"I am the gate..." in Cumbria and Transjordan

Image by Andrew Leaney at The Lakeland Fells (Click on image for larger version!)

Here's another image of a sheepfold with a "gateless gate" for an entrance.

For more on sheepfolds see the post below on Word for the Week -- and this earlier post.

And this...

In 1960, in an article published in The Expository Times, Eric Bishop told of a conversation he had while traveling in Eastern Iran. He writes:

"Many years ago I was traveling by donkey from Nishapur . . . in eastern Iran to (the village of ) Sabsevar. . . . In the afternoon I set out to see the sights about the village. Not far away I came to a mound of earth piled up in a large circle, like a crude rampart, and on the top of the mound all around the circle was a heap of dry thorns. As I stood wondering what this might be one of the villagers approached me. "Salaam," I said, "please tell me what this enclosure is for."

"Oh, that is for the sheep," he replied. "They are brought in here for the night for safety."

"Good," I said, "but why have the dry thorns been piled on top of the wall?"

"That," he replied, "is a protection against wolves. If a wolf tries to break in and attack the sheep, he will knock against the thorns, and they will make a noise, and the shepherd will wake up, and drive off the wolf."

"That is fine," I said, "but why does the wolf try to climb over the wall? Here is the entrance to the enclosure; it is open. There is no door to keep out the wolf; he could easily enter here."

"Oh no," said my guide, "you do not understand. That is where the shepherd sleeps, the shepherd is the door..."

Image of a sheepfold made from thorn bushes - from Biblical Studies