This Fontanini Figurine Miriam
stands approximately 5” tall. All Fontanini Figures made of a durable poly/resin blend to resist chips and breaks. Story Card included. Miriam wears a khaki colored gown with a cornflower blue apron on top. She has a royal purple shawl wrapped around her shoulders. Her shoes and bag are coral colored. She wears her light brown hair in a bun. She carries a lamb in a basket on her left shoulder, and a stick in her right hand.
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Miriam:
Miriam was a lovely young maiden, and she cared deeply for the animals belonging to her family ever since she’d been old enough to toddle out of the family’s front door. Playing amid the ducks, geese, chickens and roosters, Miriam hoped this happy time would last forever.
At about the time Miriam should have begun to learn to weave flax, bake bread and press olives, she announced to her family that she wished to become a shepherd. And since the family had no sons, there was no reason why she could not have that job.
”I don’t know what I am going to do about Miriam,” her mother confided to everyone. Her father. Her aunts. The butcher. Even the rabbi. “Miriam won’t learn to sew tunics or to grind millet for our breakfast. She’s always running off to the field after her father and sometimes brings home sick animals. Once, she tried to hide a lamb behind the house. The geese went wild and my husband lectured the entire family into the night about Miriam’s animals.”
Miriam wanted to please her parents. She did everything her mother asked, learning to say the Sabbath prayers with her head covered and to embroider her sister’s skirts. She even made the family’s perfumes from gathered wildflowers and olive oil, cooking them perfectly and then cooling the scents down in small, clay vials. But her heart was with God’s four-legged creatures and her family grew weary of looking for a change.
One day, as the winter solstice approached, Miriam wandered out with her father’s herd in the late afternoon. She had just arrived, when she caught a glimpse of activity amid the herd. A small lamb had injured his leg and was limping pathetically as the herd pushed the tiny creature away from its midst.
”What happened to you? And where is your mother?” Miriam asked, lifting up the wriggled animal. She examined its leg, tying the extremity with the head cloth she carried in her apron. I’m taking you home with me now, little one.”
Loading the lamb into the big basket she’d brought along, Miriam grabbed a stick from the ground. Her father watched from a distance, shaking his head. She hoped he wouldn’t be too mad.
Then, gathering up all of her spirit and courage, Miriam walked toward home with the basket against her back. And as if to say thank you, the lamb nuzzled her ear and slept.