“To seek a Child is our intent, Which betokens yonder star as ye may see,” said the old king, Gaspar. “To whom I purpose this present,” added Balthazar, showing him a golden vase full of frankincense. Then the third king, Melchior, replied, “Sirs, I pray you, and that right humbly, With you that I may ride in company; To Almighty God now pray we That His precious person we may see.” Thus having greeted one another, the kings rode aside, while on the pageant, Herod came out of his palace to meet the herald, who, on seeing him, exclaimed: “Hail, Lord, most of might! Thy commandment is right. Into thy land is come this night Three kings, and with them a great company.” “What make those kings in this country?” returned Herod. “To seek a King and a Child, they say,” answered the herald. “Of what age should He be?” Herod inquired angrily. “Scant twelve days old fully,” said the herald. Whereupon Herod, restraining his wrath, commanded the herald on pain of death to follow the kings, to speak gently to them, in order to deceive them into imagining that they would be well treated, and then to speed in hot haste to Jerusalem to make inquiries about the Child they sought. So the herald, descending from the stage, followed Gaspar, Balthazar, and Melchior, and very courteously told them that Herod, “king of these countries wide,” desired to speak with them. The travellers, immediately agreeing to his wish, were brought before the palace. There Herod received them courteously, wished them a safe journey, and begged them to return the same way. “And with great concord banquet with me, And that Child myself then will I see And honour Him also,” he added, allowing his guests to depart with many compliments on either side. But no sooner had they mounted their horses and ridden away than Herod’s rage blazed forth. “When they come again, they shall die that same day, And thus these vile wretches to death shall be brought!” he exclaimed, stalking into his palace, while the kings rode a little distance to another pageant where again the stable at Bethlehem was represented, with Mary watching by the manger. Here, just as the shepherds had done, but in much more stately language, they offered their costly gifts to the Child. Gaspar gave a cup of gold. “_In tokening Thou art without peer_,” he said, as he laid his offering at the foot of the manger. A cup full of frankincense was Balthazar’s gift, “_In tokening of priesthood and dignity of office_;” while the young king Melchior had brought a precious goblet, with “_myrrh for mortality, in tokening Thou shalt mankind restore to life by Thy death upon a tree_.”