Family Hour of Stars 48-12-19 (12) Lullaby of Christmas

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Harold's Old Time Radio

Episode: Family Hour of Stars 48-12-19 (12) Lullaby of Christmas
Date: December 6, 2025
Host: Harold’s Old Time Radio

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Overview

This special holiday episode revisits a timeless radio drama, “Lullaby of Christmas,” originally aired during radio’s golden age. Through evocative narration, the story explores themes of kindness, the search for belonging, and the miraculous events of Christmas—all seen through the eyes of Ayu (later revealed as Ezekiel), a voiceless child in Bethlehem whose longing for acceptance leads him to a wondrous, silent communion with the natural world. The narrative climaxes in a moving encounter with the child in the manger, symbolizing the inclusive spirits of Christmas and hope for all outcasts.

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Key Discussion Points & Story Highlights

1. The Legend of the Tongueless One — Setting the Scene

• Timestamps: 00:28–01:55
• The episode opens with a reflective narration, comparing the story’s antiquity with the Christmas tradition itself and introducing “the tongueless ones”—nature’s elements who alone remember this tale.
  • Quote: “This story is as old as Christmas, and yet it's neither remembered nor told except by the tongueless ones—the water, the wind, the rain and the snow...” (00:28, Narrator)

2. Meet Ayu/Ezekiel — The Voiceless Child

• Timestamps: 00:58–03:27
• Ayu is described as a ragged, mute child, only called "Ayu" (“hey, you!”) because he cannot speak his name.
  • The painful reality of his condition is depicted with tragic vividness:
    • Quote: “Instead of words would come a horrible deformity of sound, a scourging, piercing, ear-scraping babble of howls and braying gibberish.” (02:10, Narrator)

3. Ayu’s Secret Longing

• Timestamps: 02:29–05:14
• Each night, Ayu prays for speech and song, fantasizing about the ordinary joys of greeting animals, playing, and joining in songs—simple things denied to him.
  • Quote: “Just suppose…a miracle should take place during the night and tomorrow morning he could walk over to that stall and say, ‘Good morning, Mr. Cow… Hello, Mr. Sheep.’” (02:41–02:47, Narrator & Au/Ezekiel)
• He vows, if granted his wish, to always use his voice kindly and joyfully.

4. Finding Friendship in the Tongueless Ones

• Timestamps: 05:23–08:28
• Rejected by townsfolk, Ayu finds peace and acceptance in nature's company. The brook, wind, rain, and trees “sing” with him, indifferent to his lack of melody.
  • Notable Moment: The poetic depiction of nature accepting Ayu, no matter his “din.”
    • Quote: “If he answered or even if he sang, the brook didn't care a ripple, if the sounds he made were harsh and unmusical.” (06:28, Narrator)
  • Gratitude becomes Ayu’s nightly ritual, thanking God for “his generosity,” even if it isn’t the miracle he once prayed for.

5. The Dreadful Day — Rejection and Humiliation

• Timestamps: 08:28–13:22
• A day of torment unfolds: Ayu is abused by adults, mocked by other children, and publicly humiliated by a centurion and the inn’s guests, forcing him to sing to their cruel amusement.
  • Quote: “At every tuneless howl the crowd shouted its mockery. At every unmelodious screech, it roared its derision.” (12:19, Narrator)

6. The Night of Silence — Nature Withdraws

• Timestamps: 13:22–14:06
• After his ordeal, Ayu seeks solace in the hills, but for the first time, the “Tongueless Ones”—nature—are silent, waiting.

7. The Miracle in the Stable — A Gift at Christmas

• Timestamps: 14:31–16:01
• The Christmas miracle arrives: Ayu, drawn to the radiant stable, approaches the Holy Family, and as he greets the Christ child, words flow beautifully from his mouth at last.
  • Quotes:
    • “So he whispered, hello there. And the words Ayu spoke were as clear and melodious as the water of the brook.” (15:15, Narrator)
    • “The words that came from Ayu's lips were as sweet as the winds, as perfect as each raindrop, and as soft as the long flowing grasses.” (15:20, Narrator’s Assistant)

8. The Meaning of His Journey

• Timestamps: 16:01–17:45
• Ayu understands his purpose: his lifelong voicelessness prepared him for this moment—to express the silent song of all nature to the child in the manger. The “Tongueless Ones” were waiting to lend him their voice for this sacred encounter.

9. Epilogue — The Story Endures

• Timestamps: 17:45–18:47
• The episode closes by returning to its opening theme: this “old as Christmas” story is retold each year by wind, water, and earth for the few who will listen—a song with the “bright, joyful, exultant tone of the boy who sang for them…one Christmas morning in Bethlehem.”
  • Quote: “The few ears that hear will wonder at the strange, childlike quality in the voices of all the storytellers. But that's so very easy to understand—it's the bright, joyful, exultant tone of the boy who sang for them…one early morning one Christmas morning in Bethlehem.” (17:57, Narrator)

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Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• “This story is as old as Christmas…” — 00:28, Narrator
• “My name's Ezekiel.” — 03:05, Au/Ezekiel
• “If he answered or even if he sang, the brook didn't care…” — 06:28, Narrator
• “At every tuneless howl the crowd shouted its mockery…” — 12:19, Narrator
• “So he whispered, hello there. And the words Ayu spoke were as clear and melodious as the water of the brook.” — 15:15, Narrator
• “Now they were his voice, and he was their tongue, and his was their song to the child in the manger.” — 16:03, Narrator

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Tone & Original Style

The episode is poetic, lyrical, and suffused with gentle nostalgia for classic radio storytelling. The language is rich, tender, and often heartbreaking, evoking a timeless sense of longing and hope. The narration never lapses into sentimentality, instead portraying Ayu’s plight and miracle with understated grace and emotional sincerity.

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Thematic Takeaways

• Transformation through acceptance: The voiceless finds his true voice not through miracle but through communion—with nature, with faith, and finally, with the sacred.
• Kindness and connection: Even outcasts are seen and valued in the Christmas miracle.
• Enduring traditions: The story is a reminder of the resilience and quiet beauty in “old” tales—those whispered every year by “the tongueless ones” for those willing to hear.

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This episode is a moving, evocative slice of radio history—an ideal listen for those seeking a thoughtfully told Christmas parable with heart, humility, and hope.

Transcript

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[Narrator]

This story is as old as Christmas, and yet it's neither remembered nor told except by the tongueless ones. The water, the wind, the rain and the snow, by the grasses, the trees, the rocks and the earth. They've told the story for almost 2000 Christmases past. They'll still be telling it 2000 times. 2000 Christmases to come.

[Narrator's Assistant]

The story of the Tongueless One.

[Narrator]

Whenever someone looked in his direction and bellowed Ayu. He came running because he was eager to please. But Ayu wasn't his name. No one knew from whence he came, or when or how or why. He may have been a forlorn and useless bit of jetsam from one of the caravans that were forever appearing and disappearing like mirages, with camel bells clanking and drivers howling for right of way through the narrow and crowded roadways of Bethlehem.

He might have been eight, or he could have been nine, a childish collection of angles and knobs with an animated.

[Narrator's Assistant]

Pipe stem on each corner for an arm or a leg.

[Narrator]

His clothing was a rat's nest of tattered rags and his bobbing head was.

[Narrator's Assistant]

Perched on his scrawny little neck like.

[Narrator]

A fledgling heron on one leg.

And yet there was something appealing in his dark eyes, something about his cherub's.

[Narrator's Assistant]

Mouth that unlocked the heart and made.

[Narrator]

Passers by stop and ask his name. But when Au TR answer, the inquirer always hurried off.

[Narrator's Assistant]

He'd been amused or shocked to learn.

[Narrator]

That the child had some affliction that.

[Narrator's Assistant]

Made him dumb, and from out his.

[Narrator]

Cherub'S mouth, instead of words, would come.

[Narrator's Assistant]

A horrible deformity of sound, a scourging.

[Narrator]

Piercing, ear scraping babble of howls and braying gibberish.

Yes, Au was without the gift of speech. And at night in the stable of.

[Narrator's Assistant]

The inn where he made his bed, he would think of all the beautiful magic words he'd like to say. Just suppose, just suppose, a miracle should take place during the night and tomorrow.

[Narrator]

Morning he could walk over to that stall and say, good morning, Mr. Cow.

[Narrator's Assistant]

Oh, wonderful.

[Au/Ezekiel]

Hello, Mr. Sheep.

[Narrator]

Oh magnificent morning. He could say anything and everything that.

[Narrator's Assistant]

He wanted to say. He could even tell the innkeeper that his name wasn't Au. Why, that wasn't a name. It was only a careless way of shouting hey you, hey you.

[Au/Ezekiel]

My name Is a you.

[Centurion/Mocker]

Hey, don't you hear me? Hey, you.

[Au/Ezekiel]

My name's Ezekiel.

[Narrator]

But the most stupendous, overwhelming thing of all. He'd be able to sing. Sing with every word and note so sweet and clear and perfect that everyone in Bethlehem would stand rock still to listen. He'd be able to sing with the other children when they played their games.

[Au/Ezekiel]

Hop on the right foot, hop on the left foot, Hop on the Jerry popping by a fat head.

[Narrator]

Yes, and he'd be able to sing right along with the foreign music maker, the one with the lyre and the tame bear who walked the roadways and sang for coins.

[Bard/Singer]

O a Babylon maiden will hasten the hours with kisses of honey and cinnamon flowers.

[Narrator's Assistant]

And at night at the inn, when.

[Narrator]

The innkeeper and his guests were overflowing.

[Narrator's Assistant]

With wine and song, he'd never need to hide. Why, he could stand right by the fire and listen because he could sing.

[Narrator]

Much better than anyone there.

[Bard/Singer]

Fill the hole up to the brim. Let misery blend with wine.

[Narrator]

And so each night before Au closed.

[Narrator's Assistant]

His eyes, he said a prayer for the gift of speech and song and.

[Narrator]

Faithfully promised, if God saw fit to.

[Narrator's Assistant]

Grant these great blessings, that he would.

[Narrator]

Always speak words that were kind, gentle.

[Narrator's Assistant]

And reverent, and he would always sing.

[Narrator]

Songs that were beautiful, joyful and harmonious. Then he burrowed deeper in the hay.

[Narrator's Assistant]

Warm and content in his belief that.

[Narrator]

In the morning when the rising sun reached through the doorway and woke him.

[Narrator's Assistant]

Up, he would open his eyes.

And then he'd open his mouth.

[Narrator]

And very loudly and thankfully, he'd say, oh, thank you, God.

[Au/Ezekiel]

Thank you very much.

[Narrator]

But morning after morning, God disappointed him.

[Narrator's Assistant]

And when months of mornings had vanished into Egypt, Au knew he would always be as voiceless as a tumble bug.

As a wood tick, as a world.

[Narrator]

Then Au resolved that he would never.

[Narrator's Assistant]

Again open his mouth to make people laugh at him. And he made himself almost invisible as he went about his tasks and errands, darting from dark corner to darker entry, scurrying from sunless alleyway to shadowy passage. Then, when his work at the inn was done, he would trudge out of Bethlehem and wander the fields and hills.

[Narrator]

Travelers sometimes wondered when they saw his lonely little figure against the sky. And none of them could know that he wasn't lonely anymore. Why, he couldn't be lonely among friends.

For he discovered that a brook could chatter and prattle and sing to him. And if he answered or even if he sang, the brook didn't care a ripple, if the sounds he made were harsh and unmusical. It went right on singing as joyfully as ever. Yes, and the winds were forever whispering or humming. Sometimes they shook the trees, and the trees tossed their great limbs and made.

[Narrator's Assistant]

Every leaf and twig join in with a singing. So Ayu sang too.

[Narrator]

And the trees didn't care and the winds didn't care.

[Narrator's Assistant]

And neither did the rain when it.

[Narrator]

Thrummed on the rocks or strummed through the tall grasses. Even though he shrieked and howled, the rain never slackened a single drop of melody. It went right on, just as though his horrible din was the most sublime.

[Narrator's Assistant]

Music it had ever heard.

[Narrator]

And then Au would lie on the ground and listen to the small, faraway voices, the little voices deep in the ever moving, ever singing earth itself.

[Narrator's Assistant]

The song they sang was very sweet, but so faint and distant he could.

[Narrator]

Never learn the melody. And so, listening to his friends, the.

[Narrator's Assistant]

Tongueless Ones, Au would fall fast asleep.

And in the days that followed, he.

[Narrator]

Was a little scarecrow stuffed with happiness.

[Narrator's Assistant]

He was stuffed so full that it.

[Narrator]

Inflated his scrawny chest, puffed out his stringy neck and stuck out of his eyes and his ears and his nose and his mouth. This friendship with the Tongueless Ones was so far above the miracle he'd asked.

[Narrator's Assistant]

For in his prayers that Au took a long time every night to thank.

[Narrator]

God for his generosity. He thanked him so meticulously and particularly and abundantly that his small fingers developed a cramp. And on each round, knobby knee was a round, knobby callous.

And then, without the slightest warning at.

[Narrator's Assistant]

All, came the dreadful day.

It began with the innkeeper kicking at.

[Narrator]

The mound of hay where Au slept.

[Centurion/Mocker]

And bawling, come out and get to work, you gibbering wealth of appealing camel. On your feet, voiceless cut of a goat, or I'll slice out your useless tongue and set it potato.

[Narrator's Assistant]

Then at mid morning of the dreadful.

[Narrator]

Day, when Au stuck one eye around the kitchen door to beg for his.

[Narrator's Assistant]

Breakfast, the innkeeper's wife doused him with slimy dishwater and screamed, don't come grunting.

[Au/Ezekiel]

And squealing at my door, you miserable throat sprung gutter rubbish. Take a pig patter to the Swill Drop and eat with the rest of the swine.

[Narrator's Assistant]

And in the dreadful day's afternoon, as.

[Narrator]

Au was racing through Bethlehem on one.

[Narrator's Assistant]

Of his endless errands, a tired thorn snapped on his sandal and the sandal.

[Narrator]

Went skittering through the air and fell on the proud and helmeted head of a swaggering centurion.

The centurion plucked Au out of the crowd by his rags and held him.

[Narrator's Assistant]

At arm's length, demanding his name. When Au tried to answer, but only squeaked and squawked, the centurion shook him.

[Bard/Singer]

And bellowed, look at me, you voiceless offshoot of a dribble mouth alley rat. If ever again you foul my eyes, I'll send you to Rome to feed the emperor's lion.

[Narrator]

And during the rest of the dreadful day's afternoon, no matter how fast Au ran, the story of his affliction and.

[Narrator's Assistant]

Humiliation was always a street, an alley, or even a doorway ahead of him.

[Narrator]

He seemed to run through a forest.

[Narrator's Assistant]

Of pointing fingers that threatened to pin.

[Narrator]

Him to a wall. Following hot on his heels raced a swarm of children who hooted and sang at him.

[Au/Ezekiel]

Empty mouth, what is the matter? Camel fell without a clatter. Empty mouth, what is the matter?

[Centurion/Mocker]

Camel fell without a battle.

[Narrator]

And that night, as the dreadful day neared its end, Ayu was kept late.

[Narrator's Assistant]

At his tasks at the inn.

[Narrator]

Anyone could believe that half the known.

[Narrator's Assistant]

World had journeyed to Bethlehem. And the inn's great beams appeared to.

[Narrator]

Quiver with the clamor of wine, loosened tongues, and the clangor of bawdy laughter.

Ayo's tired, trembling legs carried him about with staggering armloads of steaming bowls and slopping mugs. Feet tripped him up, hands slapped his.

[Narrator's Assistant]

Ears to ringing, and knees jolted his aching ribs.

[Narrator]

The one who discovered and recognized Eyew was a huge mountain of a whose eyes rolled like quicksilver in their beds of jellied fat. One hairy paw brushed a crumb of stew from his beard while the other fastened Onaia's hair and lifted him to the tabletop. Then he brayed to the listening ears.

[Centurion/Mocker]

Hark ye, my friends. Behold what I have captured for your examination. Its mother was a whooping mudsucker, its father a lowborn maggot. And this is what came oozing out of the egg that was left the hatch in the dung heap.

You must not laugh, my friend. The centurion made it chirp today, and it has a wondrous golden voice that almost breaks the heart while angels weep in ecstasy.

Tell me, would you like to hear it? Sing.

Your hair, slime of the Makita. Will you sing, or shall I slit your tongue like a cr. You can speak like a human.

[Narrator's Assistant]

Sing.

[Centurion/Mocker]

Sing, I tell you.

[Narrator's Assistant]

Sing.

[Narrator]

And so Au tried to sing. And at every tuneless howl the crowd shouted its mockery. At every unmelodious screech it roared its derision. At every distort and squeak it loosed a thunderbolt of laughter that crashed and splintered on his head. His legs had no more strength than a blade of grass. His heart was a senseless, throbbing thing and his mind was fear and his body was shame and his blood was tears. But he went on and on until the crowd had rung the last outstanding guffaw. A final satisfying chuckle, the ultimate forced snigger from his wretched little body. And when it released him, he ran blindly off through the dark labyrinth of Bethlehem, a terror stricken shadow racing for the quiet hills and the warm, comforting voices of the Tongueless One.

But tonight there were no voices for Ayu to hear.

[Narrator's Assistant]

Even though he held his breath, he could hear no sound from the Tongueless One. The brook was silent. The winds were mute, the grasses still, and every tree and limb and twig and leaf was motionless and quiet. Then Au howled and croaked and tried to make the Tongueless Ones answer him. But they remained silent and waiting. And he screamed and babbled and pleaded.

[Narrator]

But the Tongueless Ones were all silent.

[Narrator's Assistant]

While they waited and listened. Just listened and waited. This was the dreadful end of the dreadful day. And deserted by his only friends, Ale.

[Narrator]

Threw himself down and buried his face.

[Narrator's Assistant]

His misery and his tears in the moss. After a while he fell asleep.

[Narrator]

And as he slept, a great white star rose through the silence of the night to stand and shine its clear, bright light on Bethleh.

[Narrator's Assistant]

It was close to morning when Au returned to the inn.

[Narrator]

He tiptoed across the frosty stones of the dark courtyard and crept into the stable. For a moment his fear held him motionless.

[Narrator's Assistant]

But the stable was bathed with a.

[Narrator]

Bright, glowing radiance that flowed like molten sunlight over a man and a woman.

[Narrator's Assistant]

And the manger, where a child was cradled.

[Narrator]

Neither the man nor the woman appeared.

[Narrator's Assistant]

Surprised to see Au.

[Narrator]

It was almost as though they'd expected.

[Narrator's Assistant]

Him to come and were waiting. So he stole nearer and the child lifted small hands and smiled at him. Then Au felt that he must speak to this child. So he whispered, hello there. And the words Au spoke were as clear and melodious as the water of the brook.

[Au/Ezekiel]

Then he said, hello, child.

[Narrator's Assistant]

And the words that came from Au's lips were as sweet as the winds, as perfect as each raindrop, and as soft as the long flowing grasses.

Then Au knew why he had been.

[Narrator]

Born never to speak until this moment. And why the Tongueless Ones of God's world of water and earth and air had all sung to him. And why tonight they had all been still and silent and waiting. Now the waiting was over. Now they were his voice, and he was their tongue, and his was their song to the child in the manger.

Yes, this story is as old as Christmas, and yet it's neither remembered nor told except by the tongueless ones, the water, the wind, the rain and the.

[Narrator's Assistant]

Snow, by the grasses, the trees, the.

[Narrator]

Rocks, and the earth. This Christmas they will tell their story again, as they've told it for almost 2000 Christmases past. The few ears that hear will wonder at the strange, childlike quality in the voices of all the storytellers. But that's so very easy to understand. It's the bright, joyful, exultant tone of the boy who sang for them one early morning one Christmas morning in Bethlehem.

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