The Story of the Other Wise Man | Page 8

and their thickets of myrrh and roses. I saw also the long,
snowy ridge of Hermon, and the dark groves of cedars, and the valley
of the Jordan, and the blue waters of the Lake of Galilee, and the fertile
plain of Esdraelon, and the hills of Ephraim, and the highlands of Judah.
Through all these I followed the figure of Artaban moving steadily
onward, until he arrived at Bethlehem. And it was the third day after
the three wise men had come to that place and had found Mary and
Joseph, with the young child, Jesus, and had lain their gifts of gold and
frankincense and myrrh at his feet.
Then the other wise man drew near, weary, but full of hope, bearing his
ruby and his pearl to offer to the King. "For now at last," he said, "I
shall surely find him, though it be alone, and later than my brethren.
This is the place of which the Hebrew exile told me that the prophets
had spoken, and here I shall behold the rising of the great light. But I
must inquire about the visit of my brethren, and to what house the star
directed them, and to whom they presented their tribute."
The streets of the village seemed to be deserted, and Artaban wondered
whether the men had all gone up to the hill-pastures to bring down their
sheep. From the open door of a low stone cottage he heard the sound of
a woman's voice singing softly. He entered and found a young mother
hushing her baby to rest. She told him of the strangers from the far East
who had appeared in the village three days ago, and how they said that

a star had guided them to the place where Joseph of Nazareth was
lodging with his wife and her new-born child, and how they had paid
reverence to the child and given him many rich gifts.
"But the travellers disappeared again," she continued, "as suddenly as
they had come. We were afraid at the strangeness of their visit. We
could not understand it. The man of Nazareth took the babe and his
mother and fled away that same night secretly, and it was whispered
that they were going far away to Egypt. Ever since, there has been a
spell upon the village; something evil hangs over it. They say that the
Roman soldiers are coming from Jerusalem to force a new tax from us,
and the men have driven the flocks and herds far back among the hills,
and hidden themselves to escape it."
Artaban listened to her gentle, timid speech, and the child in her arms
looked up in his face and smiled, stretching out its rosy hands to grasp
at the winged circle of gold on his breast. His heart warmed to the
touch. It seemed like a greeting of love and trust to one who had
journeyed long in loneliness and perplexity, fighting with his own
doubts and fears, and following a light that was veiled in clouds.
"Might not this child have been the promised Prince?" he asked within
himself, as he touched its soft cheek. "Kings have been born ere now in
lowlier houses than this, and the favorite of the stars may rise even
from a cottage. But it has not seemed good to the God of wisdom to
reward my search so soon and so easily. The one whom I seek has gone
before me; and now I must follow the King to Egypt."
The young mother laid the babe in its cradle, and rose to minister to the
wants of the strange guest that fate had brought into her house. She set
food before him, the plain fare of peasants, but willingly offered, and
therefore full of refreshment for the soul as well as for the body.
Artaban accepted it gratefully; and, as he ate, the child fell into a happy
slumber, and murmured sweetly in its dreams, and a great peace filled
the quiet room.
But suddenly there came the noise of a wild confusion and uproar in
the streets of the village, a shrieking and wailing of women's voices, a

clangor of brazen trumpets and a clashing of swords, and a desperate
cry: "The soldiers! the soldiers of Herod! They are killing our
children."
The young mother's face grew white with terror. She clasped her child
to her bosom, and crouched motionless in the darkest corner of the
room, covering him with the folds of her robe, lest he should wake and
cry.
But Artaban went quickly and stood in the doorway of the house. His
broad shoulders filled the portal from side to side, and the peak of his
white cap all but touched the lintel.
The soldiers came hurrying down the street