We’re here. What a trek! I can’t believe it. So exciting. My brothers have been plotting the charts and checking calculations for months. Now, after all the preparations and tribulations, we have been led to this destination, to witness a momentous birth.
So why this sense of unease? I’m tired of course, so it could be nothing. I take a short nap but still can’t settle. While my brothers stay at our lodgings, I decide to venture out.
‘Don’t gossip,’ Balthasar had warned, as I exchanged my robes for common clothes. In other words; You’re a woman. Don’t loosen your tongue.
We have travelled far, from a land that has fair relations with this country. But even my brothers do not know exactly where the special star in their predictions will direct us. There was much discussion when we arrived just outside the city walls, about whether we had got the right location.
‘The Heavens don’t lie.’ Caspar insisted. And Balthasar agreed.
They are educated and men of learning, and have studied in all the sciences, and I too have much knowledge.
Out on the streets, people are buzzing. Change is afoot and they know it.
I act as a naive girl, but I’m keeping my ears open for information that will help us. There is talk everywhere of an important census, for which families have journeyed long distances; but when I make light enquiries, there’s nothing about an imminent royal birth. Trying to shake off my mind’s worries, I make my way back to get ready for our appointment.
We have been invited to meet with the king of this country we are visiting, due to my brothers’ high social positions. We know little about him, except that his name is Herod, and he is the king of Judea.
‘King Herod will see you now.’ The palace is gorgeous, but there’s so much security. I thought we’d never get past the guards. They were speaking sharply to each other (not realizing I speak many languages) about the need for caution, with Herod getting so nervous because of enemies that are trying to oust him. So we’ve had to go through many questions, but here we are.
I’m in awe. My brothers go first and I follow. I sense Herod is uneasy. He keeps rubbing his face until red marks appear. But he welcomes us, and leads us to an inner sanctum.
‘So where is he, the new born king of the Jews?’ Casper asks, bowing low. ‘We have come to honour him.’
Herod sits down. He does not look well. One of his advisers bends forward to speak in his ear. The king tells us to be seated, and someone will bring refreshments. Then both men leave the chamber. We wait.
When Herod comes back, we learn that this is not the location of the birth. Bethlehem, a smaller place, not far, his advisers are saying. That’s where we should look.
‘And when you find him, you must return to tell me,’ Herod insists. ‘So I too can pay homage to him.’
Why do I shiver?
‘This can’t be the right place.’ I’m exhausted. My brothers have looked at their maps, and there is a star we have been following that seems to have stopped over an inn. I had a word with the landlord, and we have been led round the back.
‘Look!’ The star is blindingly bright, illuminating figures inside the outhouse. And a cry rings out. Inside, as I step forward to bring my gift, earthy scents overwhelm me, of the animals and bodily smells, mixed with the sweet balm of the oils in my hand.
I see the mother is just a girl. There’s blood on her gown, and she’s crying. But energy dances in her face. There’s magic when a child is born. I’ve seen it before. Parents’ hopes and dreams for the new life, remembered from their own beginnings of time. How they will grow, who they will become.
There cannot be any doubt that this is he. Jesus, his mother whispers.There’s a strange, unearthly light that’s different from the star, and its coming from the baby himself. We are elated, my brothers and I. It will soon be daybreak, and we must head back to Jerusalem with the good news. We have drinks in the back room of the inn.
I must have fallen asleep, and I don’t know if it was vision or dream, but the three of us woke shaking with fear. We have been told not to go back to Herod.
The soldiers will be out when Herod realizes we are not coming back. So we leave by a back road, and lie low until we feel it is safe to return back home. I keep thinking of the girl, and the older man with her, and the danger they’re in. And most of all their son. What have we done? What will become of him?
Years later a woman is travelling through the region when she hears that a Jesus of Nazareth who has performed miracles and says he is the son of God, the king of the Jews, has been arrested and sentenced to death.
And she starts to remember.
About the author
Sally Angell has always loved writing. She has won competitions and had short stories in magazines and anthologies. She has run writers groups, and been involved with library activities in Northamptonshire. She likes to explore the truth of emotions and the possibilities of words in her writing.
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