5 Inch, Nathan Garlic and Vegetable Merchant.
Fontanini nativity set figurines are collector figurines. Nathan the garlic and vegetable merchant is a nice nativity addition to a fontanini nativity set after Jesus, Mary and Joseph. A great gift to give to a fontanini nativity scene collection.
Fontanini nativity scene figurines are unique!
Fontanini nativity sets are specially formulated with polymer that captures every line and texture of fontanini master sculptor Elio Simonetti’s original clay sculptures. The fontanini nativity set figurines will not chip or break. Each fontanini scene figure is hand painted in the rich colors of Tuscany and antiqued for a distinctive wood carved look.
Nathan fontanini nativity set story.
The villagers of Bethlehem all knew Nathan. There was not a child nor a wife who could not describe in great detail Nathan’s comical orange hat and his wonderful, furry beard.
The children used to play guessing games about the man’s age. But Nathan would simply smile his wonderful smile and refuse to divulge the truth. He could simply tip his head to the side (it was, of course the only part of his body not laden down with produce) and laugh.
“I’m many thousands of years old.” he often said.
Nathan was truly a wonder. His wares were, quite simply, the best that could be found in the village. He sold lusty garlic bulbs, as big as roses of Sharon, laced into flax-woven braid. And hand-woven bushel baskets of leeks that were said to be large enough to fight off the Romans!
Nathan’s beets were fiery red. He often drew a crowd at the well on in front of a shop, boasting of the benefits of those beets. He promised miracles from the vegetables. And somehow, you believed Nathan’s stories.
But the best thing about Nathan was his intuition. There were people in Bethlehem who really did believe that Nathan’s knowledge of the village’s citizens extended to the entire population. Perhaps the most often told story was this:
When the annual census was taken, a man named Matthew was required to bring his entire family, consisting of his wife and nine children, back to Bethlehem to be counted. There was just enough food to sustain the eleven for the journey from a distant province. They arrived with no family to take them in, and precious little to eat.
The family gathered together outside the courtyard upon their arrival, late at night. They huddled together and waited for morning when they would try to find charity from kind souls at the marketplace.
But when the sun came up, the family was shocked to find, just a few feet from their cloaks, enough produce to sustain the family through the census period! There were cucumbers and grapes, melons and pomegranates. And next to the fruits, a heaping basket of leeks and the largest beets anyone had ever seen.
The family was grateful for God’s wonderful miracle, hungrily selecting pieces of the ripe produce in the early morning sun. Soon, they were so busy eating that not one member of the family paid much attention to Matthew’s youngest child, when she tried to tell her family about the very old man with a funny orange hat.
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