Sojourn In Palestine (Welcome To Palestine!) by Alfred N.Muggins : Part 3

Featuring the Three Wise Men!

https://www.abctales.com/story/david-kirtley/sojourn-palestine-welcome-p...

https://www.abctales.com/story/david-kirtley/sojourn-palestine-welcome-p...
Part 3
13/1/25 / 27/1/25
    And Melchior awoke in the middle of the night, amongst young miserable men who were separated from their families, most of whom had dared to wish to stand up to this occupation and control of their land and people in some, often small way. Others who had done very little had just been rounded up to create and ensure security for the occupiers who had refused to accept even the partition they had originally called for. Of course Melchior, the sage, and, as a King, a shrewd judge of men, nonetheless could hardly be expected to know every matter which had passed in this evidently now unsettled land. Like all good scholars he observed and learned, but would not yet pass judgements upon the people he met here, whether they were humbled prisoners or proud guards. 
    Melchior noticed that it was not only the half starved prisoners who slept, but the guards also were incredibly asleep in their chairs beyond the bars. A voice in his head suggested to him that it was time to go from this place, from which he might never get out alive if he stayed. He knew that his mission would continue. Although he could not see the Star in here he could feel its pull above, outside. There was a Prince of some kind, a chosen one, to be found and served, one who could help the people of this land, who might well be the saviour of this whole world. Casting off his earthly weariness he stood up weakly, after his trials, still naked except for his loin cloth, and went to the cell gate. To his surprise it was unlocked and he pulled it open easily, leaving it open as he passed through. Perhaps the other prisoners, unjustly imprisoned as he imagined, in a land which belonged to them at least as much as the conquerors, should be allowed to escape too. Only one or two of them whose eyes were wide open bore witness to his escape, but made no comment at the time nor acted to free themselves. Maybe they would follow, or perhaps they were not meant to follow?
    An ageless angel beckoned him silently from along a corridor, clothed in white, barefooted, a guide adorned with wings. Naturally he followed, without fear, even as he should have been fearful. If the guards were awake he might be beaten again, but he was able to place his faith in the ones who guided him, the angel, the Star, the Lord of All who told him to fulfill his purpose. He followed unto a room filled with strange objects made of a wonderous smooth material,he had never seen before on Earth. What these colourful objects did was a mystery to him.In front of them slumped sleeping guards, some of them women. The angel led him to small door panels, made of the strange materials. As the angel gestured towards them one flew open. He looked inside, and lo and behold there were his robes, and his crown, his confiscated golden gifts, from his saddle bags, to be given to the new Prince or King, when he was found. Melchior was quite amazed that the soldier guards had not taken these for themselves. It showed that there was some discipline and control by their seniors among these soldiers. Carefully he redressed in his robes, leaving his crown and gifts inside his bags. Kindly the angel took the bags for him and carried them out of the sleeping prison as she led the way. Wherever there was a locked door each one opened of its own accord as they approached. He worried whether it would be possible to be reunited with his camel, but had less concern that he would soon,one way or another be reunited with his wise colleagues.*

    Eventually they passed magically into the forbidden territories of the West Bank.
They arrived at Bethlehem where the Star seemed to hang above, indicating they were sure that the newborn Prince of Princes, the savior to be of mankind, was here. Expecting the Palace fit for a Prince, they ask where a newborn prince, the chosen one, might have been recently born.
    "You are two thousand years too late!” exclaimed a Christian Priest in the centre of the town. He was born back then in a stable, not in the Palace you were suggesting. This is the Church, thought to have been built upon the very site! But you are more than two thousand years too late, and although he has returned again, he has failed so far to bring complete peace to the world, and certainly not to this place, as you can currently see!
    “What year is it here?" asked the wise men collectively. "We did think it strange that here in the west of Asia there are inventions such as these transports, and those coloured talking boxes we have seen, and even those firesticks we have been threatened with. Also the population of these lands seems crowded compared with our own lands in the East. The roads are often solid and the houses strong and plentiful."
   "This is the year of our lord 2024. Thus it would be approximately 2024 years (subject to certain inaccuracies and approximations in starting the modern Julian (?) calendar). You say you are three Kings of the far East? And you are travelling to see the savior, presumably the one who was called Christ, who was born here all those years ago?"
   A light switched on in the Priest’s head and he began to suspect that these outlandish and strange travelers might just be who he suspected they might be, who according to themselves had travelled together across the desert from Babylon, and from much further afar to the east. Perhaps it was some form of modern miracle that they had found themselves transported more than two thousand years forward in time. Could it possibly mean that Christ was to return in human form once again to earth at this time of severe strife and inhumanity? But what could he do about tanks and drones, and missiles? And Hope sprang eternal from his conditioned and ever hopeful mind, but there was much modern pessimism to be overcome in this modern unholy land, and he found himself habitually doubting everything in this uncomfortable modern world in which so much was taken away and made worse. True believers of the Christian faith were becoming hard to find in modern Palestine, meeting the prejudices of the more hotheaded muslims and the keener Zionists who increasingly intervened in everything here as they tried and often succeeded in their gradual intrusion and control into the lives of all Palestinians.

   The Three Wise Men observed a raid upon Palestinians, and they saw children throwing stones at the soldiers and some of them being 'rounded up'. Some of the soldiers were very rude to them when they tried to ask questions, and started to wave and point their firesticks directly towards them. They saw some houses on the top of surrounding hills, and start to walk up the hill to see the view.
    “No you cannot go there!” said the locals. “There is a wall, and they will shoot you or arrest you if you try to cross, or if you are of the wrong race, or religion, and go up that road. The shepherds used to tend their sheep up there, and just beyond we picked the olives from the olive trees, but in recent years we were pushed out and away, and now we are not even allowed to go where our ancestors walked and farmed.”
   "This land all around here was judged to be Arab land, even in the partition agreements which gave so much of our lands away. But now over the years they have taken even these lands away from us."
   "The settlers want all our lands, even though most of our families have lived on these lands for centuries!"

https://www.abctales.com/story/david-kirtley/sojourn-palestine-welcome-p...

https://www.abctales.com/story/david-kirtley/sojourn-palestine-welcome-p...

(to be continued)