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The Night The Animals Talked

Lisa Vaught
Dec 17, 2015
2 min read

Hello~

If you've read any of my posts you are aware that I think our animal friends speak to us all the time, just in different ways. Humans are so wrapped up in their own lives they don't pay attention to their dear animal friends and what they are saying to them.

This is a very old Norwegian Holiday story. It must have made it through to Germany, because my German mother always told me the story of the animals talking. I followed our cats all around the house on Christmas Eve and never caught a murmur~ but got a lot of cat-inspired annoyed looks!

Being me, I never stopped believing. What about you?

The Night The Animals Talked, courtesy of Themestream by Ed Price. The Animal's Christmas Eve courtesy Golden Books.

Start of Text ##### In the frosty mountains and on the snowy fields of Norway, there is a legend that draws children to all kinds to stables and stalls throughout the country on each Christmas Eve night. They are hoping to hear a miracle. They are waiting to hear the animals talk. Over 2,000 years ago, Jesus was born in a stable in Bethlehem. This was no abandoned place, but was a working stable, filled with animals of all kinds. Into these humble surroundings, encircled by the innocent creatures of God, the Savior of man came into the world. Now according to legend, at least, Christ's birth occurred at exactly midnight. Inside the stable, the animals watched in wonder as the new-born babe was lovingly wrapped in swaddling clothes and placed in a manger. Suddenly, God gave voice to the animals and immediately they began to praise God for the miracle they had just seen. This went on for several minutes and, just before the entrance of the shepherds -- who had hurried to the stable because angels had told them the Christ had been born there -- the animals again fell silent. The only humans who had heard them were Mary, Joseph and, of course, the Christ child. The legend of the talking animals persists to this day in Scandinavia. And every Christmas Eve, wide-eyed children creep into stables just before midnight to hear the animals praise God for the wondrous birth of His Son. Of course, adults scoff at this. "Old wives tales," they grump. "Those children should be home in bed, not out in the cold waiting for the family cow to preach a sermon." But the children know -- or at least believe -- that animals really do praise God at midnight every Christmas Eve. And who of us -- those who believe in an all-powerful God -- can say that it really doesn't happen?