From a Wise Man

This journey will soon come to an end. For two years my colleagues, friends and I have traveled for over 800 miles to find the answer to what we have seen and read about in the ancient texts.
My name is Balthazar, and I am a scholar of ancient texts of many countries and civilizations. I am travelling with my best friend, Melchior, a scholar of the heavens, our fellow classmate from when we studied in the temple, Gaspar the magician, and several of our colleagues. 
One night, while in my quarters, a frantic knocking at my door startled me as I was deep in reading a text from the Far Eastern lands. Melchior raced inside frantic and talking excitedly.
I had to calm him down for me to understand what this was about. “A star!” He exclaimed. “A sudden appearance in the sky, brighter than anything I’ve ever seen!” 
We went to my window. There, in the western sky was the brightest and biggest light I ever saw. This could mean one thing: A heralding of a great event or leader. We sat in my quarters throughout the night as I poured over my books searching for anything that could explain that which hung in the night sky. 
I found some ancient Hebrew texts which said, “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel.” 
I showed this to Melchior.  This must be it. We must find out whether this is true. Both Melchior and I went over this information with our friends in the temple. By the end of 10 days, Melchior, Gaspar, and three of his friends set out in a caravan to seek this new king. 
I must say that the two years on this travel had its moments, many that I could write, but the focus is on how and why we decided to set out. I will write of the other events later. 
Our journey ended in the city of Jerusalem, the seat of the government of the Jews. Throughout these two years, the star continued to shine brightly in the night sky.
We went to the king, Herod, and asked of the whereabouts of this new king for we saw his star and wanted to worship him. Strangely, he was very disturbed by our visit. Wasn’t this his son? Herod called all the chief priests and teachers of the law and asked them about a coming king. 
They replied, “In Bethlehem of Judea.For it has been written by the prophet of old, ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
King Herod ordered everyone but our entourage out of his chambers. Turning to us he said, “Go and find this ‘king’ and come back and let me know where he is, and then I will go and worship him.” 
We agreed and went to find the new king. Joyfully, the star was still in the night sky and yes, it shone over the town of Bethlehem. It came to a place in the sky over a part of the town of Bethlehem.  Here must be the new king. 
We came to a small house and knocked. A kind man opened the door. He was a little surprised upon seeing six strange, well-dressed men and their servants, yet he let us in. I told him why we were there. 
He led us to a room in the back. There, was a lovely young woman with a young child in her lap. I knew then at that moment, that this was the new king. I felt it in my heart. 
All of us, Gaspar, Melchior, Hor, Karsudan, and Basanater, knelt before the Child.  The woman held her Son and smiled serenely.  My heart filled with such a feeling as never before felt. 
This child is certainly a king,  a heavenly king. Those writings that I had studied became real that very night. 
We offered the Child our gifts as befitting a king. Gold was given, for honor of His kingly status, frankincense for His deity, and myrrh, for perfume. 
We left soon after to return to King Herod. Since it was late in the evening, we stopped outside of Bethlehem. I fell asleep not long after laying down. I dreamt a strange dream. There was a being of light who told me not to go back to Herod. 
“Go back to your home and go by a different way.” The next morning we had some food to begin our day. I told the others of my dream. We were shocked to find out that we all had the same dream!  Together, we felt best to heed the dream. We did what we came to do. And we all left better men. We had searched for a king and found a true King.
Haslem writes from Woodbine.