One day a girl ran to a sheepfold near her home. She unfastened the door and called to the sheep inside. The sheep heard her cheerful voice. Then they crowded through the door and followed her to a field. Here they stopped to eat, while the girl sat and watched them.

This young girl's name was Rachel. She had tended the sheep many times before. She was her father's helper, and the people called her a shepherdess.

When the sheep became thirsty, Rachel led them back across the fields to a well. Other flocks of sheep came to drink at this well also. They were waiting when Rachel came with her sheep.

A stranger, too, was waiting at the well. He smiled when Rachel came near, and quickly helped her to draw water for her flock. He told her that his name was Jacob, and he was her cousin. He had come a long, long way to visit her father.

Rachel was glad to see Jacob. She left the sheep at the well and ran home to tell her father that Jacob had come. Her father, too, was glad.

Jacob visited many days at Rachel's home and helped tend the sheep. By and by he became the shepherd, and Rachel did not need to lead the sheep out to pasture any more. -Genesis 29:6-14.