#AdventReading Day-8: The Christmas Mystery - Jacob the 2nd Shepherd

 

Credit: Flora Waycott

Joachim finally meets John, the flower seller who put the magic Advent calendar in the bookshop, in person! He (John) must have got Joachim's address from the bookseller, when he (the bookseller) returned Joachim's father's driver's license. Joachim tells John about his plan to keep the Advent calendar's magic a secret from his parents, and will wrap all the stories up as a Christmas present on Christmas day. John gives Joachim something to ponder upon when he's taking leave:

"I must go now. But we'll meet again, for that old story links us human beings together."

And how true is it? Don't we read/hear John's (the Baptist, not the flower seller) story again and again, especially during Advent? It's like we are never apart.

Joachim unfolds his 7th piece of paper, and the title read: Jacob. That's the name of the second shepherd, whom the seven travelers meet after they get out of boat at Kolding (a Danish town in the south of Jutland island) in 1499. While passing a countryside, Joshua notices that the lamb with a bell is missing. Of which incident, Joshua laments the difficulty of herding flocks - one sheep is always going astray from the herd, and when you finally gets it, another will be missing. "As it is written, now I must leave the other sheep to look for the one lamb that is missing." - a sentence I'm sure you're all familiar with.

But he needs not to worry, because another shepherd comes approaching them, carrying the missing lamb on his shoulder. Of whom, Ephiriel remarks: "He is one of us" - the same remark he always utters when meeting a new fellow-traveler-to-be. Joachim often wonders how does he know - but again, he's an angel, right?

Today's story ends when the eight of them is about to enter German's frontier in Flensburg, in 1402. Tomorrow we will dive down into the depths of the Middle Ages.

Previous posts:

- Day-1
- Day-2

- Day-3
- Day 4
- Day-5
- Day-6 

- Day-7