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THE STORY OF
THE OTHER WISE MAN

BY
HENRY VAN DYKE

ILLUSTRATED



NEW YORK
HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
1896

Copyright 1895, by HARPER & BROTHERS
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All rights reserved

Contents
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INTRODUCTION……11
THE SIGN IN THE SKY……13
BY THE WATERS OF BABYLON……33
FOR THE SAKE OF A LITTLE CHILD……49
IN THE HIDDEN WAY OF SORROW……61
A PEARL OF GREAT PRICE……71

ILLUSTRATIONS
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"'IT IS THE SIGN,' HE SAID"……Frontispiece
"HE CAUGHT IT UP AND READ"……45
"'THERE IS NONE HERE SAVE ME'"……57
"HE HEALED THE SICK"……67
"THE OLD MAN FOLLOWED THE MULTITUDE"……77
"THE OTHER WISE MAN HAD FOUND THE KING"……83

Who seeks for heaven alone to save his soul,
May keep the path, but will not reach thegoal;
While he who walks in love may wander far,
Yet God will bring him where the blessedare.

OU know the story of the Three Wise Men of the East, and how theytraveled from far away to offer their gifts at the manger-cradle in Bethlehem. But have you ever heardthe story of the Other Wise Man, who also saw the star in its rising, and set out to follow it, yetdid not arrive with his brethren in the presence of the young child Jesus? Of the great desire of thisfourth pilgrim, and how it was denied, yet accomplished in the denial; of his many wanderings and theprobations of his soul; of the long way of his seeking, and the strange way of his finding, the Onewhom he sought—I would tell the tale as I have heard fragments of it in the Hall of Dreams, inthe palace of the Heart of Man.

THE SIGN IN THE SKY

N the days when Augustus Caesar was master ofmany kings and Herod reigned in Jerusalem, there lived in the city of Ecbatana, among the mountains ofPersia, a certain man named Artaban, the Median. His house stood close to the outermost of the sevenwalls which encircled the royal treasury. From his roof he could look over the rising battlements ofblack and white and crimson and blue and red and silver and gold, to the hill where the summer palaceof the Parthian emperors glittered like a jewel in a sevenfold crown.

Around the dwelling of Artaban spread a fair garden, a tangle of flowers and fruit trees,watered by a score of streams descending from the slopes of Mount Orontes, and made musical byinnumerable birds. But all color was lost in the soft and odorous darkness of the late Septembernight, and all sounds were hushed in the deep charm of its silence, save the plashing of the water,like a voice half sobbing and half laughing under the shadows. High above the trees a dim glow oflight shone through the curtained arches of the upper chamber, where the master of the house washolding council with his friends.

He stood by the doorway to greet hisguests—a tall, dark man of about forty years, with brilliant eyes set near together under hisbroad brow, and firm lines graven around his fine, thin lips; the brow of a dreamer and the mouth ofsoldier, a man of sensitive feeling but inflexible will—one of those who, in whatever age theymay live, are born for inward conflict and a life of quest.

His robe was ofpure white wool, thrown over a tunic of silk; and a white, pointed cap, with long lapels at the sides,rested on his flowing black hair. It was the dress of the ancient priesthood of the Magi, called thefire-worshippers.

"Welcome!" he said, in his low, pleasant voice, as oneafter another entered the room—"welcome, Abdus; peace be with you, Rhodaspes and Tigranes, andwith you my father, Abgarus. You are all welcome, and this house grows bright with the joy of yourpresence."

There were nine of the men, differing widely in age, but alikein the richness of their dress of many-colored silks, and in the massive golden collars around theirnecks, marking them as Parthian nobles, and in the winged circles of gold resting upon their breasts,the sign of the followers of Zoroaster.

They took their places around asmall black altar at the end of the room, where a tiny flame was burning. Artaban, standing beside it,and waving a barsom of thin tamarisk branches above the fire, fed it with dry sticks of pine andfragrant oils. Then he began the ancient chant of the Yasna, and the voices of his companions joinedin the beautiful hymn to Ahura-Mazda: