.Locations in the United Kingdom:...
where Mary and the man live, they are told no such person lives on the island and they should stop their search for false gods. The two men leave. Soon after, another boat arrives on the island with Jesus in the company of Simon
Saint Peter
Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...
and Andrew
Saint Andrew
Saint Andrew , called in the Orthodox tradition Prōtoklētos, or the First-called, is a Christian Apostle and the brother of Saint Peter. The name "Andrew" , like other Greek names, appears to have been common among the Jews from the 3rd or 2nd century BC. No Hebrew or Aramaic name is recorded for him...
. They take Mary and John away, walking on water to reach the boat...
(Although not stated implicitly in the story, the island is undoubtedly Patmos
Patmos
Patmos is a small Greek island in the Aegean Sea. One of the northernmost islands of the Dodecanese complex, it has a population of 2,984 and an area of . The highest point is Profitis Ilias, 269 meters above sea level. The Municipality of Patmos, which includes the offshore islands of Arkoi ,...
where John the Evangelist
John the Evangelist
Saint John the Evangelist is the conventional name for the author of the Gospel of John...
or John of Patmos
John of Patmos
John of Patmos is the name given, in the Book of Revelation, as the author of the apocalyptic text that is traditionally cannonized in the New Testament...
wrote the Book of Revelation
Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament. The title came into usage from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: apokalupsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation"...
. John the Evangelist supposedly took care of Mary in her old age but in this story, the positions are reversed, leaving John to complete the final book of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
.)
Publication history
- 1965, Collins Crime Club (London), November 1 1965, Hardback, 80 pp
- 1965, Dodd Mead and Company (New York), 1965, Hardback, 80 pp
- 1991, Berkley BooksBerkley BooksBerkley Books is an imprint of Penguin Group that began as an independent company in 1955. It was established by Charles Byrne and Frederic Klein, who were working for Avon and formed "Chic News Company". They renamed it Berkley Publishing Co. in 1955. They soon found a niche in science fiction...
, 1991, Paperback ISBN 0-42-513229-3 - 1992, Fount Books, October 1992, Paperback ISBN 0-00-627664-4
- 1996, Bantam BooksBantam BooksBantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by Random House, the German media corporation subsidiary of Bertelsmann; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. Kramer, and Ian and Betty Ballantine...
, 1996, Paperback, ISBN 0-55-335104-4
The title story was first published in the monthly Woman's Journal issue for December, 1946
External links
- Star Over Bethlehem at the official Agatha Christie website