This is the story of a hero. Not your most noble hero, nor the brightest or most handsome, mind you. But without him a very special event may not have occurred, at least not where it did and when it did. This is the story of Jacob, a donkey. Let start at the beginning, shall we?
It was a wintry night in Nazareth. The stars blinked on slowly, one by one. A lone white calf looked up at them, watching her breath float up and evaporate into the chilly night air. She shivered.
    "It will be a cold night for the new one's birth. Maybe Elijah will let the mother stay in the stable tonight." The sound of Elijah's voice prompted her to find out.

    "NATHAN!" Athalia brayed at the top of her lungs as the labor pains grew more intense with each passing breath.
The farmer Elijah was monitoring the colt's progress, trying to keep Athalia comfortable at the same time. "Whoa, my dear. There will be time enough for noise later. You need to stay calm for your little one here."
    Athalia took several shallow breaths. "Oh, if only you knew, Elijah. I sure wish I could give you a piece of my mind right now! NATHAN!"
A tall, light gray donkey tore into the stable, out of breath. He came to a clattering halt beside his beloved, nearly slipping on the clean straw. "Is it time? Is it time? I'm so sorry, dear, I was out with the sheep and David and I were talking about the crops and the rainfall and Peter's new mate and I just totally lost track of time and—"
    "Nathan, just be quiet would you?" Athalia asked wearily.
    Nathan took a few deep breaths and lay down beside her. "How are you doing?" he asked more calmly.
    "I'm all right. I hope our baby's okay, too."
    He touched noses with her reassuringly. "It'll be fine."
     few more animals drifted into the fairly large stable. Two doves perched on one of the cedar rafters, turning their heads and cooing at the long-awaited miracle. The white calf and her father had poked their heads in. Three mice sneaked in along the wall so the farmer wouldn't notice them.
    Elijah wiped his forehead. "Whew!" This colt is taking longer than I thought it would. You hang in there, girl," he said, patting Athalia's rump.
    "Come on, dear, you can do eet," chattered one of the mice in an accent that no one recognized.
Foam began to build on Athalia's reddish-brown sides as the time of her colt's birth drew near. Nathan stayed by her side and coached her breathing, trying not to faint himself.
    The female dove was busy instructing everyone as to what their duties were in the birthing process. "All right, everyone, we got a big deal going on here so give this girl some room, animals! That's it, that's it, move it back there. Hey, you three," she hollered at the mice. "You the fastest. Go tell the animals down at Josiah's farm that Athalia's come due. Hurry! This colt's not gonna wait much longer!"
    They scurried off, muttering something about being bossed around by a bird. The dove flew down and landed on a post near Athalia's head. After watching Athalia's labored breathing and heaving sides, she offered some encouragement. She spoke softly. "You gonna be fine, honey. I seen plenty of birthings 'round here and you doin' just fine. Won't be too much longer so hang in there."
    Athalia gave another hard push. She felt the colt kick and maneuver and remembered how she never thought her firstborn would be so active.
    Elijah chuckled to himself. "There, there, now little one. Not much longer." He looked up to see three cows, ten sheep, six donkeys and fifteen mice huddled around the stable door.