Legacy

It will soon be the first Christmas, and I Gaspar and my fellow traveling companions, Melchior and Balthazar will be in attendance bearing gifts of Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh.  We have been traveling for months, almost nine to be exact to honor the new born King.  A star has been our guide.  An angel told each of us to follow it and as our paths converged we became a group.

Not knowing when I started out that I’d meet the other two Kings, I took my faithful pet and friend along for company.  He is as they say, one of our feathered friends.  His name is Minahow, he is a Myna Bird.  He is extremely well trained speaks the language fluently, and has great intelligence.  He seems near human in his ability to understand most things.  He has the ability to open his cage at will, but spends most of his time in it, not as a limiting factor, but as a protective barrier.  Indeed Minahow is wise in many ways.

We felt we were probably getting close to where the blessed event would occur.  However we were weary and in need of rest, so as we arrived at what would be the palace of Herod, we ask for hospitality. Herod noting we were Kings extended hospitality.  I doubt if he would have otherwise.

He took great interest in what we were doing, where we were going and why.  Then he did what seemed like a very nice gesture on his part.  He wasn’t aware we had a Myna Bird that we had stabled with our mounts.  So it was most interesting when he offered us one to take as a gift to the new born King.  His Myna Birds name was Fatah.  Fatah was apparently similar to my Myna Bird, Minahow.  That would be a fine gift indeed as such birds with that ability were very, very rare.  King Herod had Fatah in a golden color cage.  By coincidence he also had another Myna Bird whose name was Ditcos.  It was just an ordinary Myna Bird that could parrot a few words.  It was in a silver colored cage.

It was to be a gift for Herod’s Queen to give a midwife.  The Queen was also with child  and would also be leaving in the morning to visit her Aunt, the  midwife at a country estate about fifty miles away.   King Herod had his men take both cages to the stabling area for early departure.

We were very early risers, apparently the Queen slept in a bit, so when we got to the stables no one else was ready to leave.  We started to load up the two Myna Birds when Minahow said, we need to talk.  Apparently he and Fatah had a conversation and it was learned that when our caravan reached its destination, Fatah was to open his cage and fly back to Herod revealing our location.

We thought that strange and suspicious.  Minahow said he did also, but he and Fatah had agreed that Fatah would trade places with Ditcos.  We thought that was a great idea.  The Christ child would receive an extra gift, a very lovable ordinary Myna Bird, and Fatah would fly back and tell Herod the caravan had stopped,  Fatah would then guide Herod’s men to that place.

We found the newborn King and worshipped him with reverence and gifts.  On our way back, the first night out as we lay sleeping in our campsite, we were visited by an angel who told us to change our directions a bit and take a different route home as Herod would be very angry when he discovers he sent his men to dispatch the wrong babe.

Of course dear readers, it never happened this way, but had it, it would have been poetic justice.