sinned against God.
"And it happened with them," continued the Drought furiously, "just asit happens with the ground in the autumn, when the heavy rains begin tofall. They shook with terror, as one shakes when it thunders andlightens; their whole being softened, and humility, like green grass,sprang up in their souls.
"For three nights and days they wandered about the country, in quest ofthe Child whom they would worship; but the Star did not appear to them.They grew more and more bewildered, and suffered the most overwhelminganguish and despair. On the third day they came to this well to drink.Then God had pardoned their sin. And, as they bent over the water, theysaw in its depths the reflection of the Star which had brought them fromthe Orient. Instantly they saw it also in the heavens and it led themagain to the grotto in Bethlehem, where they fell upon their kneesbefore the Child and said: 'We bring thee golden vessels filled withincense and costly spices. Thou shalt be the greatest king that everlived upon earth, from its creation even unto its destruction.'
"Then the Child laid his hand upon their lowered heads, and when theyrose, lo! the Child had given them gifts greater than a king could havegranted; for the old beggar had grown young, the leper was made whole,and the negro was transformed into a beautiful white man. And it is saidof them that they were glorious! and that they departed and becamekings--each in his own kingdom."
The Drought paused in his story, and the three strangers praised it."Thou hast spoken well," said they. "But it surprises me," said one ofthem, "that the three wise men do nothing for the well which showed themthe Star. Shall they entirely forget such a great blessing?"
"Should not this well remain perpetually," said the second stranger, "toremind mankind that happiness, which is lost on the heights of pride andvainglory, will let itself be found again in the depths of humility?"
"Are the departed worse than the living?" asked the third. "Doesgratitude die with those who live in Paradise?"
But as he heard this, the Drought sprang up with a wild cry. He hadrecognized the strangers! He understood who the strangers were, and fledfrom them like a madman, that he might not witness how The Three WiseMen called their servants and led their camels, laden with water-sacks,to the Well and filled the poor dying Well with water, which they hadbrought with them from Paradise.
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Bethlehem's Children]
BETHLEHEM'S CHILDREN
Just outside the Bethlehem gate stood a Roman soldier, on guard. He wasarrayed in full armor, with helmet. At his side he wore a short sword,and held in his hand a long spear. He stood there all day almostmotionless, so that one could readily have believed him to be a man madeof iron. The city people went in and out of the gate and beggars lolledin the shade under the archway, fruit venders and wine dealers set theirbaskets and jugs down on the ground beside the soldier, but he scarcelytook the trouble to turn his head to look at them.
It seemed as though he wanted to say: This is nothing to see. What do Icare about you who labor and barter and come driving with oil casks andwine sacks! Let me see an army prepare to meet the enemy! Let me see theexcitement and the hot struggle, when horsemen charge down upon a troopof foot-soldiers! Let me see the brave men who rush forward to scale thewalls of a beleaguered city! Nothing is pleasing to my sight but war. Ilong to see the Roman Eagles glisten in the air! I long for thetrumpets' blast, for shining weapons, for the splash of red blood!
Just beyond the city gate lay a fine meadow, overgrown with lilies. Dayby day the soldier stood with his eyes turned toward this meadow, butnever for a moment did he think of admiring the extraordinary beauty ofthe flowers. Sometimes he noticed that the passers-by stopped to admirethe lilies, and it amazed him to think that people would delay theirtravels to look at anything so trivial. These people do not know what isbeautiful, thought he.
And as he thought thus, he saw no more the green fields and olive grovesround about Bethlehem; but dreamed himself away in a burning-hot desertin sunny Libya. He saw a legion of soldiers march forward in a long,straight line over the yellow, trackless sand. There was no protectionagainst the sun's piercing rays, no cooling stream, no apparentboundaries to the desert, and no goal in sight, no end to theirwanderings. He saw soldiers, exhausted by hunger and thirst, marchforward with faltering step; he saw one after another drop to theground, overcome by the scorching heat. Nevertheless, they marchedonward without a murmur, without a thought of deserting their leader andturning back.
Now, _there_ is something beautiful! thought the soldier, something thatis worth the glance of a valiant man!
Since the soldier stood on guard at the same post day after day, he hadthe best opportunity to watch the pretty children who played about him.But it was with the children as with the flowers: he didn't understandthat it could be worth his while to notice them. What is this to rejoiceover? thought he, when he saw people smile as they watched thechildren's games. It is strange that any one can find pleasure in a merenothing.
One day when the soldier was standing at his accustomed post, he saw alittle boy about three years old come out on the meadow to play. He wasa poor lad, who was dressed in a scanty sheepskin, and who played quiteby himself. The soldier stood and regarded the newcomer almost withoutbeing aware of it himself. The first thing that attracted him was thatthe little one ran so lightly over the field that he seemed scarcely totouch the tips of the grass-blades. Later, as he followed the child'splay, he was even more astonished. "By my sword!" he exclaimed, "thischild does not play like the others. What can it be that occupies him?"
As the child played only a few paces away, he could see well enough whatthe little one was doing. He saw how he reached out his hand to capturea bee that sat upon the edge of a flower and was so heavily laden withpollen that it could hardly lift its wings for flight. He saw, to hisgreat surprise, that the bee let itself be taken without trying toescape, and without using its sting. When the little one held the beesecure between his fingers, he ran over to a crack in the city wall,where a swarm of bees had their home, and set the bee down. As soon ashe had helped one bee in this way, he hastened back to help another. Allday long the soldier saw him catch bees and carry them to their home.
"That boy is certainly more foolish than any I've seen hitherto,"thought the soldier. "What put it into his head to try and help thesebees, who can take such good care of themselves without him, and who cansting him at that? What kind of a man will he become if he lives, Iwonder?"
The little one came back day after day and played in the meadow, and thesoldier couldn't help marveling at him and his games.
"It is very strange," thought he. "Here I have stood on guard for fullythree years, and thus far I have seen nothing that could interest me,except this infant."
But the soldier was in nowise pleased with the child; quite the reverse!For this child reminded him of a dreadful prediction made by an oldHebrew seer, who had prophesied that a time of peace should come to thisworld some day; during a period of a thousand years no blood would beshed, no wars waged, but human beings would love one another likebrethren. When the soldier thought that anything so dreadful mightreally come to pass, a shudder passed through his body, and he grippedhis spear hard, as if he sought support.
And now, the more the soldier saw of the little one and his play, themore he thought of the Thousand-year Reign of Peace. He did not fearthat it had come already, but he did not like to be reminded of anythingso hateful!
One day, when the little one was playing among the flowers on the prettymeadow, a very heavy shower came bursting through the clouds. When henoticed how big and heavy the drops were that beat down upon thesensitive lilies, he seemed anxious for his pretty friends. He hurriedaway to the biggest and loveliest among them, and bent towards theground the stiff stalk which held up the lily, so that the raindropscaught the chalices on their under side. As soon as he had treated oneflower like this, he ran to another and bent its stem in the same way
,so that the flower-cups were turned toward the ground. And then to athird and a fourth, until all the flowers in the meadow were protectedagainst the rainfall.
The soldier smiled to himself when he saw the boy's work. "I'm afraidthe lilies won't thank him for this," said he. "Naturally, every stalkis broken. It will never do to bend such stiff growths in that way!"
But when the shower was over, the soldier saw the little lad hurry overto the lilies and raise them up. To his utter astonishment, the boystraightened the stiff stalks without the least difficulty. It wasapparent that not one of them was either broken or bruised. He ran fromflower to flower, and soon all the rescued lilies shone in their fullsplendor in the meadow.
When the soldier saw this, he was seized with a singular rage. "What aqueer child!" thought he. "It is