When we had said all there was to be said, when we had eaten all there was to eat, we regretfully said our good byes, mounted our camels and rode away. When we were out of the village. Melchior called a stop and told us that he had had a dream, in which he had been told that it was dangerous to go back to Herod, and that we should go home another way. Neither Balthazar nor I had liked Herod, so we had no objection to this. In order to avoid any of Herod’s soldiers or spies, we rode straight for the border, without stopping.
Once over the border, Melchior turned his camel’s heads towards his home in Persia but I called a halt. I had made a decision that it was time to make my way home again. It was only after much arguing over night that I said my good byes to Melchior and Balthazar, and set off in the direction of my home in India, with only one of Melchior’s servants as company.
My family didn’t recognise me when months later I arrived at the gate of the palace. Gone was the thin, lanky boy clad in fine cottons and silks and decked with precious jewels. In his place was a man with long hair and a beard, clad in heavy furs, with callouses on his feet and a scar on his face from the dagger of a robber. My mother wouldn’t believe it was me until I told her where I had hidden one of her favourite bracelets, and she sent a servant to fetch it for her. My father was very cold towards me to begin with. I had shamed him by running away, but as I talked and told him of my adventures, he began to thaw. He will never again trust me as he did before, but I believe that he respects me, for I have done what he would like to have done himself, had he the courage to leave his inheritance behind as I did.
Was it all worthwhile? I have grown and become a man. I have learnt lessons in the hard school of life. I have travelled more than many men do in a lifetime, and seen the wonders of the seas, the highest mountains and the rolling plains that stretch as far as the eye can see. I have sat at the feet of some of the best teachers in the world. I bring this all back to my fathers kingdom, and will in my time use this knowledge to rule this kingdom wisely and well, I hope. And what of the baby? There was something about him, about his parents and about his people, but I am not sure what it is. I believe we saw the birth of something great, we saw the beginning of a journey. Every traveller, every merchant that passes by, wending their way along the road from China to the Mediterranean and beyond, will be questioned about the land of the Israelites, and maybe one day I will hear more about the life of Jesus of Bethlehem, King of the Israelites.
God's stories 