It’s Christmas Day tomorrow, and at the heart of it is the story of the nativity. Enid Blyton tells it here in the poem form from the perspective of the stable animals.

The ox raised up his head
On Christmas Eve, and softy lowed,
‘Long years ago within my shed
The little Christ made His abode.’

‘We saw His angels’ said the sheep,
‘And in the sky they made a light
That woke us from our quiet sleep –
We saw His angels in the night.’

Then spoke the ass and told that he
Had carried Mary all the day,
‘And glad was I that night to see
The little Christ upon my hay.’

The told the little cooing dove
How she had seen the Baby too,
And looked at Him with eyes of love
As He lay sleeping all night through.

‘Now praise the Lord with all your might,’
Thus spoke the patient ox once more,
‘For we more honoured were that night
Then ever bird or beast before.’

As printed in The Enid Blyton Poetry Book (School Edition)1934

Nativity scene (Photo credit: MattHurst)