oked directly into the courtyard. It was truly a strange
sight that met her eyes. So many people were coming to the inn, for
the King had made a law that every man should come back to the city
where his father used to live to be counted and to pay his taxes. Some
of the people came on the backs of camels, with great rolls of bedding
and their dishes for cooking upon the back of the beast. Some of them
came on little donkeys, and on their backs too were the bedding and
the dishes. Some of the people came walking--slowly; they were so
tired. Many miles some of them had come. As Ruth looked down into the
courtyard, she saw the camels being led to their places by their
masters, she heard the snap of the whips, she saw the sparks shoot up
from the fires that were kindled in the courtyard, where each person
was preparing his own supper; she heard the cries of the tired, hungry
little children.

Presently her mother, who was cooking supper, came over to the window
and said, "Ruthie, thou shalt hide in the house until all those people
are gone. Dost thou understand?"

"Yes, my mother," said the child, and she left the window to follow
her mother back to the stove, limping painfully, for little Ruth was a
cripple. Her mother stooped suddenly and caught the child in her arms.

"My poor little lamb. It was a mule's kick, just six years ago, that
hurt your poor back and made you lame."

"Never mind, my mother. My back does not ache today, and lately when
the light of the strange new star has shone down upon my bed my back
has felt so much stronger and I have felt so happy, as though I could
climb upon the rays of the star and up, up into the sky and above the
stars!"

Her mother shook her head sadly. "Thou art not likely to climb much,
now or ever, but come, the supper is ready; let us go to find your
father. I wonder what keeps him."

They found the father standing at the gate of the courtyard, talking
to a man and woman who had just arrived. The man was tall, with a long
beard, and he led by a rope a snow white mule, on which sat the
drooping figure of the woman. As Ruth and her mother came near, they
heard the father say, "But I tell thee that there is no more room in
the inn. Hast thou no friends where thou canst go to spend the night?"
The man shook his head. "No, none," he answered. "I care not for
myself, but my poor wife." Little Ruth pulled at her mother's dress.
"Mother, the oxen sleep out under the stars these war